About Us
Empowering African Businesses Through Renewable Energy
Power Ventures Africa develops renewable energy solutions for businesses across Africa, making them more productive, efficient and energy-independent. Renewable energy systems provide a clean, cost-effective and robust complement to grid electricity and diesel generators.
Few firms have either the know-how or up-front capital to make appropriate technology selections and finance renewable stand-alone power sources. This limits the use of equipment and technology that would make African farms and businesses more productive and sustainable.
PV Africa addresses this challenge by designing, sourcing, financing and installing energy systems that commercial and industrial businesses can use immediately and pay for over time. We work in partnership with a wide range of technology providers to set up standalone renewable energy systems that can power just about anything.
Projects
Delivering Energy Solutions Across Africa
PV Africa has developed energy projects across Africa and the Middle East – from small community-based projects to utility-scale installations. We have worked on more than 2GW of installed power capacity in sub-Saharan Africa.
2GW+
Installed Capacity
Total power capacity developed across sub-Saharan Africa
20+
Countries
Operating across Africa and the Middle East
100+
Projects
From community-based to utility-scale installations
Embassy & Government Projects
PV Africa has been working with the UK and a number of EU Governments to install renewable energy systems at their Embassies, official residences and offices. The high cost of diesel and grid down time – not to mention their negative impact on the planet – means that many governments are increasingly focused on replacing ageing electrical infrastructure.
PV Africa's work involves full life cycle management of PV system implementation, including:
- Feasibility studies
- Conceptual design
- Contracting strategy development
- Tendering
- Contract negotiation
- Management of implementation contractors
Mushandi Farm, Zimbabwe
Mushandi is a leading berry and horticultural farm operating from two separate sites in Zimbabwe, one in Macheke (Home Farm) and one in Ruwa (Pinfields Farm). PV Africa is working at Pinfields Farm to install a renewable energy system best suited to ensure their drip irrigation system (which includes advanced computerised fertigation controllers) operates at full capacity.
Rift Valley Partnership
Long-Term Sustainable Development
Rift Valley has a long history of operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the Group's individual businesses have been in operation since the early 20th century. From its inception, Rift Valley has focused on building sustainable, long-term businesses in agriculture and energy.
Comprehensive Energy Solutions
The company has contracted PV Africa to model the current and future power needs of 20 Rift Valley partner farms to deliver optimised renewable energy development plans for each location, based on agreed criteria for optimisation.
PV Africa has also undertaken a high-level screening study of the energy provision at their processing plant in Harare, ensuring comprehensive energy solutions across all operations.
Miro Forestry Project
PV Africa worked with Miro Forestry to deliver renewable power generation at Miro's operations in Sierra Leone and Ghana. As part of this work, Power Ventures Africa has been contracted by the UK government investment arm, CDC, to carry out a feasibility study on options for the supply of power to Miro's operations in Sierra Leone.
Technical Viability
Comprehensive assessment of renewable resource availability and system operability
Environmental Impact
Life-cycle economics and environmental considerations for sustainable operations
Implementation Plan
Fully costed investment plan with technical specifications and recommendations
Kulumsa Agricultural Research Centre, Ethiopia
The German development agency GIZ supported the installation of a seed cleaning processing unit for the Kulumsa Agricultural Research Centre (KARC), close to Assela, Ethiopia. Although grid electricity is available, the current plan is to install a diesel generator to ensure stable power supply.
Significant reductions in the costs of photovoltaics over the last ten years make PV systems economically viable for such applications with significant additional benefits of resilience, lower maintenance and smaller carbon footprints.
PV Africa undertook a feasibility study of the options to install a PV system at KARC, either as a replacement for the diesel generator or in parallel to it as a hybrid system, possibly including battery storage. The study also considered the potential to expand the system to provide power to other loads at the centre such as irrigation and offices.
70%
Cost reduction in PV systems over the last decade
50%
Lower maintenance costs compared to diesel generators
GreenPath Food Company
GreenPath is a speciality food company that produces and sources premium, organic food products. They work with a network of smallholder Partner Farmers in Southern Ethiopia and connect their produce to international markets. GreenPath is Ethiopia's first and only organic certified fruit & vegetable company, under the EU Organic standard.
Solar Irrigation
PV Africa financed new solar irrigation equipment for GreenPath's network of smallholder farmers
First of Its Kind
The deal was the first of its kind in Ethiopia, spreading costs over 3 years
Boosted Growth
Helped boost short-term growth whilst supporting smallholder farmers
africaJUICE Outgrower Programme
The Challenge
PV Africa is working with africaJUICE, a major agro-processing company in Ethiopia, to support its plans to develop a network of outgrower farmers. The majority of farmers around africaJUICE do not have access to irrigation, and rely on rainfed agriculture.
Even though a move to growing fruit under irrigation for supply to africaJUICE would substantially increase their incomes, farmers do not have the resources to invest in the required infrastructure.
The Solution
PV Africa and africaJUICE are developing models that see the installation of solar irrigation systems that would be repaid once the farmers start to earn income from fruit supply to africaJUICE.
PV Africa is supported by GET.invest: GET.invest is a European programme which supports investments in renewable energy, supported by the European Union, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Austria.
Other Projects Developed Over the Last Decade
1
Iraq PV IPP (50MW)
Private sector financed project development, design and management of tendering process
2
Jordan PV Project (8MW)
Private sector financed project development, tendering, contracting and construction supervision
3
Zimbabwe SME Project (8MW)
Feasibility study and implementation across multiple locations. First phase of 1.5MW completed
4
Sierra Leone Renewables (3MW)
Feasibility study for fully off-grid operations based on PV and biomass generation
5
Gaza PV IPP (20MW)
Private sector financed project development
6
Senegal Solar IPP (20MW)
AfDB-backed project delivering business plan, contract negotiation, and political risk insurance
Our Team
Power Ventures Africa Team
Dr. Iyad M. Muslih Alsartawi
Iyad is a Certified Professional Consultant in Renewable Energy Sector in Jordan. He has over 15 years of experience in providing consulting activities to implement PV and Wind energy systems for local communities in the Middle East. Iyad is widely regarded as an expert trainer in PV sector, having consulted for the Greater Amman Municipality, Jordanian Civil Defenses, and the Arab Renewable Energy Commission (among others). He holds a PhD from West Virginia University, along with an MA and a BEng from the University of Jordan.
James Carnegie
James has over 20 years work experience in inclusive agribusiness, natural resource management, and renewable energy. He has worked primarily in Central, East and Southern Africa, with a variety of organisations and most recently with the private sector. He co-founded the renewable energy business, Zonful Energy, in Zimbabwe and remains an investor and shareholder. James holds an MSc in Agriculture Development from Reading University, UK, a BSc in Crop Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and more recently completed a post graduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation from Stellenbosch University in SA.
Ian Derry
Ian has over 20 years’ international experience in the commercial, public and not-for-profit sectors. He has an extensive background in business development, building partnerships between different sectors and sustainable development strategies. He is a director of BusinessMinds, a company focused on delivering innovative business models for Africa and cofounded and ran africaJUICE, a leading African fruit production and processing business. Ian holds a masters degree in engineering from Cambridge University, UK.
Andrew Gaines
Andrew has more than a decade of experience working on power, agriculture and manufacturing businesses throughout Africa. Prior to founding Power Ventures Africa, Andrew co-founded DeRisk Advisory Services, a London-based agent for the World Bank Group’s political risk insurance agency, MIGA. Andrew has also worked with Accenture (UK) and Credit Suisse (Switzerland), and holds an MBA from HEC Paris and a BA from Pepperdine University.
Contact Us
We welcome enquiries from across Africa on how we can make your business more efficient through the introduction of renewable energy.