The U.K.'s Department for International Development (DFID) in Uganda has signed an Energy Africa Compact agreement with Ugandan officials that will work towards improving access to solar energy to the estimated 30 million people in the country without access to electricity. According to the DFID, four out of every five Ugandans do not have access to a reliable source of power, and so the agreement's chief aim will be to reduce this number by documenting strategic areas where the adoption of solar home power and lighting systems can be installed quickly and cheaply. The aim of the Compact is to electrify the entire country by 2030, and the Ugandan Ministry for Energy and Mineral Development has created a conducive environment to enable solar to thrive, including a VAT exemption on major solar components, financial support for private sector companies, provision of solar end-user subsidies, capacity building through the training of technicians, as well as the establishment of innovative solar financing models. The U.K.'s involvement will be largely as a facilitator, removing market barriers and enabling companies and Uganda's government to come together and see through their aims. According to Jennie Barugh, head of the DFID Uganda office, the aim is to expedite Uganda's ...Den vollständigen Artikel lesen ...
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