Access to Energy – Financing the energy transition
Access to energy is a decisive factor in human and economic development. For example, it has a dramatic impact on community health and education.
Today, more than 700 million people around the world live without access to electricity. Of these, more than 500 million are in sub-Saharan Africa. Electrification and renewable energy, as engines for decarbonisation and the sustainability of the planet, can make a decisive contribution to addressing this serious problem, thanks to their rapid implementation, low cost and efficiency.
EDP is focussed on a fair energy transition and plays a leading role, transforming the way in which energy is produced, distributed and consumed. We are actively involved in developing renewable energy solutions for emerging economies, helping communities to fight the poverty cycle.
Today, Access to Energy (A2E) is an integral part of social investment by the EDP Group. Between 2009 and 2017, EDP invested around EUR 5 million in A2E projects, impacting on thousands of people, through Corporate Social Responsibility projects and consultancy in over 10 countries. In 2018, supported by a new strategic vision, EDP accelerated its investment, focusing its efforts on investment in A2E companies in Africa, alongside social responsibility activities.
For example, in 2018 EDP invested in SolarWorks!, a Dutch company that sells decentralised solar energy solutions to domestic customers and companies not connected to the grid in Mozambique and Malawi. Through its activities, SolarWorks! provides a group of families with access to energy for the first time in their lives, enabling them to use electric lighting, charge their mobile phones and power refrigerators and televisions. In 2019, EDP invested in Rensource, a US holding company, focussed on implementing solar solutions for commercial and industrial customers in Nigeria. Rensource is a growing US company, supplying electricity in Nigeria, through decentralised solar energy solutions, providing clean and reliable energy to business and industry customers.
More than 700 million people around the world live without access to electricity. Electrification and renewable energy, as engines for decarbonisation and the sustainability of the planet, can make a decisive contribution to addressing this serious problem.”
Martim Salgado
EDP Social Impact Coordinator
Also in 2018, the EDP A2E Corporate Social Responsibility Fund was created, with the goal of fighting energy poverty by supporting sustainable and clean energy projects in remote rural areas. The Fund is focussed on five areas in which energy plays a fundamental role: education, health, water and agriculture, business, and community. Over four editions, EDP received 541 applications from seven countries and has supported 29 projects with a total of EUR 2.5 million. EDP has already financed projects in Mozambique, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Nigeria, Rwanda and Angola, impacting on more than one million beneficiaries.
With total investment of EUR 10 million, EDP's positioning in A2E activities reflects its unwavering commitment to the communities where it operates and with the communities where it can make a difference. EDP's holistic vision enables it to finance the companies it purchases and provide them with greater technical capacity and knowledge, as well as to directly support projects that are purely social, with a wide and multiplier impact.
I am confident that we have the required capacity and determination to continue to make energy cleaner and more sustainable and accessible for everyone. We will continue to lead the energy transition and ensure that nobody is left behind.
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