By Tabbu Kitta Kauye
Lilongwe, March 11, Mana: Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola has disclosed that over 200 thousand households in rural areas are expected to get off-grid solar home system electricity through the World Bank Funded Ngwe Ngwe Ngwe Fund an off-grid market Component under the Malawi Electricity Access Project (MEAP).
Speaking, in Lilongwe when he presided over the launch of the Fund, Matola explained that the fund is aimed at scaling up off –grid solar markets by providing financial support through a revolving fund for solar companies to purchase and install off –grid solar home systems to rural households in the country.
The minister also said that another part of the fund will provide targeted end user beneficiaries with subsidies in order make the installation affordable and to close the affordability gap of customers who cannot afford solar home systems at commercial prices.
“The ngwe ngwe ngwe fund is an important initiative that will go a long way to address the electricity access challenges faced by many Malawians in the rural area. Some parts of the country are not connected to the grid, but with this fund we are assured that some households in the rural areas will have solar electricity
With only 18 percent households connected to the national grid and with our ambitious goal of reaching 100 percent universal access to electricity by 2030, the fund is a significant step towards achieving this goal, it is also in line with MW2063 vision of having a diversified and affordable energy sources that will increase energy supply and in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG} 7 which calls for reliable, sustainable and Morden energy for all” said Matola.
World bank Country Director Hugh Ridell said the world bank is committed to support the country in achieving its ambitions as set out in the M2063, however he said that cannot be done without access to reliable and affordable electricity.
“One of the challenges in Africa is the quality of a product, so part of the project is to ensure that there are proper standards to be followed and government will monitor that the proper standards are followed. We are going to do that is through reforms in some key institutions and utilities offering a service to customers.
The 20 Million Ngwe Ngwe Ngwe Fund is in three windows, namely the debt window which will offer working capital loans to off-grid solar companies at the tune of 14 million dollars, the grant window of upt o 5.5 million dollars, will provide end user subsidies and the Market Catalyst Fund at 500 thousand dollars to support market based transformative solutions.
