The Energy Talk - Storytellers of Africa's Energy Transition

Saralyn Thomas & Miguel Trenkel-Lopez, members of the Nuclear Institute's Young Generation Network, join us to discuss the role of nuclear energy in the energy transition and their plans for COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Glasgow, Scotland this November.

Heavy industries are responsible for about a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and re-imagining the physical infrastructure of energy is the challenge that Kanin Energy aims to solve through its 'hardware-as-a-service' business model.

Enabling economic growth and development through access to energy is at the heart of Em-One Energy Solutions' work. Since it was founded, Em-One has electrified rural healthcare centers and communities, government offices, schools, and much more.

Afnan is the CEO of Okra Solar, which aims to unlock the potential of villages and microentrepreneurs with Internet-of-Things controlled smart microgrids. While other companies looked to ride out the pandemic conservatively, Afnan took a 3 week trip to Nigeria to partner with local companies and attract investments to Okra.

Oolu Solar raised an $8.5 million Series B funding round in 2020 led by RP Global and including All On, Doseke Akporiaye is leading their expansion into Nigeria.

Arnergy and Auxano Solar have raised a combined total of $10.5 million in funding to build renewable businesses. In this episode, we speak to the founders of the 2 companies to understand the unique challenges of building and scaling in Africa.

For every two hours, staying by a kerosene lantern is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes.

With about 80 million Nigerians completely off-grid and another 40 million with less than four hours of power a day the estimated cost to fix Nigeria's power problem today is $200 billion.

"Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is estimated to require an investment of USD 187 billion (EUR 163bn) in mini-grids globally, and sub-Saharan Africa is the main destination."

Hydrogen's role in the energy transition has gained popularity as new use cases (and markets) open up, but concerns around distribution and storage have affected its real-world applications.