Power for All

Power for All

Across the world, renewable energy is creating a distributed, digitized revolution in the way communities produce and consume power. Join Power for All as we talk to the people working on the front lines of bringing electricity to nearly 1 billion mostly rural poor by 2030, the UN deadline for achieving universal energy access. Designed to stimulate discussion through in-depth interviews, informed analysis and powerful stories, the podcast highlights the trends, latest innovations, research, news, events, policies and impacts of distributed energy systems in the Global South, especially sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia. Power for All is a coalition of 300+ organizations campaigning to ensure that everyone on the planet has reliable, affordable and modern electricity before 2030. Visit powerforall.org for more. read less
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Episodes

Powering Agriculture with Renewable Energy: A Conversation with Michael Maina of CLASP
31-08-2023
Powering Agriculture with Renewable Energy: A Conversation with Michael Maina of CLASP
How can we make farming more productive and sustainable with renewable energy technologies? That’s the question we explore in our latest episode of the PowerforAll podcast, where we talk to Michael Maina of CLASP. PUE technologies in agriculture comprise a suite of technologies that include solar water pumps, walk-in cold rooms, refrigerators, and egg incubators. These technologies have huge potential in improving the income of smallholder farmers while simultaneously reducing agriculture sector emissions. But farmers face many barriers to adoption such as high cost and limited awareness about these products. Michael Maina emphasized that the problem requires a holistic solution that goes beyond increasing the adoption of PUE technologies. He said that we also need to address the agricultural issues that affect farmers, such as ensuring farmers are paid fair prices for their produce and that they have timely access to inputs. To achieve this, Michael recommends a cross-departmental coordination mechanism between energy and agriculture sector stakeholders. Michael Maina expressed his optimism that renewable energy technologies will power the agriculture sector in the future. He pointed out the growing investments from various actors, such as development partners, the government, and the private sector, as a sign of the promising potential of these technologies. Listen to the podcast to learn more.
Energy Catalyst’s Support for Innovations to End Energy Poverty: Interview with Alice Goodbrook
28-04-2022
Energy Catalyst’s Support for Innovations to End Energy Poverty: Interview with Alice Goodbrook
In this episode of the Power for All podcast, Kristina Skierka, Founder and CEO of Power for All, speaks with Alice Goodbrook, Innovation Lead for Energy Catalyst on the Energy Catalyst program, which funds private sector innovation and energy access. Energy Catalyst supports the UK and international businesses and organizations to develop highly innovative market-focused energy technologies to enable energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as South East Asia. Alice explains the programme, which started in 2014, has funded about 135 projects involving more than 300 unique organizations engaged in anything that's clean energy, from solar to storage to mini grids to energy efficiency and in 29 countries. She says grant funding programs like Energy Catalyst support technologies and business models that are at very early stages of development for conventional finance, such as investment or a bank loans. Yet they hold massive potential to change lives. “And this is where grant funding really comes into its own, because that allows an organization to try something out without it making or breaking the company. And if their idea does works, it allows them later to access conventional finance,” Alice says. She also adds that the programme has an accelerator side of it to for when the technologies are ready for market. “When your technology is ready for market, the accelerator will help your business grow. So that can be anything from helping with investments, creating a business plan or doing a bit of market research. Whatever your business needs to be able to become market ready,” she explains. Alice adds that collaboration and knowledge are key for the program and the innovators supported by Energy Catalyst have embraced a culture of learning and sharing with the industry. This was important in helping people not to make the same mistakes and to help the industry to progress much quicker. Alice notes that from her many years in the sector, she had come to accept with pride that the community in development and energy access space was much more open and collaborative than in any other fields she’s worked in.