Cambodia

Okra Solar, the Aussie startup we last saw delivering solar mini-grids to remote communities via a shared ping-pong table, is emerging from Covid-19 lockdown with new investors and two new pieces of tech that will better enable solar energy access to the 900 million people around the world still lacking power.

Meet Afnan Hannan, CEO and co-founder of Okra Solar, an Aussie startup looking to eradicate energy poverty using solar minigrids that has already been recognised with a global sustainability award and a best IoT startup award.

The Cambodian government has decided to approve four new solar projects, ranging in size from 20 MW to 60 MW, in response to rising energy demand. It further announced that the 60 MW project that it tendered at the beginning of the year is planned to start commercial operations in August.

In Cambodia, Singapore’s Cleantech is building a 10 MW solar plant including a 2.7 MW floating section, and in Lithuania, state-owned utility Lietuvos Energija is deploying a floating plant at the Kruonis pumped storage hydroelectric power plant.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are on track to make solar and other renewables account for 23% of the region’s total primary energy supply (TPES) by 2025, but governments will need to create better policy and investment frameworks to make it happen, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).