Africa-focused biogas company (B)energy re-launched BiogasUnite, a digital platform designed to boost the use of biogas for clean cooking in Africa, during a technical workshop at African Energy Week: Invest in African Energies 2024 on Tuesday.
Katrin Puetz, Founder and Managing Director of (B)energy, said the company is seeking £780,000 from African and global investors to fund the adoption of BiogasUnite across the continent. Currently under trial in Uganda, the platform will provide a streamlined approach to connecting biogas consumers, technicians and energy stakeholders, according to Puetz.
The initiative targets the repair of approximately 175,000 biogas cooking systems currently out of service due to maintenance challenges.
(B)energy established partnerships for the platform with fifteen organizations in countries such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Benin, Ghana, Mali, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Mozambique
“Around 200,000 biogas cooking systems were installed in Africa since 2012, yet nearly 60% are now non-functional due to inadequate maintenance,” Puetz explained.
The platform, enabled with a smart meter and app, provides users with direct access to technicians for stove maintenance, while enabling business owners to rent and monetize their cooking stoves, reducing the previously high upfront costs that hindered biogas adoption and scalability, according to Puetz.
“Fifteen years ago, about 700 million people lacked access to clean cooking, and this number has since grown to nearly a billion,” stated Puetz, adding “The African Energy Chamber, with its extensive data and connections across the African energy sector, would be an ideal partner.”
She said having governments as partners will help with job creation and drive sustainability of the oil and gas industry.
Africa Fact: A collection of one thousand six hundred books was considered a small library for a West African scholar of the 16th century. Professor Ahmed Baba of Timbuktu is recorded as saying that he had the smallest library of any of his friends – he had only 1600 volumes.
Dr. Cocktail
Fun South African Fact: Almost 80% of South Africa’s population is Christian
Accidental Genius
Oscar Pistorius. Not the first South African with a race problem.