Total Energy Ventures (TEV) has acquired interests in two firms specialising in off-grid solar energy solutions.
TEV, the venture capital fund of French oil firm Total, has invested in California-based Powerhive as well as Tanzania and California-based firm, Off Grid Electric. It said in a statement that the firms' technologies would "speed up electrification in Africa and could be as much a game-changer as mobile phones were in their field".
Powerhive develops and operates solar microgrids with battery storage and local distribution and supplies electricity to several hundred homes and businesses in off-grid rural communities.
In 2015, it announced the launch of its first commercial-scale project for roughly 100 microgrids to supply 90 000 households in western Kenya.
Off Grid Electric develops and markets distributed solar home systems and battery storage to power LED lights, mobile phone chargers and, optionally, small electronic appliances. The company provides light to more than 10 000 new customers each month and anticipates reaching 1 million people in Tanzania by 2017.
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