Solar energy is key to helping more Indian farmers access cold storage units, making it possible to locate this equipment in rural areas, where the power grid is often absent or unreliable. Solar-powered systems offer dependable, affordable solutions for storing produce close to where it is grown.

India’s government is working to help more farmers access this important solution. Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture under the Ministry of Power, is collaborating with CLASP to expand access through the Low-Energy Inclusive Appliances (LEIA) programme, a flagship research, development, and demonstration initiative under Efficiency for Access.

The collaboration began with the installation of six micro solar cold storage units across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Odisha. Financing from The Asia Development Bank covered 75% of the capital costs, with farmers paying the rest.

There are now plans to deploy up to 150 units nationwide, unlocking $3.6 million in financing from the Indian government, private investors, and farmers (who are receiving loans to help cover their costs).

This effort will one day reverberate across India’s economy. For farmers like Lokratnam, however, the benefits are immediate and tangible.

“Now, with the cold storage, we are able to keep our custard apple, tamarind, and honey fresh and sell them later,” she said, referring to high-value crops. “It has changed everything for us, bringing profits without any losses.”

CLASP has selected 11 appliance companies to receive funding in support of job and income growth in sub-Saharan Africa. This support will be provided through the Productive Use Financing Facility (the Financing Facility), an initiative managed by CLASP and supported by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (the Energy Alliance). The Financing Facility aims to accelerate the adoption of clean, energy-efficient appliances to power small businesses and support smallholder farmers, potentially transforming the lives of millions across Africa.

Baridi, Irri-hub, and Koolboks are three of the 11 impact-driven companies selected for the program whose work is already transforming the continent.

Solar appliances drive economic growth

For a smallholder farmer or business owner in sub-Saharan Africa, even a single appliance can go a long way. For example, a CLASP survey found that business owners in Uganda who purchased an off-grid refrigerator were able to increase their incomes twofold.

For women, an appliance can be a major driver of income. In the Finance Facility’s pilot program, households where women purchased an appliance saw incomes increase an average of 94%. From selling cold drinks using a refrigerator-freezer to growing high-value crops with a solar water pump, equitable access to reliable and affordable appliances can transform not only individual lives, but entire communities. Solar-powered appliances can reduce the physical strain attached to traditional working conditions, expand business opportunities, improve nutrition, and create local jobs.

Three African appliance companies making an impact 

For Facility grantees like Baridi, Irri-hub, and Koolboks, this kind of transformative impact is what drives their work.

Baridi supplies solar-powered chilling technologies to smallholder farmers in Kenya, ensuring that their hard-earned produce remains fresh and market-ready.

Koolboks designs and distributes affordable solar-powered refrigerator-freezers, ensuring access for small businesses and farmers across the region. By providing reliable cold storage, Koolboks helps entrepreneurs expand product offerings and reduce the economic risks tied to spoilage.

Irri-hub is a provider of affordable water management solutions, including solar water pumps, that help smallholder farmers increase yields, improve crop predictability, and expand production.

London and Nairobi 15 September 2025 – An international partnership has launched today to improve consumer choice, affordability and reliability in the solar generator market by driving competition and inspiring innovation.

The collaboration between ZE-Gen, the leading global initiative working to end the use of fossil fuel generators, and CLASP, the international NGO focused on appliance efficiency, will strengthen excellence in a clean technology that can transform communities, economies and the environment by ending the need for fossil fuel generators.

The new partnership will include launching a new international solar-powered generator competition in October to showcase innovation in the market as part of the Global LEAP Awards, which promote the world’s most innovative, high performing and efficient solar solutions in the off-grid sector.

ZE-Gen, together with CLASP, aims to catalyse a shift towards clean, affordable, and reliable energy through solar-powered generators across low-and middle-income countries. The project is part of ZE-Gen’s work to transform the clean energy eco-system across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Excerpts from this article first appeared in Business Daily Africa in the lead-up to the second Africa Climate Summit in 2025.

By centering climate responses within Africa’s development needs, the continent can unlock new investments, boost incomes, and enhance its resilience. As leaders gather in Addis Ababa for the Africa Climate Summit, the continent must define a bold narrative that strategically links climate action with development progress.

Climate change should not be a global emergency that Africa is simply signing up to solve. This crisis is already costing Africa billions every year, and an estimated 110 million people have been directly affected by climate-related hazards.

Climate action can and must be made to work for Africa by recasting it through an Africa-centered development lens. Responses to the climate crisis offer Africa an opportunity to leverage climate solutions and sustainable technologies to increase incomes, accelerate poverty reduction, and improve adaptation and resilience.

African and global leaders will be converging at the second Africa Climate Summit in Ethiopia from 5 to 10 September. When we gather in Addis Ababa, we must use the Summit as a platform to drive bold reforms and ambitious actions that can repurpose climate change solutions to address Africa’s core development imperatives.

Framing climate action as an opportunity for Africa’s development

Income growth and poverty reduction remain as Africa’s core development pathway, the rising tide that promises improvements across all other social, economic and political indicators.

Africa’s income growth and poverty reduction needs are clear. The average GDP per capita of Sub-Saharan Africa was $1,506 USD in 2024, 40% lower than middle-income countries, and 90% lower than upper upper-middle-income countries. The continent’s GDP grew by 3.3% in 2024. That annual growth rate must increase to approximately 19% on average for GDP per capita to double by 2030. The continent’s GDP must multiply seven times over for African countries to reach middle-income country status.

The pathway to income growth and poverty reduction is equally clear. Africa must increase investments several-fold to drive economic growth, create new jobs, increase productivity, improve competitiveness and enhance social services. Sustained economic growth will result in higher incomes, delivering the poverty reductions that are urgently needed.

Climate change response strategies can be repurposed to meet Africa’s income growth and poverty reduction goals in two ways. First, climate solutions can free up investments, which can then be more productively deployed to drive economic growth. Second, climate solutions can be used to reduce climate vulnerability, improve adaptation, resilience and enable sustained economic growth.

Climate solutions can free up investments for economic growth

Energy efficiency can help secure the emissions reductions that the world needs to achieve to minimize the harshest impacts of the climate emergency. Improving energy efficiency also means lower utility bills for consumers and businesses, and less demand on power grids for governments. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that Africa currently uses 3.7 gigajoules (GJ) of energy for every thousand USD of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By transitioning to a higher efficiency of 2.7 GJ per thousand USD of GDP by 2030, consistent with IEA’s net zero emissions pathway, Africa could save billions through avoided energy and infrastructure costs. These avoided investments could then be productively deployed for economic and income growth in areas where they are needed.

Climate solutions can reduce climate vulnerability

Climate change is already costing Africa 2-5% of its GDP, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) estimated. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, that translates to approximately $ 40 – $100 billion USD of lost incomes in 2023 – money that could have been utilized to enhance economic growth or support social services.

Africa bears a disproportionately large share of climate impacts because the poor and vulnerable are the least prepared to face climate vulnerabilities when they occur. The WMO projects that by 2030, 118 million extremely poor people in Africa will remain highly vulnerable to climate impacts such as heat stress, droughts and floods.

Energy-efficient appliances, such as lights, fans, air-conditioners, refrigerators, electric cookers, water pumps, cold storages, and milling equipment, are crucial to building adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change among the world’s most vulnerable populations. CLASP estimates that more than half of the population in Africa lacks access to many essential appliances, such as fans and refrigerators. There are equally large ownership gaps for agricultural equipment, such as water pumps, milling equipment and cold storage. These appliances are critical to helping reduce the risks of income and productivity losses from climate impacts.

CLASP estimates that increasing access to seven key appliances across Africa could create a market worth approximately $50 billion USD and catalyse accelerated power infrastructure development to provide electricity for all. It would improve people’s access to essential services, helping individuals manage environmental stressors and economic instability.

Climate change was not Africa’s making, but it is Africa’s fight to shape. If leaders gathering at the Africa Climate Summit in Ethiopia can reframe the response to the climate crisis as an opportunity to accelerate income growth and poverty reduction, then climate action will not only protect the vulnerable but also power the continent’s prosperity. The future is not about choosing between climate action and development; it is about making climate action the very centre of Africa’s development.

AMDA represents over 40 mini-grid developers across the continent and is a strong voice for policies, financing, and standards that enable scale. The organization actively engages in regulatory reform and promotes sustainable business models.

“In the face of challenges that seem insurmountable, one truth remains: Business as usual is not an option. We cannot unlock universal energy access with fragmented strategies. We cannot power 680 million people still in the dark by 2030 without bold, coordinated, and scalable action,” Olamide (‘Lamide) Niyi-Afuye, CEO, AMDA.

Fun Fact: Mini-grids are key to reaching remote communities and AMDA is uniquely positioned to ensure the enabling environment keeps pace with the sector’s growth.

CCA drives efforts to make clean cooking affordable, accessible, and aspirational. Their work spans research, policy, investment facilitation, and ecosystem coordination.

“Whether from an energy access, climate, environment, health, or empowerment perspective, clean cooking is increasingly recognized as a critical component of a just energy transition. CCA is proud to have contributed to this shift. Our focus remains on turning commitments into actionable policies, business opportunities, and tangible investments that transform the pathways to clean cooking for the billions of people who still live without it,” Dymphna van der Lans, CEO, CCA.

Fun Fact: The clean cooking sector needs strong institutions to match its ambition. CCA brings the convening power, technical capacity, and cross-sectoral reach needed to transform this critical area of energy access.

GOGLA is the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry, representing over 200 members. As a long-standing convener and advocate, GOGLA plays a critical role in shaping policy, collecting market intelligence, and promoting consumer protection. Their leadership helps build a transparent and investable solar market.

Fun Fact: GOGLA’s deep sector expertise, strong relationships with governments and financiers, and commitment to evidence-based advocacy make them a linchpin in advancing off-grid solar.

NOMAP supports Nigeria’s distributed renewable energy market through policy analysis, investor engagement, and ecosystem strengthening.

Fun Fact: NOMAP is helping to tackle Nigeria’s energy access challenge with strategic, locally grounded solutions and strong partnerships.

Precise builds learning ecosystems and delivers cutting-edge research and insights to business, governments, and non-profits in Ethiopia to help them make strategic development decisions.

“At Precise, we build market systems that empower local innovators and entrepreneurs to win the war against poverty. By partnering with philanthropies, we design and deliver bold, private sector-led solutions tailored to local realities. Solutions that help our partners do more with less. Our work drives systemic change that supports climate-resilient growth, creates jobs, raises incomes, improves nutrition and health, and empowers women,” Henok Assefa, Managing Partner, Precise.

Fun Fact: Precise designs and delivers bold, private sector-led solutions tailored to local realities that help their partners do more with less.

UOMA works closely with government, industry, and development partners to identify market barriers and coordinate solutions. Their work includes technical assistance, data analysis, and stakeholder engagement to advance energy access nationally.

“UOMA has played a pivotal role in Uganda’s energy access journey, unlocking capital, enabling last-mile delivery, and supporting over 250,000 households. As the sector grows more complex, UOMA’s role as a neutral intermediary is critical in bridging silos, aligning stakeholders, and translating ambition into coordinated, on-the-ground action, especially in emerging areas like productive use and humanitarian energy access,” Reza Fazel, Associate Partner at Open Capital and Head of UOMA.

Fun Fact: Uganda is a key energy access frontier, and UOMA has a strong record of translating insights into action and facilitating national-level collaboration.