REEEP has announced that it will fund 28 new projects that aim to scale up renewable energy and energy efficient solutions in key emerging markets and in selected developing countries in Africa and Asia.  The new initiatives will increase energy access and clean energy entrepreneurship in 19 countries.

Following her article on clean energy SMEs, Sonya Fernandes of REEEP's South Asia has been invited to present another paper, Expanding Rural Energy Access and Improving Agro Industrial Energy Efficiency through Targeted Interventions at the 2013 World Sustainable Energy Days conference in Wels, Austria, which will run from 27 February to 1 March 2013.

The lack of access to end-user financing is one of the biggest obstacles to the spread of solar home systems to the 200 million energy poor households and small businesses in India. These consumers spend a large portion of their incomes on energy sources such as kerosene, and the banking system often doesn’t reach them because they own no land title, have irregular incomes, or lack formal identification.