REEEP is proud to announce that two ventures from its Powering Agrifood Value Chains 2015 Portfolio have been announced as 2015 Innovators of the Powering Agriculture Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC). Sunculture and Futurepump, providers of solar-powered irrigation systems to medium and smallholder farmers, respectively, are "helping to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy solutions that will enhance agricultural yields/productivity, decrease post-harvest loss, improve farmer and agribusiness income generating opportunities and revenues, and/or increase energy efficiency and associated savings within the operations of farms and agribusinesses all while stimulating low carbon economic growth within the agriculture sector of developing countries."

Both projects will receive an as yet undisclosed amount of funding to strengthen and forward their high potential business models for sustainable productive energy in Kenya and East Africa. Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC) seeks to identify and support new and sustainable approaches to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy solutions for increasing agriculture productivity and/or value in developing countries.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Duke Energy, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)—collectively, the “Founding Partners”—have combined resources to fund Powering Agriculture.
Visit Powering Agriculture to find out more about the Challenge and the donors, and watch this space for more information on REEEP's Powering Agrifood Value Chains 2015.