MAP
Where it's actually happening
A living map of electrification work across the places Common Ground travels: inspirational first, directory second. Everything on it clears one bar: practical implementation. Policy papers and pure advocacy don't qualify; this is about who is actually building, wiring, financing or operating something on the ground. It grows every time a new initiative is found, or submits itself, and it is how we find the people to learn from and build with.
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Type: Initiatives, Startups, Organisations (the funders, industry bodies and implementers that enable the work), or Installations (the big utility-scale projects, for context/scale). Focus: Temporary, Urban or Rural Energy Systems, E-Mobility, or Utility-Scale. Both filters are independent and combinable.
Explore it live below: the map opens on Africa, but pan out and you'll find the funders, industry bodies and Dutch-rooted startups working from further afield too. Filter by Type or Focus, or click a pin for details.
Featured so far
Mobility for Africa
Practical electric-tricycle deployment for rural women traders in Zimbabwe.
Visit site →Greenlink
Gambia-based solar company with Dutch roots: rooftop, commercial and mini-grid systems across West Africa.
Visit site →Roam
Manufactures electric motorcycles and buses at East Africa's largest EV plant, right in Nairobi.
Visit site →Nuru
Builds solar-hybrid ‘metrogrids’ powering entire Congolese cities, starting with Goma.
Visit site →Husk Power Systems
Deploys solar-hybrid mini-grids at scale across rural Nigeria: 500+ planned by 2026.
Visit site →ENGIE Energy Access
Pan-African off-grid solar home systems at serious scale, now merging into Ignite Energy Access.
Visit site →Independent Energy B.V.
Dutch solar engineers: mini-grid and off-grid installations across Nigeria since 2004 through their local partner, SOSAI Renewable Energies.
Visit site →Emergi
Dutch startup running solar-charged electric tuktuks as ride-hailing in Monrovia: an all-female driver fleet.
Visit site →Jiro-Ve
Dutch-founded, renting solar lamps and powerbank charging to rural Madagascar through a local franchise network.
Visit site →M-KOPA
Pay-as-you-go solar and device financing that's reached millions of African households.
Visit site →BasiGo
Electric buses for African public transport, running fleets in Kenya and Rwanda.
Visit site →Ampersand
Battery-swap electric motorcycle taxis: Africa's first at real commercial scale.
Visit site →KOKO Networks
Bioethanol cooking fuel network replacing charcoal, kiosk by kiosk, across East African cities.
Visit site →PEG Africa
Pay-as-you-go solar for households and small businesses across West Africa.
Visit site →Zola Electric
Solar mini-grids and battery storage keeping homes and businesses running off the grid.
Visit site →WakaWaka
Dutch solar lantern and charger company: ‘Share the Sun’ donates a light with every purchase, with past project work reaching Madagascar and beyond.
Visit site →Thula
Designs and builds electric safari vehicles and eBoats: silent, zero-emission game drives for African lodges.
Visit site →Greenlink ReGen
Tanzania-based commercial and industrial solar installations: lodges, camps, hospitals and factories.
Visit site →Spiro
Battery-swap electric motorcycles, now across six African countries: Togo was its first market.
Visit site →Zembo
Electric motorcycle taxis and battery swapping, plus Africa's first intercity e-motorcycle corridor.
Visit site →Ecobodaa
Rent-to-own electric boda boda motorcycles: Kenya's first electric motorbike taxi.
Visit site →RhingGo
Solar-powered electric tuktuks built for Mombasa’s matatu routes: a Solar Extender panel tops up range on the go.
Visit site →Who's backing it
SEforALL
UN-linked, drives country-level energy access action and de-risks practical financing.
Visit site →GOGLA
Global industry association for off-grid solar: sets standards, publishes real market data.
Visit site →AFSIA
Africa-based solar industry body: practical deployment data and market reports.
Visit site →Energy 4 Impact
UK-based NGO working directly with last-mile energy entrepreneurs on the ground.
Visit site →GIZ Energising Development (EnDev)
Hands-on rural electrification programme delivery across Africa and Asia.
Visit site →Africa Minigrids Program
Country-level practical mini-grid rollout support, coordinated via UNDP’s regional hub.
Visit site →Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE)
Industry association for off-grid/mini-grid companies: market intelligence.
Visit site →Ashden
Awards and documents real, deployed clean-energy solutions rather than proposals.
Visit site →GEAPP
Funds last-mile electrification projects directly across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Visit site →AMDA
Africa Minigrid Developers Association: trade body for the continent's mini-grid companies.
Visit site →BRILHO
SNV-run market-development programme that has brought power to 33,000+ off-grid rural homes in Mozambique.
Visit site →Big installations
Benban Solar Park
1,650 MW: the largest solar park in Africa, in Egypt's Aswan desert.
Visit site →Noor Ouarzazate Solar Complex
582 MW: the world's largest concentrated solar power plant, in Morocco.
Visit site →Garissa Solar Power Plant
54.6 MW: East Africa's largest grid-connected solar plant.
Visit site →Lake Turkana Wind Power
310 MW: Africa's largest wind farm, 365 turbines on Kenya's northern desert.
Visit site →Jambur Solar Power Station
23 MW: the Gambia's first utility-scale solar plant.
Visit site →Nachtigal Hydropower Project
420 MW hydropower on Cameroon's Sanaga River: the country's biggest generation project.
Visit site →Think you belong on the map?
If you're building, wiring, financing or operating something real in this space, we want to know about it.
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