Foundation Rural Energy Services

10/02/2022

As a pionier in rural electrification FRES likes to share its lessons learned and best practices with partners in the sector. With still over 500 million people lacking access to energy in rural Africa, we need to join forces.

FRES Guiné-Bissau invited Alfredo Pais of TESE to Contuboel to show how we manage and operate our minigrid that currently serves 450 customers, a school and a clinic in the village.

TESE is a major player in rural electrification in Guinea-Bissau with a trackrecord of realizing minigrids in the country and plans to add more.

The Contuboel minigrid is operational since 2017 but shines as if it was put in service yesterday.

Our well trained local team, lead by our minigrid manager Paulo Bidefa, takes care of the daily maintenance and ensures that our customers can rely on reliable access to renewable energy now and in the future.

The Contuboel minigrid was realized with support of EuropeAid, and the OPEC Fund.

29/06/2021

A productive week in Guinea-Bissau, where FRES is gearing up to accelerate rural electrification: servicing villages, households and entrepreneurs beyond the reach of the national grid.

We evaluated our services with our local field staff and management team, discussed introducing solar irrigation with women farmers in Contuboel and organized a workshop in Bissau with partners and authorities on how to join forces.

26/06/2021

‘Esperanza’, a group of 100 women farmers growing vegetables on plots nearby the rural village of Contuboel requested FRES’ support for introducing solar water pumping and irrigation to adapt to climate change.

Today we discussed how this investment can result in a long term sustainable business model, exploring their thoughts on market linkages, improving agronomy, biological crop protection and governance.

Since 2016 FRES Guiné-Bissau operates a minigrid in Contuboel, serving 450 households and SME’s, a school and clinic, created with support of the and OPEC Fund

21/06/2021

An exciting meeting this morning with the food, water and energy expert Eléonore Belemlilga of the recently opened Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Ouagadougou.

We discussed leveraging synergies between FRES as renewable energy provider in Burkina Faso and projects supported by the embassy promoting sustainable agriculture, fish farming, forestry and private sector development.

Our Young Expert Programmes engineer DAVOU Lassina presented the design for two solar powered agroprocessing platforms FRES is currently developing with Agriterra for women cooperatives in Burkina Faso.

16/06/2021

FRES Yeelen Ba partners with UN Capital Development Fund to develop a solar powered agroprocessing platform for women farmers in Kouakoulé, Burkina Faso.

Today we met in Ouagadougou to tap into UNCDF’s expertise in women empowerment, clean cooking and microfinancing, to inform the design of the platform that will be operational mid-2022.

15/06/2021

Burkina Faso aims to double its rural electrification rate by 2025. Today FRES Yeelen Ba organized a well attended workshop in Ouagadougou to explore how public and private sectors can join forces to achieve this goal.

14/06/2021

FRES partners with Agriterra on decarbonizing farmer cooperatives by introducing solar electricity for their agroproduction activities.

Today we discussed in Ouagadougou the progress of two solar powered agro platforms currently under development in Burkina Faso to be operational mid-2022.

11/06/2021

Behold the new look of FRES Guiné-Bissau! Technicians and customer care officers tried on their brand new company uniforms this week and turned the streets of Gabú into a real catwalk!

17/05/2021

Proud to be part of 9 pioneering African businesses pioneering in productive use of renewable energy! With Agriterra we are developing a solar powered agriprocessing center for a women cooperative producing shea in Burkina Faso which will be operational in 2021. Thank you IKEA Foundation Carbon Trust Energy 4 Impact UKAID for your support! https://www.preo.org/growing-rural-sub-saharan-economies-through-accelerating-clean-energy-uptake/

28/04/2021

In collaboration with Agriterra and Bunge Loders Croklaan FRES Yeelen Ba is developing a solar powered agriprocessing platform for a women cooperative active in shea in Burkina Faso. https://europe.bungeloders.com/en/news/solar-effect-empowering-women-through-solar-energy

Bunge Loders Croklaan is a leading global producer and supplier of sustainable premium quality vegetable oils and fats for the food manufacturing industry. We operate as the global B2B edible oils business of Bunge Limited.

23/04/2021

And there was light! This week our new minigrids in Dogoni and Diena in Mali were put into service. The 80 KWh minigrids are designed for 350 households and businesses and village lighting for the whole community. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fres-foundation-rural-energy-services-_and-there-was-light-this-week-our-new-minigrids-activity-6788191634627584001-s9cH

21/04/2021

From this season onwards, the women cooperatives in two Malian villages benefit from solar water pumping and irrrigation realized by Yeelen Kura (FRES Mali) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fres-foundation-rural-energy-services-_water-solar-energy-activity-6790217235353927681-tzYJ

The women cooperatives in Nimbougou and Diaramana started preparing their lands to grow maize. From this season onwards they will benefit from solar powered...

10/04/2021

A shipment of new batteries from our supplier SOLAR23 landed in the port of Bissau and arrived today in Gabú at FRES Guiné-Bissau’s headquarters.

Energy-as-a service means we take care of battery replacement and recycling for our customers’ modular solar home systems.

The coming months 350 SHS customers receive a new battery for to maintain the quality of premium solar electricity that FRES promises.

Another 60 households and 40 small enterprises on our waiting list in Guinea-Bissau will be happy to hear that solar electricity is coming their way.

27/03/2021

FRES and Agriterra plan to set up a mini-grid in Koutoura village to provide power to Sowdjoma, a shea butter producing cooperative serving 950 women farmers. https://www.preo.org/fres/

22/03/2021

Since 2016 FRES operates a solar center in Contibuel, Guinea-Bissau, that provides electricity to households, businesses and village lighting. This week we consulted customers on their experiences and demands and explored extending the network to a nearby location to enable irrigation for plots where women grow vegetables for the region.

22/03/2021

On March 15 and 16, we visited a shea nut women cooperative in Koutoura and a shea butter union in Banfora, Burkina Faso. Together with Agriterra we will develop a solar powered shea processing center fully tailored and designed around their needs. Kicked off this month and operational before the shea season in September 2022