The idea of a relief fund for off-grid companies is in principle a good and important step, but if you look at the criteria for participating companies you will soon realize that the one now published by GOGLA is certainly not a relief fund. Its a business facilitation package for well-off and well-connected foreign based companies.
Last but not least, the fund in its current form is dangerous for the off-grid industry as a whole because it carries out an ominous selection among the off-grid companies: Only the healthy are supported, companies “with pre-existing diseases” are left to their fate. This is certainly not a relief fund for COVID-19 victims, but it is a relief fund to secure the capital of international investors. From the point of view of the investors involved in the fund, this is quite a legitimate idea, but it should be clearly named as such and not be used as a bluff-package.
In the end, the winners will once again be international companies at the expense of local companies. But maybe that is the aim of the “Relief Fund”? Its the best time now, to drive local competitors out of the market.
Seen from this perspective, the impression can even easily arise that the investors involved, such as Persistent Energy and Responsability, are pursuing tough business interests under the pretence of a “Relief Fund”:
- One uses the Corona period to force a drastic market shakeout,
- and at the same time is also preparing its own future investments in the post-corona period.
If that’s true, you might think it was clever. But in any case, it is dangerous for the off-grid industry as a whole.
Source: https://sun-connect-ea.org/dangerous-bluff-package-covid-19-energy-access-relief-fund/