News

Burkina FasoGuinea-BissauMaliUganda

Ratidzo Makoni Appointed as New FRES Chief Operation Officer & Chief Financial Officer

The Supervisory Board of the Foundation Rural Energy Services has appointed Ratidzo Makoni as its new Chief Operation Officer &…

Burkina Faso

Multifunctional platform powering agroprocessing and SME’s in rural Burkina Faso

Cause for celebration in the village of Kouakoualé in Burkina Faso! Last week the inauguration took place of the solarized…

Burkina Faso

Switching from diesel to solar in agroprocessing

The women farmers of Scoop Pengwende cooperative in Basnéré village, Burkina Faso, wanted to replace their broken diesel generator they…

Uganda

40% women in FRES top management positions

Meet the women of FRES! We are proud that 40% of all our top positions are occupied by women. FRES…

Uganda

Sharing experience during the FRES Annual Company Week 2022

The FRES Annual Company Week 2022 this week in Mbarara, Uganda brought together the management teams of our four solar…

Mali

Nanogrid network powering a rural village in Mali

FRES turned on th lights this week in the village of Konina in rural Mali. The local team of Yeelen…

Guinea-Bissau

ALER highlights advantages FRES’ energy-as-a-service model

FRES’ energy-as-a-service model is unique in making premium solar technology accessible and affordable, says ALER – Associação Lusófona de Energias…

Guinea-Bissau

Sharing minigrid operation experience with partners

As a pionier in rural electrification FRES likes to share its lessons learned and best practices with partners in rural…

Mali

Study on impact of minigrids on rural villages in Mali

Between May and July 2021 an impact study has been carried out on two of our mini grid villages in…

Mali

Scaling up access to modern energy services 2014-2021

Between 2104 and 2021 FRES realized nearly 10.000 new energy connections in rural Africa in a project that was granted co-funding…

Guinea-Bissau

Knowledge transfer from Burkina Faso to Guinea-Bissau

Building local capacity and training our own staff is one of the secrets behind the success of FRES. And we…

Guinea-Bissau

Leveraging digital opportunities with PayGo

Our partner Solaris Offgrid trained our field staff in Guinea-Bissau today on the benefits and functioning of PAYGO. Together we…

Mali

Electrifying rural villages with nano grids

Hard work is ongoing in the village of Konina in Mali, where the team of Yeelen Kura is digging trenches…

Uganda

Exploring rural electrification with Ugandan Embassy

A delegation of the Uganda Embassy in Brussels honored FRES in November 2021 by visiting to our headoffice in Amsterdam.…

Mali

A decade of minigrid electricity and still going strong

Training local staff to maintain the quality of our solar installations is one of the strengths of FRES. Look at…

Burkina Faso

Nanogrid for business and households in Bobo-Dioulasso

Issa Sawadogo is a shop owner in the suburbs of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, selling yoghurt and cooled drinks. For his…

Mali

Community engagement to bring minigrids to full capacity

Introducing solar electricity in rural villages requires not only financial investments in a minigrid, but also ‘social investments’ in raising…

Mali

From Beleko to Diaramana: Discovering the benefits of solar energy

Green energy brought hope, safety and progress in the two villages of Beleko and Diaramana in rural Mali. In this…

Guinea-Bissau

Shared refrigeration for women vendors powered by nano grids

Bilca João Na Silva approached the FRES Energy Store in Catió, Guinea-Bissau with a plan created by a group of…

Guinea-Bissau

Exploring support for two minigrids in Guinea-Bissau

On Friday 23 July a delegation of FRES Guiné-Bissau and the Ministry of Energy of Guinea-Bissau met with the community…

Uganda

FRES sets industry example with battery recycling

On 20 July 2021 a container of 667 batteries was loaded in Uganda, ready to be recycled. As part of…

Mali

Malian Minister: the challenge to improve rural electrification is enormous

On 8 July 2021, FRES Yeelen Kura organized a workshop with partners and authorities in Bamako, Mali to discuss joining…

Guinea-Bissau

Exploring a sustainable investment in solar water pumping and irrigation

‘Esperanza’, a group of 100 women farmers growing vegetables on plots nearby the rural village of Contuboel requested FRES’ support…

Guinea-Bissau

Tapping into field staff expertise to improve customer service

One of FRES’ strengths is its field staff. Being in daily contact with our customers, they are our best source…

Guinea-Bissau

FRES organizes workshop on accelerating rural electrification in Guinea-Bissau

On 26 June 2021 FRES Guiné-Bissau organized lively workshop in Bissau on accelerating rural electrification in Guinea-Bissau. FRES Guiné-Bissau invited…

Burkina Faso

Strengthening relations with the Dutch embassy network

Being a Dutch foundation, FRES places great value in maintaining strong relations with the embassy network of The Netherlands. On…

Burkina Faso

Tapping into UNCDF expertise for multifunctional platform design

FRES Yeelen Ba partners with United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to develop a solar powered agroprocessing platform for women…

Burkina Faso

Successful workshop in Ouagadougou on joining forces in rural electrification

Burkina Faso aims to double its rural electrification rate by 2025. On 15 June 2021, FRES Yeelen Ba organized a…

Burkina Faso

Tracking progress of developing solar powered agroprocessing centers for cooperatives

FRES partners with Agriterra on decarbonizing farmer cooperatives by introducing solar electricity for their agroproduction activities. The project is run…

Uganda

Evaluating EU investments in solar home systems with field staff in Uganda

FRES Uganda realized over 3500 new solar energy connections for households and small businesses in the southwest of the country,…

Uganda

Series of rural electrification workshops kicked off in Kampala

On 1 June in Kampala, Uganda, we kicked off a series of workshops with partners and authorities in all four…

Mali

Four new minigrids operational in Mali

End of 2020, two brand new solar mini grids in the municipalities of Dogoni and Diéna in southeastern Mali became…

Guinea-Bissau

New battery shipment for replacement and expansion

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

Uganda

FRES Uganda installs 3700 SHS systems supported by EU

In the first quarter of 2021, FRES Uganda finalized the installation of in total 3700 new solar home systems for…

Guinea-Bissau

Local field staff evaluates EuropeAid project

FRES technicians and field agents installed 2000 new solar home systems for households and small businesses in Guinea-Bissau with support…

Guinea-Bissau

Minigrid satisfaction discussed in Contuboel

Since 2016 FRES operates a solar center in Contibuel, Guinea-Bissau, that provides electricity to households, businesses and village lighting. On…

Guinea-Bissau

FRES Guiné-Bissau launches tailored business solutions

Aharuna Alfecene Sambú opened the doors of his brand-new video hall in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau in December 2020, powered by FRES…

Guinea-Bissau

Free street lighting for six rural communities in Gabú

FRES Guiné-Bissau donated in total ten light poles to six rural villages in the eastern region Gabú. The villages of…

Uganda

FRES Uganda reaches 55% mobile payments

To reduce costs of cash collection and improve payment rates, FRES Uganda started introducing mobile payments for its customers in…

Mali

EU support results in 2550 new SHS connections

In 2020, Yeelen Kura finalized the installation of in total 2550 new solar home systems for households and small businesses…

Mali

FRES introduces solar water pumping for cooperatives

As part of our broader offering to include productive use of solar electricity, Yeelen Kura added solar water pumping services…

Uganda

Fueling enterprise in refugee settlements

Lying at a sensitive crossroads in East Africa, Uganda hosts 1.4 million refugees, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo,…

Burkina Faso

EuropeAid support for 500 new SHS connections

s part of a larger contract between FRES and the European Union to realize 11.000 new connections to solar energy…

Burkina Faso

Yeelen Ba moves to pay-as-you-go

In 2019, FRES made a strategic decision to migrate all customer data from Excel, where it had previously been stored,…

Burkina Faso

FRES develops solar-powered shea processing center

In collaboration with Agriterra, FRES and Yeelen Ba are developing a solar-powered shea nut processing center for a women cooperative…

Burkina Faso

Women farmers co-create multifunctional platform

FRES and Yeelen Ba received funding from UNCDF to create a solar powered multifunctional platform in the village of Koukoualé…