Energy Corps Announces Four-Year Partnership with Mercuria for Global Energy Projects
News related to:Energy Corps · 2 min read
PITTSBURGH and GENEVA, Oct. 29, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Energy Corps, a U.S.-based nonprofit, has announced a four-year, $4 million partnership with Mercuria Energy Group, one of the world's leading independent energy and commodity groups. This collaboration will fund locally-led projects that aim to expand energy access and strengthen the systems needed for these projects to endure and scale.
The partnership, which will provide Energy Corps with stable funding, is expected to enable the organization to fund five projects in 2026. These projects will serve communities in Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Panama, and Zambia. Each project is designed to address specific energy needs and conditions in the communities it serves.
In Bangladesh, Dwip Unnayan Songstha (Island Development Association), with technical support from Pathway2050, will build a solar-powered community center. This center will include cold storage, ice making, a fish-drying facility, and space for grading and quality control. The project aims to provide power to nearby businesses and households through a local tariff model, while also offering training and microfinance for women and vulnerable groups. The goal is to reduce post-harvest losses, improve the quality and market access of fish, and raise incomes for fishing families.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, NRECA International, the international arm of America's electric cooperatives, will work with local partners to strengthen electrical safety practices. This initiative will provide targeted training and practical tools tailored to local needs, aiming to reduce accidents and build local capacity for stronger safety practices.
In Panama, acciona.org will install home-based photovoltaic systems to provide reliable power for lighting, communication, health care, education, and work-related needs. This project will enable agricultural processing for the local cooperative and provide internet access for the community center, supporting education and commercial priorities.
In Zambia, RMI will work with Zambian energy sector partners and utilities to prepare up to two distributed energy resource projects for financing and implementation. Through customer studies, system design, financial modeling, and investor preparation, RMI aims to bring the projects to a bankable, implementation-ready stage and develop a replicable framework for scaling distributed energy investment in Zambia.
In Kaude Village, Innovation: Africa will install a solar-powered water system to bring safe water to taps throughout the community. This initiative builds on Energy Corps' initial investment in Innovation: Africa's project in Chakumba, Zambia, where more than 3,000 community members gained access to safe water and no longer needed to make a daily 10-kilometer trip to an unsafe water source.
Energy Corps, guided by its three catalytic pathways, unlocking policy and regulatory bottlenecks, attracting large-scale finance, and creating virtuous demand cycles, aims to test, learn, and share what enables modern energy to drive opportunity and prosperity. The organization's long-term 50-50-50 ambition is to achieve 50 megawatt-hours of reliable energy per person per year, $50,000 GDP per capita globally, and 50 years to maximize modern energy access.