Pittsburgh, PA – September 18, 2026 – Energy Corps today named four new grantees whose projects will expand access to affordable, reliable, modern energy for communities from East and West Africa to Tribal Nations across the United States. Energy Corps is a U.S.-based nonprofit accelerating the global shift from energy poverty to energy prosperity. 

The grantees span different geographies, technologies, and challenges, but share a common thread. Each puts local leaders and the people they serve at the center of the work. Together, these projects will help families cook without smoke, entrepreneurs grow their businesses, households access reliable power, and governments manage their resources.

“Energy poverty isn’t solved in a conference room. It’s solved by people on the ground who know their communities and just need the right partners behind them,” said Tisha Schuller, Head of Energy Corps. “These four organizations are doing exactly that. We will help fund clean cooking in Kenya, rural entrepreneurs in Senegal looking to grow their businesses, families on Tribal land to access reliable power, and governments working to harness resources for their citizens. That’s what energy prosperity looks like.  I am proud to expand the reach of Energy Corps’ energy-agnostic approach to accelerating the pathway to modern energy in durable, practical ways.”

The new grantees reflect the three catalytic pathways at the center of Energy Corps’ model: unlocking policy and market bottlenecks, attracting large-scale finance, and creating the virtuous demand cycles where energy access drives income and opportunity. True to the organization’s energy-agnostic approach, these solutions span electric cooking, productive use of electricity, solar construction, and stronger energy governance, each expanding modern energy.

The New Grantees

DanChurchAid (DCA).  The Cooking Dividend, in partnership with Mwangaza Light and Renewvia Energy (Kenya)

In the Kakuma and Kalobeyei settlements of northern Kenya, more than 90 percent of households still cook with firewood and charcoal even as electricity access rapidly expands. The Cooking Dividend will help more than 1,000 refugee and host-community households — roughly 7,500 people — put that power to work in the kitchen, pairing induction cookers with pay-as-you-go financing, a discounted daytime electricity tariff, and incentives that make regular electric cooking affordable. The project reduces the time, cost, exposure to smoke, and safety risks of biomass cooking, particularly for women and girls. DanChurchAid leads the project as the accountable partner, with women-led Kenyan social enterprise Mwangaza Light as the primary implementation partner and Renewvia Energy providing the solar-powered mini-grid.

“With Energy Corps and our partner Mwangaza Light, we can help refugee and host-community households in Kakuma and Kalobeyei move from biomass to electric cooking — cutting costs, protecting women and girls from the risks of fuel collection, and building a lasting, market-based model for clean energy.” — Karen Poore, Country Director – Kenya, DanChurchAid

Prosper Global. PROSPER Senegal: Productive Use of Electricity (Senegal)

The PROSPER Senegal project, implemented by Prosper Global’s local subsidiary Mercy Corps Senegal, will help about 50 micro and small enterprises and producer groups, particularly women- and youth-led businesses, put electricity to work with productive-use equipment such as refrigeration, milling machines, and irrigation pumps, alongside business coaching, technical assistance, and access to financing. Energy Corps investment is made possible by the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s successful investment in extending the electricity grid to these villages, helping local entrepreneurs put their new access to electricity to productive use and translate it into higher incomes, new jobs, and stronger local economies. Prosper Global is a leading global humanitarian and development organization that reached more than 36 million people in 2025.

“Energy access becomes transformative when it creates opportunities for people to improve their livelihoods. Energy Corps’ support will help rural entrepreneurs and women-led producer groups in Senegal turn reliable electricity into growing businesses, higher incomes, and new jobs.” — Melaku Yirga, Vice-President, Africa, Prosper Global

Tribal Energy Alternatives (TEA). Tribal Solar Access Initiative (United States)

Across the United States, many Tribal communities face unreliable grid access. Through the Tribal Solar Access Initiative, Tribal Energy Alternatives will provide gap funding and hands-on support to move shovel-ready, community-led solar projects — ones Tribal Nations are already pursuing — across the finish line, closing the final capital gap that often keep viable projects from being built. TEA pairs that funding with technical assistance, construction oversight, workforce training, and project-specific permitting or interconnection support, with the selected Tribal Nation as co-designer and owner-operator of the completed system. Completed installations can reduce participating households’ energy costs by 75 to 90 percent. Tribal Energy Alternatives is a Tribal-led affiliate of GRID Alternatives.

“When we invest in Tribal communities, we are not simply investing in energy infrastructure—we are investing in people, careers, self-determination, and the long-term resilience of our communities.” — Tanksi Clairmont, Co-Executive Director, Tribal Energy Alternatives

New Producers for Sustainable Energy (NP4SE).  AI for Energy Governance (25 countries)

NP4SE will build two AI-enabled tools that give small, under-resourced government teams in emerging energy-producing countries better access to expertise, all without replacing human judgment. An AI Advisory Desk will turn NP4SE’s 14 years of peer lessons and expert analysis into on-demand, advisory guidance for regulators across its network of 25 member-country governments. A separate AI-Augmented National Greenhouse Gas Dashboard, will help regulators independently track and verify emissions data — integrating satellite data to spot methane leaks — while keeping sensitive government and commercial data protected and under national control. This Dashboard will enable export and reduce methane emissions. The New Producers for Sustainable Energy is a peer network of energy-producing governments in the Global South working toward sustainable, equitable development.

“The countries that need good energy governance the most often have the least capacity to deliver it. This project closes that gap, giving regulators the tools and data to exercise real oversight of one of their most critical sectors.” — Valerie Marcel, Executive Director, New Producers for Sustainable Energy

Join the Movement

Energy Corps invites policymakers, global development institutions, energy companies, philanthropists, and local leaders to collaborate in advancing practical pathways from energy poverty to energy prosperity. For more information, visit www.energycorps.com.

About Energy Corps

Energy Corps is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization accelerating global access to affordable, reliable energy. Guided by three catalytic pathways — unlocking policy and regulatory bottlenecks, attracting large-scale finance, and creating virtuous demand cycles —and its long-term ambition of bringing 50 megawatt-hours of reliable energy per person and $50,000 GDP per capita globally within 50 years, Energy Corps works with partners worldwide to test, learn, and share what enables modern energy to drive opportunity and prosperity. Energy Corps is grateful to its funders. 

To schedule an interview, please contact media@energycorps.com.