Solar power companies are growing rapidly in Africa, where 600 million still lack electricity

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FRETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) – Companies bringing solar power to some of the poorest households in Central and West Africa are said to be among the fastest growing in a continent whose governments have long struggled to fix some of the world’s worst infrastructure. climate change issues.

The companies, which are often African, operate in areas where most of the population lives off the electricity grid, and provide products ranging from solar lamps that allow children to study at night to elaborate home systems that power kitchen appliances and plasma televisions. Prices range from less than $20 for a solar lamp to thousands of dollars for home appliances and entertainment systems.

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Central and West Africa has the lowest level of electrification in the world. In West Africa, where 220 million people live without power, this is as low as 8%, according to the World Bank. Many rely on expensive kerosene and other fuels that fill homes and businesses with smoke and the risk of fires.

At the last United Nations climate conference, the world agreed on a goal to triple the capacity of renewable electricity generation by 2050. Although the African continent is very carbon-neutral compared to its size, solar has become a very cost-effective option. providing electricity.

The International Energy Agency, in a report earlier this year, said that small and medium-sized companies are making rapid progress in reaching homes, but much more needs to be invested to reach all homes and businesses in Africa by 2030.

There are approximately 600 million Africans without electricity, he said, out of a population of more than 1.3 billion.

Among the companies that made the Financial Times annual ranking of Africa’s fastest growing companies in 2023 was Easy Solar, a local company that brings solar power to homes and businesses in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The rate went by the compound annual growth rate in income.

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Co-founder Nthabiseng Mosia grew up in Ghana where there were frequent blackouts. He became interested in solving energy problems in Africa while in graduate school in the United States. Together with a US classmate, he launched a company in Sierra Leone with one of the lowest electrification rates in West Africa.

“There wasn’t really anyone doing solar at scale. So we thought it was a good opportunity,” said Mosia in an interview.

Since launching in 2016, Easy Solar has brought solar power to more than a million people in Sierra Leone and Liberia, which has a population of more than 14 million. The company’s network includes agents and stores in all 16 regions of Sierra Leone and seven of the nine regions in Liberia.

Many communities are connected to a stable energy source for the first time. “We really want to go to the last kilometer deep into the rural areas,” said Mosia.

The company started with a pilot project in Songo, a community outside Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. The uptake was slow at first, Mosia said. Villagers were concerned about the cost of solar-powered equipment, but when they started seeing lights in their neighbors’ houses at night, more were signed up.

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“We have long forgotten kerosene,” said Haroun Patrick Samai, a resident of Songo and a surveyor. “Before Easy Solar we were always at risk of fire because of using candles and kerosene.”

Altech, a Congolese solar energy company, is also ranked as one of the fastest growing companies in Africa. Less than 20% of Congolese people have access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

Co-founders Washikala Malango and Iongwa Mashangao fled conflict in Congo’s South Kivu province as children and grew up in Tanzania. They decided to launch this company in 2013 to help solve the electricity problems they encountered growing up in a refugee camp, relying on kerosene for power and competing with family members for light to study at night.

Altech now operates in 23 of Congo’s 26 provinces, and the company expects to reach the remaining ones by the end of the year. Its founders say they have sold more than a million products in Congo for a variety of solar solutions for homes and businesses, including lights, appliances, home systems and generators.

“For most of our customers, this is the first time they are connected to an electricity source,” said Malango.

Payment rates are over 90%, Malango said, partly helped by a system that can remotely turn off electricity to utilities if people don’t pay.

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