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

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FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) – A company bringing solar power to some of the poorest homes in Central and West Africa is said to be one of the fastest-growing on a continent where governments have long struggled to overcome some of the world’s worst infrastructure and the complications of climate change. -climate change.

Companies that are often African-owned operate in areas where the majority of people live disconnected from the electricity grid, and offer products from solar lights that allow children to study at night to describe home systems that power kitchen appliances and plasma televisions. Prices range from less than $20 for solar lights to thousands of dollars for home appliances and entertainment systems.

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Central and West Africa have some of the lowest electrification rates in the world. In West Africa, where 220 million people live without power, this is less than 8%, according to the World Bank. Many rely on expensive kerosene and other fuels that fill homes and businesses with smoke and can cause fires.

At the last climate summit of the United Nations, the world agreed on the goal of tripling the capacity for renewable power generation by 2050. When the African continent is responsible for almost all carbon emissions relative to its size, solar has become one of the relatively cost-effective methods. to provide electricity.

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

About 600 million Africans do not have access to electricity, he said, out of a population of more than 1.3 billion.

Among the companies that made the Financial Times annual ranking of the fastest growing companies in Africa in 2023 is Easy Solar, a local company that brings solar power to homes and businesses in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The rankings are based on the compound annual growth rate in revenue.

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Co-founder Nthabiseng Mosia grew up in Ghana with frequent power outages. He became interested in solving energy problems in Africa while in graduate school in the United States. Together with his US classmates, he launched a company in Sierra Leone with the lowest electrification rates in West Africa.

“No one is doing solar at scale. So we think this is a good opportunity,” Mosia said in an interview.

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

Many communities have connected to a stable power source for the first time. “We really want to go the last mile to rural areas,” Mosia said.

The company started with a pilot project in Songo, a community on the outskirts of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. Uptake was slow at first, Mosia said. The villagers were worried about the cost of the solar equipment, but once they started seeing the lights on their neighbors’ houses at night, more people signed up.

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“We have long forgotten about kerosene,” said Haroun Patrick Samai, a Songo resident and land surveyor. “Before Easy Solar we lived in constant danger of fire outbreaks due to the use of candles and kerosene.”

Altech, a solar power company based in Congo, is also one of the fastest growing companies in Africa. Less than 20% of the population in Congo has access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

Founders Washikala Malango and Iongwa Mashangao fled conflict in Congo’s South Kivu province as children and grew up in Tanzania. He decided to start the company in 2013 to help solve the electricity problems he experienced growing up in a refugee camp, relying on kerosene for power and competing with family members to study at night.

Altech currently operates in 23 of Congo’s 26 provinces, and the company expects to reach the remaining ones by the end of the year. The founder says it has sold more than 1 million products in Congo in a variety of solar power solutions for homes and businesses, including lights, appliances, home systems and generators.

“For the majority of customers, this is the first time they’ve connected to a power source,” Malango said.

The repayment rate is more than 90%, Malango said, partly helped by a system that can remotely shut off power to devices if people don’t pay.

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