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AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
Daystar to seek $100m over three years
for West African solar projects
WEST AFRICA WEST Africa hybrid solar power solutions pro- up-front costs.
vider Daystar Power plans to raise about $100m The company’s current focus is to increase the
within the next three years to satisfy existing cli- use of analytics to improve its forecasts and auto-
ent demand. mation to reduce client energy costs. Daystar is
“The market size and funding gap is huge, also working on new developments in energy
and our role in bridging this gap will involve us storage, added Osoka.
continuously raising funds,” Olaedo Osoka, Day- Solar power in West Africa needs greater gov-
star’s CEO for Ghana, said. ernment support to fulfil its potential. Accord-
The funding will mostly be debt, and the ing to a study co-authored by Mark McCarthy
amount sought in each fundraising will typically Akrofi and Sarpong Hammond Antwib, Nige-
be around $20m, she added. ria and Burkina Faso are the only West African
Daystar was founded in 2017 by Sunray countries where there have been explicit incen-
Ventures and is active in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo tives for renewable energies during the COVID-
and Senegal, with a representative office in Côte 19 pandemic.
d’Ivoire. In January, Daystar raised $38m from Four solar companies in Nigeria got money
investors led by Danish development finance from a $500,000 fund. In Burkina Faso, the gov-
institution The Investment Fund for Developing ernment cut the cost of solar kits for vulnerable
Countries. The funding raised will be used to households by 50%. While most West African
expand operations in Ghana, Senegal and Togo, countries have taken fiscal measures to protect
said Osoka. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
The cost of power in West Africa has curtailed they do not explicitly mention energy start-ups,
the growth of competitive businesses and indus- Akrofi writes.
tries, Osoka says, adding that Daystar’s solutions The solar power industry employs an esti-
reduce typical power costs by up to 30%. She is mated 3.9% of the African workforce, includ-
confident on the outlook for this year, and says ing an estimated 26,000 people in West Africa.
the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has “COVID-19 threatens to undo all this progress
intensified the need for reliable and affordable because with declining liquidity, off-grid and
electricity. decentralised renewable companies will be
“Indications into 2021 show an increased forced to cut jobs,” Akrofi and Antwib write.
demand for our services,” says Osoka. “Our Governments are making headway in creat-
expectation is to grow exponentially this year.” ing policies to encourage the transition to solar
Daystar Power’s clients pay a flat monthly energy, said Osoka. Still, “there is a considerable
fee or a variable tariff per kilowatt hour (kWh) amount of work to be done from a policy per-
to outsource the management of their power spective to build the industry.”
systems. “We hope to see a more consistent and cohe-
Services include a power audit and assess- sive approach in policymaking as well as execu-
ment of energy needs, proposal of a solution, tion of policies” to support solar power growth,
installation, operation and maintenance. Cus- she said.
tomers do not incur capital expenditure or pay
Week 07 18•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
