Africa’s Off-Grid Solar Market Attracts Another $7m Investment

In line with the latest bout of investment sprouting into the continent’s profitable off-grid solar energy market, United States’ biggest solar energy firm, SolarCity Corp. has partnered with venture firms Vulcan Capital, a company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Omidyar Network to invest $7 million into Off-Grid Electric, a Tanzania-based company providing solar lighting services in Africa.

Off-Grid Electric is an African-focused energy firm that uses a mobile payment platform which allows customers in Africa to purchase solar lighting services in small amounts, rather than having to pay for an entire solar system up front.  With a minimum of $5 per month, Off-Grid provides access to solar power through its M-Power energy hub in Tanzania while encouraging potential buyers to switch from using kerosene lamps to solar, which it says has higher-quality and cheaper service benefits.

Xavier Helgesen who began his career as a co-founder of the online bookstore Better World Books created off-grid with Erica Mackey and Joshua Pierce, during their studies at Oxford University with primary target to Tanzania, where some 85 percent of households operate without electricity.

The consortium’s investment into the market is yet another testimony that off-grid solar technologies combined with mobile money are becoming a viable investment in developing worlds like Africa where many have little access to energy services.  The $7 million dollar investment brings the total of investments in the Africa off-grid solar market to $20 million in the past six months, given the previous $13 million investment made by Khosla Ventures, DFJ, Omidyar Network and Gray Ghost Ventures.

The investment automatically puts SolarCity CEO, Lyndon Rive and Vulcan Capital Managing Director Steve Hall on the board of Off-Grid Electric, according to Venture Beat, a “disruptive” tech news platform.  US installer SolarCity, which provides solar services to people, who can’t afford to pay upfront for a system, is looking to expand its business footprints beyond its home market, by venturing into off-grid solar businesses in developing countries.  In Africa, the investment gives SolarCity a leverage into the booming off-grid solar market where mobile money platforms are helping to boost mobile money services.

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