Menu

Daystar Power, a leading pan-African solar energy company, has partnered with Trine, a Swedish crowdfunding investment platform, to finance its expansion plans in West Africa.The partnership will enable Daystar Power to expand its installation footprints across Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Togo.

Under this partnership, a €500,000 (or an equivalent of $559,374) debt investment has been set up to finance Daystar Power’s installations in Togo and Senegal. The financing round also opens up investment in Daystar Power’s installations, previously limited to large-scale investors, to the wider public.

Daystar, in a statement released on Tuesday, said individuals and private companies can now invest in its solar projects with a minimum of €25 (or $28). Traditionally, investments in solar power plants in Africa are reserved for large institutional investors. By enabling individuals and companies to participate in this financing round, Daystar and Trine are changing this paradigm.

Daystar Power was founded in Lagos by Christian Wessels and Jasper Graf von Hardenberg in 2017. It was incubated by Sunray Ventures. The company installs solar power systems ranging from 20 kilowatt peak (KWp) to 5 megawatt peak (MWp) to companies in various sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, consumer goods and finance. By helping clients to minimize the use of diesel generators to power their operations, Daystar’s solutions deliver up to 25 per cent in cost savings compared to other sources of energy.

Christian Wessels, Executive Chairman of Daystar Power, said, “We are excited about our partnership with Trine as it will allow a new class of investors to invest in our solar plants in West Africa. Trines is a partner that is as passionate about impact investing and solar power as we are.”

Trine makes it easy for people to invest in solar energy where it has the most impact. To date, investors have injected €19 million into 27 different innovative companies through Trine. This has enabled about 400,000 people to gain access to electricity with 31,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions avoided. €2.8 million have been repaid to investors.

“With Daystar Power, we have found our first partner-company which is active in the commercial and industrial space of solar power,” said Christoffer Falsen, Co-founder and CFO of Trine. “We are confident that through our loans, Daystar Power will be able to make significant contributions to protecting the environment and fostering local job creation.”