ImpactAlpha, January 14 – Mauritius-based Daystar Power installs and manages commercial and industrial solar installations in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire. The E.U.’s African Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility provided a guarantee, helping crowd in $38 million from Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, France’s Proparco and STOA Infra & Energy.
Even with a guarantee, Daystar’s round demonstrates growing investor appetite for commercial and industrial solar in Africa. Early investors got an exit last year when CrossBoundary Energy sold its portfolio (see, “Proof point for Africa’s commercial solar market – and catalytic capital”).
While Africa’s electricity generation is set to double by 2030, fossil fuels will continue to dominate unless governments phase out subsidies and national and international financial institutions stop funding from fossil fuel projects, according to the journal Nature Energy.