Distributed Power Africa (DPA), a market leader in innovative solar energy solutions in Africa, announced that it has secured $2.7 million debt facility with Mirova SunFunder to deploy solar energy solutions to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers in Kenya.
Mirova SunFunder is a leading impact investor, solving energy access and climate change challenges in frontier markets, primarily Africa, by providing clean energy financing.
The loan facility will be structured with DPA Kenya Limited, whose other main shareholder is EDF (Électricité de France), one of the world’s largest multinational energy corporations. It will enable the organisation to unlock more solar energy solutions for their customers in the C&I sector and ensure increased access to renewable energy solutions that are much needed on the continent. DPA expects to deploy approximately 3MW of new installed solar capacity utilising the loan facility.
According to Norman Moyo, Chief Executive Officer of Distributed Power Africa, “We are excited to partner Mirova SunFunder in unlocking financing for scaling up energy for Africa. We believe energy is a fundamental pillar in supporting Africa’s economic development. With this financial investment, we will witness a remarkable uptake of renewable energy and increase business efficiencies in Kenya”.
For Mirova SunFunder, this is another milestone in expanding their provision of debt facilities in the Kenyan market through their Solar Energy Transformation (SET) Fund1, which has been fully deployed. To further accelerate the adoption of renewable energy and climate solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and other emerging markets they are working on a project of a new $500 million fund, the Mirova Gigaton Fund2.
“Mirova SunFunder’s local presence and financial expertise combined with the extensive customer pipeline of a leading pan-African company like DPA will accelerate the scaling of cost-effective solar energy solutions to businesses in Kenya” commented Audrey Desiderato, Mirova SunFunder’s co-founder and COO.
“We are happy to have kicked off an important relationship with DPA Kenya, at a time when climate change is a reality for all of us. We have seen a growing demand for solar in the C&I sector in Kenya, and we believe this facility will enable DPA to execute on their growing pipeline” said Jemimah Kwakye-Fosu, Mirova SunFunder’s senior investment officer leading the transaction.
DPA has vigorously engaged C&I businesses to adopt hybrid solar energy and lithium battery technology for energy resilience, increased business efficiencies and improved carbon footprints. The company is deploying energy projects across their markets in Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa, making great strides in data centres, telecom switching centres, telecom towers, manufacturing plants, hospitals, and other large industrial users.
