PEG Africa, a pay-as-you-go solar company based in West Africa, has recently raised $5 million from ElectriFI in order to continue its expansion in existing markets. PEG Africa finances and deploys solar energy to SMEs and households in West Africa. PEG Africa, via its PAYG financial model, allows customers to replace their spending on substandard-quality polluting fuels like kerosene and diesel with solar energy. PEG Africa currently serves 400,000 daily users in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana. The company has recently expanded into solar water irrigation and larger solar power systems.
The funding gained from ElectriFI is subordinated junior debt and will be used for growth in PEG’s existing markets. ElectriFI, the Electrification Financing Initiative, is funded by the European Union (EU) and is managed by the EDFI Management Company, which was established by 15 European Development Finance Institutions.
“PEG has almost doubled in size every year since 2015, and the fact we are now able to raise a significant amount of our funding in debt demonstrates that our approach is financially sustainable. We are delighted to work with ElectriFI to further accelerate our growth,” said PEG Africa CEO Hugh Whalan. “With 82.000 direct new connections by the end of 2019, together [with] adding not less than 1.7 MW with Solar Home Systems, ElectriFI’s investment in PEG will strongly contribute to improving quality of life through renewable energy in the markets it operates in,” said Dominiek Deconinck, ElectriFI Fund Manager. “ElectriFI’s innovative financing is catalysing the financing by UK DFI, CDC group, who together with SunFunder, provided a US$15 million senior secured debt facility in local currency earlier in 2019,” Deconinck concluded.
Edited by Kojo Essah
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