Empower New Energy secures a guarantee to support its expansion in Africa. The Oslo, Norway-based renewable energy provider is supported by the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (AGF). The guarantee, the exact value of which was not disclosed, is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
This guarantee comes at the right time. Empower New Energy is expanding its activities in Africa. The company is financing the installation of clean power generation systems for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers in Africa. For example, nearly two years ago, the company committed to equipping the Premium Poultry Farm in Abuja, Nigeria, with a solar photovoltaic system. The 700 kWp plant will be built by Rensource Energy, a company based in Lagos, Nigeria.
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Empower also has assets in Rwanda, Egypt and Ghana. According to AGF, the recent guarantee will finance a 700 kWp rooftop solar plant for Miniplast, a Ghanaian company that specializes in recycling plastic waste. “As Empower grows this year, the combination of our unique investment model with AGF’s equity guarantees will reduce risk and help provide cheaper, more reliable energy to even more businesses in Africa,” says Terje Osmundsen, Empower’s CEO and founder.
As it expands its operations in Africa, the renewable energy provider is also leveraging Empower Invest. Launched in September 2019, this $50 million alternative investment fund (AIF) is funded by several development partners, including Norfund, a private equity firm of the Norwegian government, or Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI), an investment fund owned by the European Union (EU), and whose goal is to support the private sector in providing electricity in unserved areas.
Jean Marie Takouleu