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Nairobi-based Solarise Africa has received a $1.15 million grant from the Energy and Environment Partnership Trust Fund (EEP Africa). The money will help it take its solar leasing model into Uganda and Zambia.
Solarise Africa will add $1.1 million of its own co-financing. Together, the two amounts make up a $2.3 million, 24-month programme. The company will set up operations in both countries and install clean energy systems for businesses and social institutions.
The project aims to add 3 MW of new renewable capacity. This includes solar PV, battery storage and, where suitable, heat pumps.
“This grant represents much more than entry into two new markets. It is an opportunity to demonstrate that a model we have spent years building and refining can be successfully replicated across Africa. Businesses across the continent face the same fundamental challenge: they need energy that is more reliable, more affordable and cleaner, but the capital and financing structures required to make that transition are not always readily available. Our role is to bridge that gap,” said Jan Albert Valk, Co-Founder and CEO of Solarise Africa.
Solarise Africa was founded in 2018 by Jan Albert Valk and Sakkie Van Wijk. It is an energy company that offers decentralised energy solutions to businesses in Africa.
It has developed from primarily providing energy financing to offering a range of services, including engineering, finance, operations, maintenance, and energy optimisation.
The company focuses on helping businesses access reliable and cost-effective energy while allowing them to maintain capital for other operations.
At present, the company works with commercial and industrial customers across Southern and East Africa. It has raised equity and debt from African and international investors and development finance institutions, which helped it grow from Kenya into a pan-African business.
“The long-term opportunity goes far beyond this project. Our objective is to build commercially sustainable operations in Uganda and Zambia that can continue deploying energy infrastructure well beyond the grant period. EEP Africa’s support gives us the opportunity to establish that foundation while maintaining the technical, financial and operational standards that have underpinned our growth to date,” said Sakkie Van Wijk, Co-Founder and COO of Solarise Africa.
`EEP Africa gives early-stage grants and catalytic financing to clean energy projects and business models in Southern and East Africa. It is hosted and managed by the Nordic Development Fund, with funding from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the Nordic Development Fund.
The grant will go towards setting up Solarise Africa’s operations in Uganda and Zambia, building a project pipeline, and delivering its first projects in Uganda and its first portfolio in Zambia.
Under the contract milestones, the company will report and verify at least 4.5 GWh of renewable electricity generation and 3,600 tonnes of avoided CO₂ emissions across the project.
EP Africa is hosted and managed by the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), with funding from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, NDF, Norway, and Switzerland.
