FinnFund and Norfund, Nordic financial companies have decided to increase funding to Starsight solar by $10 millionThe funding available since 2019 has now increased from $10 million to $20 million. are increasing the line of credit initially granted to Starsight by $10 million in 2019.
FinnFund, is a Finnish company specialising in development finance, while Norfund, a Norwegian government private equity firm. Starsight solar supplies solar energy to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers in West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria. Since 2015, Starsight solar has installed its small power plants at more than 500 sites, with a production capacity of 36 MW and 28 MWh of electricity storage capacity. Starsight plans to use this financing to expand its portfolio of solar projects in Nigeria and Ghana.
Recently, Starsight solar also signed an agreement with Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF) for a line of credit of over $9 million. The 10-year credit facility will be used to significantly expand its existing portfolio, which includes banks, petrol stations, schools, hospitals, agricultural companies and other large commercial and industrial customers in Nigeria.
As reported by Blooomberg NEF, in July 2020, private players funded by developmental finance institutes dominate the decentralised solar market in West Africa. Nigeria is potentially the largest market for decentralised solar in West Africa as it reported and inflow of $374 million in the last decade international donors. The country had small-grid solar capacity of 2.8 MW in 2019, with 52 of the 59 projects solar-powered. Further, only 55 per cent of the nation’s population is connected to the national electricity grid with a large fraction of people facing frequent power cuts of up to 15 hours per day.