March 05 2025

Husk Power plans to raise $400m for African expansion

March 05, 2025

Solar minigrid provider Husk Power Systems plans to raise $400 million in debt and equity, with the goal of an IPO in 2027, to fuel further expansion in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. It operates in India and Nigeria and has set its sights on Zambia and Madagascar. The Husk Power CEO disclosed this in an interview with a news outlet.

  • Husk achieved profitability in 2023 and has accelerated deployment of its "PRISM" minigrid-in-a-box solution. With this technology, the company can install one mini grid per day.

  • The majority of the rural African population lacks access to electricity. Grid extension to such areas is expensive. Minigrids have proven to be cost-effective, with the World Bank projecting that they can connect 380 million people in Africa by 2030.

  • Our take: Minigrids offer a critical solution for electrifying rural populations, where over 80% of Africa's unelectrified individuals reside… Read more (2 min)

Hotspot, a Nigerian telecom provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a consortium led by Canada-based smart off-grid company Clear Blue Technologies to deploy 312 solar-powered telecom sites in Nigeria. The partnership brings solar, finance, &  infrastructure expertise to tackle the challenges of powering telecoms.

  • The consortium’s value lies in its combined expertise. Clear Blue’s Illumience smart power cuts energy costs by 40% compared to diesel, Empower’s blended-finance model de-risks capital, and Netis’ maintenance network ensures 98% uptime, which is critical for Nigeria’s unreliable grid.

  • With 60% of Nigeria’s telecom towers still diesel-dependent, this rollout could save millions of dollars in energy costs. This model could be replicated in other countries reliant on diesel to power their telecom towers, e.g  Ghana (35%) and Kenya (28%).

  • Our take: Africa’s energy transition needs sector-specific partnerships, not solo acts… Read more (2 min)

You may wonder what level of experience and education it takes to lead some of Africa's renewable energy companies. Our analysis of funding deals in February reveals that most of the CEOs leading these companies were educated in Africa, mainly in their home countries. Some pursued further studies abroad.

  • In South Africa, which secured three funding deals in February, all the CEOs leading those entities were educated in South Africa. This includes the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, who received his Bachelor of Social Science, Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Cape Town.

  • Regarding experience, all the CEOs have considerable cumulative experience, averaging 22 years. However, SunCulture stands out with the youngest CEO and founder, who graduated in 2011.

  • Our take: People management skills can be taught, and it's high time the sector considered younger leaders… Read more (2 min)

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Energy company, Sungrow Southern Africa’s team showcases their innovations at the Africa Energy Indaba Event in South Africa

Events

📅 Attend the Kenya National Draft Energy Policy discussion by ESAK (Mar 6)

📅 Learn about the new digital energy assessment tool for the humanitarian sector (Mar 12)

📅 Participate in the Invest in Africa Energy Conference (May 13)

Jobs

👷 Become a Services Site Senior  Engineer at Schneider Electric (Egypt)

📈 Join the data analysis team at Husk Power Systems (Nigeria)

👨🏻‍💻 Coordinate IT operations at Engie (Zambia)

Various 

🔋 Solar power doubles mango production in Chamwino, Tanzania

💡 Ethiopia nears 100% renewable energy power generation

🤝🏻 EBID, EIB announce $105m funding to boost climate action in ECOWAS region

Seen on LinkedIn 

NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman at African Energy Chamber, says, “If the West wishes to speed along Africa’s progress on this front, the best way is to work with African as partners and investors working towards common goals.”

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