Africa has vast, untapped natural resources, sufficient to power the continent using the renewable energy sources: solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydroelectric. Yet it is the least electrified continent in the world.Dalilou Energie’s primary focus is solar energy. Investing in solar energy in sub-Saharan Africa is a sustainable and profitable endeavor. Our research in three West African countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, and the Ivory Coast, shows that demand is increasing exponentially and that the supply side is lagging.According to the World Bank database, the population of sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at 1,078,000,000. Seventy-one percent of this population is between 5 and 44 years of age. These age groups are heavy users of technology and devices that run on electrical current.
PUBLIC PRIVATEPARTNERSHIP
The majority of sub-Saharan countries derive most of their energy for electricity from fossil fuels. As utility companies are largely state-owned enterprises, our approach is to engage in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) with state energy companies. This relationship provides a win-win situation: our private solar farms will boost production and distribution capacities of the state power grid while generating revenue for our company.
TRAINING HUMANRESOURCES
There is a crucial deficiency of a qualified labor force in the solar industry in sub-Saharan Africa. This is one of the biggest obstacles to growth of the solar industry in this region, and in the continent of Africa in general. We are training new solar technicians and are developing programs with technical schools to increase the labor force in this industry.
