By Dipo Olowookere
A funding support of $9 million has received by an indigenous technology solar company known as Arnergy for the provision of renewable energy to Nigerians and other African countries.
A statement disclosed that the Series A round of funding was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures with participation from the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund), ElectriFI and All On.
Arnergy is a Lagos-based firm which provides sustainable energy services for small, medium and large businesses across its target markets.
Owner of the company, Mr Femi Adeyemo, while addressing journalist on the new financing package from investors, explained that with the funds, Arnergy would be powering 35,000 businesses and homes in Nigeria in the next three years through its technology deployment.
According to him, the company believes that energy needs in Nigeria have surpassed rudimentary requirements of low power utilization, with its solutions being solving the problem of reliability and not just access.
He noted that the company’s market scaling ambitions, fuelled by the influx of new capital, would include new business models and partnership opportunities, as well as consumer financing and channel expansion activities.
“We are excited to enter this next phase in Arnergy’s development with investors that share our vision of tackling the most pressing energy challenges across emerging market economies, starting with Nigeria”.
“Arnergy’s distributed renewable energy systems harness the combination of solar power, superior storage solutions and proprietary remote management technologies to deliver scalable, reliable and affordable energy solutions that are tailored to tackle issues related to intermittency and grid unreliability,” an elated Mr Adeyemo said.
Explaining why they invested in the Nigerian company, the Executive Vice President of Clean Energy from Norfund, Mr Mark Davis, disclosed that, “Creating accessibility to reliable renewable energy sources is paramount to economic growth in this region.”
He said, “With Arnergy’s technology, we can significantly decrease carbon emissions and it’s a model that can be replicated all over the developing world because access to clean and stable energy is a prerequisite for job creation and development.
“Norfund is proud to support the expansion of Arnergy, which will provide Nigerian households and businesses on a weak grid connection with a cheaper, cleaner and more reliable power solution to meet their daily needs.”
