Enlarge: Photovoltaics in Ghana with innovative German financing

Ghana has excellent climate conditions for the use of photovoltaics. There is also no shortage of companies with economic and environmental vision which would like to have a solar power system for their own use. As in many developing and newly industrialised countries, the biggest obstacle to overcome remains the financing. Loans in Ghana are extremely costly, so it often makes little sense to invest in anything beyond a company's core business.

The model: solar energy as a service

Young German company ecoligo has developed a way to eliminate this barrier. They offer companies in Ghana “solar-as-a-service” – an individually planned, turnkey installed solar system, including maintenance by one of ecoligo's local partners. Instead of making a substantial investment in the system, the customer only pays a fixed monthly amount to ecoligo. The basic financing is provided via crowd investing by numerous small investors from Germany, who commit capital to their chosen project for a few years. In return, the investors receive a solid rate of interest, as well as the satisfaction of contributing to climate protection. Within the framework of the RES Programme of the Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) – the German Energy Agency, ecoligo was able to implement the first reference installations together with consortium partner SMA Sunbelt Energy, which contributed high-quality “made in Germany” components to the project. Three branches of Stanbic Bank, one of the biggest banks in Ghana and thus a high-visibility customer, were secured as installation sites in the Ghanaian market. The rooftop PV systems on the branches in Dansoman, Kasoa and Tema, which were inaugurated on 13 July 2018, have capacities of between 10 and 20 kilowatt peak and cover around 30 percent of each branch’s energy requirements.

A concept in line with the market

ecoligo’s commitment to marketing and acquisition has paid off. Six months after the high-profile presentation of the dena RES project, the company is already working on three further projects in Ghana, with financing already secured though the “crowd”.

Markus Schwaninger, ecoligo: “Our fully financed solar-as-a-service solution eliminates the obstacles to solar power supply for customers like Stanbic Bank in Ghana. This enables them to concentrate on their core business and still benefit from the savings generated by solar energy.”

Hans-Helge Sander, German Embassy Ghana: “This is a showcase project and a model for the development of further solar projects here in Ghana.”

ecoligo GmbH provides a fully financed solar-as-a-service solution for businesses in emerging markets. With its complete digital platform for financing and delivering solar projects, ecoligo removes the barriers that prevent such projects from being accomplished. Supplying businesses with affordable electricity enables them to grow and boost the local economy.

SMA Sunbelt Energy GmbH is a 100 % affiliated company of SMA Solar Technology AG. It was founded in 2014 and focuses on off-grid, hybrid and battery-based solar projects. SMA Sunbelt Energy GmbH concentrates its business on the world’s Sunbelt regions (Africa, Central America/Caribbean and South-East Asia). Customers profit from more than 30 years of SMA expertise in PV hybrid solutions.

This project is part of the worldwide dena Renewable Energy Solutions Programme coordinated by the Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) - the German Energy Agency - and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) within the German Energy Solutions Initiative.

System Data

Installed capacity:	40 kWp
Module type:	152 x Heckert Solar NeMo® 2,0 60 P
Inverter type:	4 x SMA Sunny Tripower 10000 TL
Display:	3 x Solarfox SF.300 43"
Monitoring:	Meteocontrol blueLog X Series/webapplication VCOM
Annual output:	57.500 kWh
CO2 savings:	27 t/a