Why Haiti is full of opportunity for off-grid energy companies
By
Jean-François Péan, Senior Investment Manager with Bamboo Capital Partners and
OGEF team member, and Stephanie Nsom, consulting energy specialist, World Bank
Haiti is likely to attract more and more solar off-grid companies in 2020! Haiti’s growing energy needs combined with low electrification rates are creating unique opportunities for dynamic off-grid companies. Off-grid companies can benefit from an expanding consumer market and a comprehensive support infrastructure established by the Haitian Government, in close partnership with the World Bank and with funding support from the Clean Technology Fund.
The USD 17.22 million Off-Grid Electricity
Fund (OGEF) was launched in March 2019 with the goal of providing equity and
debt financing and market development support to commercially viable businesses
and enterprises that can provide modern energy services in rural and peri-urban
areas of Haiti. OGEF is also setting up a Results-Based Financing (RBF) grant scheme
for solar distributors which will be launched in 2020 to further accelerate
market penetration.
OGEF is co-managed by Bamboo Capital
Partners (BCP), a global impact investment firm with extensive experience in
energy access, and Fonds de Développement Industriel (FDI, Industrial
Development Fund in English), a Haitian development finance institution. A
dedicated team on the ground and international experts in energy access actively
support companies to establish and grow operations in Haiti. The OGEF team will
be part of the Haitian delegation at the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo
in Nairobi from 18th to 20th February, 2020 to engage
with interested businesses, stakeholders and potential partners.
This is why OGEF and his partners believe
there is a large opportunity in Haiti for solar distributors:
ü Haiti is a country of 12 million people with a 5% rural
electrification rate. GDP per capita stands at USD 868 as of 2018 (higher than in
several comparatively developed off-grid markets in Africa).
ü Remittances flow to Haiti reached USD 3.2 billion in
2018 providing rural markets with liquidity and potential earnings in hard
currency for distributors.
ü Solar kits and panels are import duty exempt.
ü There is a thriving solar rooftop market due to the dire state of the
public utility company; recent fuel shortages have further negatively impacted the
fossil fuel-based generation both on-grid and off-grid, driving more and more Haitians
to solar – including urban and peri-urban populations.
ü There are only a few existing solar distributors in Haiti which is
partly due to the fact that there was no support infrastructure in the past and
partly due to the geographic isolation of Haiti far away from other off-grid
markets in Sub-Saharan Africa; hence, solar distributors today face little
market penetration and competition in Haiti.
ü An RBF grant scheme for solar distributors (focus on Tier 1 access) is
currently being developed by OGEF and expected to be launched mid-2020.
ü OGEF is ready to invest equity and debt in solar distributors in
Haiti with the goal of helping companies to grow their operations and creating
a thriving off-grid energy sector.
OGEF is ready to invest. There is no better
time for solar distributors in Haiti than now and we encourage Forum participants
to engage with OGEF and seize this window of opportunity. OGEF will also participate
in a panel B1 on Public Funding
Trends, Past, Present and Future and we encourage
interested companies to attend the panel discussion on Tuesday February 18th
at 1:30PM. On Wednesday (2:45-3:30pm, room Mount Kenya D), Haiti will
present at the country sessions on “Off-Grid Solar Market in Haiti: Targets, Policies and Opportunities”.
To set up a meeting with the OGEF team at
the Nairobi Forum 2020, please get in touch with Mr. Jean-Francois Péan: jean-francois@bamboocp.com.
The Haitian delegation is led by Mr.
Nicolas Allien, Coordinator of the World Bank SREP/CTF projects at the Energy
Cell / Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Communications (MTPTC): nickallien@gmail.com.
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