Vicky Ojo
Persistent Energy Partners, a NYC-based company that specializes in selling and leasing renewable energy systems to low-income markets in Africa, has acquired Impact Energies, a Ghana-based startup that sells and leases solar panel systems to people making less than $6 a day.
The company was started by Hugh Whalan. While announcing the deal, he declined to comment on how much the company paid for the startup. Indications in the renewable energy industry however revealed that the deal would worth several millions of dollars.
“Impact Energies markets renewable energy systems in Ghana communities, where the average citizen earns just $1 to $6 a day. This acquisition is a healthy sign for other social entrepreneurs looking at small-scale renewable energy,” Mother Nature Network reported.
With the acquisition, Impact Energies has been absorbed into Persistent Energy Partners and has been rebranded as Persistent Energy Ghana. The company will continue to work throughout Ghana where it is leasing and selling solar panels systems to users. The projects are being financed through microloans.
The startups are in response to an increasing global demand for renewable energy developments such as wind farms and solar parks; means of spreading solar and wind power out wide and small to families who belong to the low economy class especially and are in areas that are not served by the national grid.