The first platforms for crowdfunding renewable energy projects in Africa emerged in the early 2010s, not long after similar initiatives launched in Europe. Bettervest, a German company, was founded in 2012, while Energise Africa, a British company, began operations in 2017.

Both companies seek to tap into the pool of small-scale investors in Europe to raise capital for renewable energy projects in Africa, and in the case of Bettervest, Germany too. Energise Africa claims to have raised over GBP 43 million (USD 58.1 million) from individual investments as small as GBP 50. This has been distributed to solar energy projects in 14 African countries, according to the company’s website.

Could such alternative financing help Africa bridge the USD 150 billion financing gap over the next decade to achieve universal access to clean and reliable energy?

The evidence to date is thin, according to Bridget Okyerebea Menyeh, a lecturer at Robert Gordon University, and Theophilus Acheampong, a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen and advisor to the Ghanaian finance ministry. “Little is known about its potential to contribute substantially to the financing of renewable energy [in Africa],” they wrote in a 2024 paper.

Companies Dialogue Earth spoke to, however, indicated that crowdfunding can have important impacts on the continent. It can ease the upfront costs of installing solar and mini-grids, and enable local companies to implement locally grounded renewable energy solutions. But it is no silver bullet, and challenges remain in terms of scale, risks and costs.

From crowdfunding to crowdlending

Crowdfunding raises money by directly appealing to small-scale investors, offering an alternative to traditional lending.

It can be based on donations, in which case no returns on investment are needed, or on lending or equity investment. In these cases, investors are promised returns either through the profits of the project once it is operational or via interest on loan repayments.

When it comes to renewable energy projects in Africa, the predominant form of crowdfunding is loan-based crowdfunding, which is sometimes referred to as “crowdlending”.

Energise Africa operates a bond model, whereby project developers and companies in Africa issue debt to fund their projects. The bonds offer returns to investors of around 6-8%.

“Generally, our lending is competitive, when compared to other sources available to our issuers,” Energise Africa’s CEO Ray Coyle tells Dialogue Earth.

He does note, however, that “many businesses in Africa would rather their debt be denominated in local currency”, which the company is currently unable to do. This leaves some exchange rate risk with the issuer. At the same time, though, lending in British pounds tends to offer lower interest rates than local currencies due to high inflation rates and less mature capital markets across much of Africa.

“The issuer then needs to assess the trade-off between high interest rates and exchange rate risks,” Coyle says.

Investments that change lives

OnePower Africa, a developer of mini-grids in sub-Saharan Africa, is partly supported by crowdlending via Energise Africa’s platform. It began operations in Lesotho in 2015, but has since expanded to Benin and is looking to begin operations in Zambia. Its funding is made up of a combination of financing, crowdlending and grants.

The building of mini-grids in Benin has been partly funded through a USD 1 million bond, in two tranches, on Energise Africa, says the company’s CEO Mathew Orosz. A third bond is planned this year.

Orosz tells Dialogue Earth the model is “powerful because it connects everyday retail investors directly to real infrastructure projects that change lives. It allows ordinary citizens in Europe and the UK to invest directly in African energy infrastructure; not as charity, but as a financial investment with a return”.

Roam Electric Ltd, a Kenya-based company focussed on electric two-wheelers, also raised money through bonds issued on Energise Africa.

“Our involvement in solar energy is driven by the need to support off-grid and weak grid charging infrastructure,” Roam’s country manager for Kenya, Habib Lukaya, tells Dialogue Earth. “We began integrating solar solutions to ensure reliability and reduce dependence on inconsistent grid power, particularly in remote areas.”

Such projects can contribute to lowering diesel consumption, which is a win for energy security and for curbing climate-warming emissions and air pollution.

Rising demand

End users are driving Africa’s solar supply boom at a similar pace to state-backed grid expansion, according to a report by the Global Solar Council. The report states that rising electricity demand, unreliable grids and higher tariffs are pushing households and businesses to generate their own power.

According to the think-tank Ember, the African continent imported over 15 gigawatts worth of solar panels between June 2024 and June 2025, a 60% increase on the previous 12-month period. In 20 countries, that set a record for solar imports.

To satisfy the growing demand, Orosz says OnePower Africa designs hybrid mini-grids which combine solar panels, battery storage and diesel generators. These serve rural households, health clinics, schools and small businesses in areas beyond the reach of the national grid.

“Our primary customers are rural households that previously had no access to electricity – or relied on candles, kerosene and small solar home systems,” he tells Dialogue Earth. “Connection to a mini-grid is transformative: it enables lighting, phone charging, television [access] and refrigeration.”

As for Roam Electric, their primary customers include individual boda boda (bicycle and motorcycle taxi) riders, logistics fleet operators and corporate clients.

“The main beneficiaries are the riders, who experience lower operating costs and more predictable income,” Lukaya says.

He says the company has created jobs in manufacturing, assembly, charging station operations, technical maintenance, sales and logistics.

Challenges of scale and cost

The cost of solar and battery equipment has plummeted over the last decade, driven by China’s extraordinarily productive green tech manufacturing sectors. Africa has seen a simultaneous boom in imports of solar equipment.

“Falling prices over recent years have had a dramatic impact on the social and environmental return on investment,” says Energise Africa’s Coyle. “The same amount of money invested today in a mini-grid or into solar home systems will create much more energy and remove many more polluting diesel generators from the market.”

He also notes that the quality of equipment available has improved substantially. For example, poor households across Africa are increasingly seeing their simple solar lanterns replaced with full home solar systems and mini- or decentralised mesh-grids, which share excess power between neighbouring units.

Orosz concurs, saying he has noticed the quality of Chinese solar equipment improving dramatically over the past decade.

“However, battery systems and inverters require more careful supplier selection,” he tells Dialogue Earth. “We have had mixed experiences and now invest significant effort in technical due diligence, factory visits and ongoing supplier relationships.”

Despite the falling prices and improving equipment quality, both Orosz and Lukaya say their investments are facing challenges of scale.

Orosz says the mini-grid sector in Africa needs to move from dozens to thousands of sites to meaningfully close the electricity access gap.

“Challenges remain in low-density rural markets and early-stage infrastructure rollout due to high upfront [costs],” Lukaya tells Dialogue Earth. “Grants still play a vital role in de-risking these early-stage deployments.”

Orosz says there is a need for continued innovation in financing models – including retail bonds, results-based financing, and blended capital structures – alongside supportive government policy.

“Mini-grids in rural Africa are not yet commercially viable on a purely private-capital basis,” Orosz says.

The combination of low per-connection consumption, high upfront capital costs, and the logistical challenges of operating in remote areas means that some form of concessional finance or subsidy is necessary during the build-out phase – “as was the case for every developed country’s rural electrification programmes”.

But the economics are improving, says Orosz. He cites Lesotho, where the company’s mature sites are approaching operational breakeven, with revenue from electricity sales covering day-to-day operating costs.

“The challenge is servicing the capital cost of construction and this is where instruments like Energise Africa bonds and results-based financing are essential; they lower the cost of capital enough to make projects financeable,” he notes.

Alongside these local economic barriers, Coyle cautions that the price of imported solar equipment may experience some turbulence this year.

“China has recently removed the VAT rebate on solar equipment, effectively adding 9% to costs,” he says, referring to the country’s staggered scaling back of export subsidies for the sector from 1 April this year until January 2027. “We are [also] seeing increased shipping costs due to higher fuel prices, and there is ultimately a risk of higher energy costs feeding into production costs for solar equipment.”