Solar company makes waves
Starsight Energy, a leading African commercial and industrial solar power supplier with a presence in Ghana, has been ranked the fastest-growing solar and renewable energy company in Africa by the Financial Times.
According to the Financial Times, in its inaugural ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies in 2022, Starsight was the sixth fastest-growing company in Africa and the first energy and renewable energy on the list.
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The rankings show that Starsight made tremendous progress since its inception in 2015, with the company’s revenues in 2020 standing at US$8.886 million as compared to its revenues in 2017 which was at US$0.832 million.
Company growth
Currently, its absolute growth is 1154.403 per cent and a compound annual growth rate of 132.351 per cent, while its staff strength stood at 42 in 2017 but increased to 108 in 2020.
With more than 51 megawatts (MW) of solar power installed in West Africa as of the end of 2021, the pan-African renewable energy company operates in three regions in Africa — West, East and South Africa — with a plan to be in other regions.
The Managing Director of Starsight Energy Ghana, Emmanuel Ayifa Baah, described the feat as humbling.
“It is humbling, but at the same time it is a recognition of the hard work the team has put in place over the period. It is just natural that you get rewarded when you solve a problem. It is humbling to know that what you are doing to help companies go green while saving them on electricity cost and carbon emissions has been recognised on a global scale.
“When you have a business operating the previous year only in Nigeria and just a year plus down the line, you have operations in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and then into South Africa, obviously that is a major leap from one location to all of these locations,” Mr Ayifa Baah said.
Operations in Ghana
Delving into the company’s operations in Ghana, Mr Ayifa Baah explained that there was some 10MW of solar power under deployment for commercial and industrial institutions with over 50 per cent already installed.
“The bulk of our installations are in Accra, but we have installations in Kumasi, and some parts of the Eastern Region,” he said.
With high chances of increment in electricity tariffs as a result of a general increase in generation cost of utility companies, Mr Ayifa Baah urged consumers, especially commercial and industrial users of power, to look at solar as a more sustainable option.
“When you go solar, you save money and protect the environment at the same time,” he said.
About Starsight
Founded in 2015, Starsight is the leading African commercial and industrial energy-as-a-service provider.
It has deployed approximately 63MW of generation assets and 25MWh of storage at over 500 sites in six African countries.