All On, a Shell-funded impact investment company focusing on strengthening the off-grid energy markets in Nigeria has announced an investment in the Danish Technology Company Solstroem, the company said in a release.
By this move, All On matches a previous investment made by Persistent Energy Capital LLC into the company in November 2021.
“We are really thrilled about this partnership which supports the development of Solstroem’s platform that will enable micro carbon credit in everyday activities,” said All On CEO, Wiebe Boer. “All On is taking a chance on an innovative business model which could prove transformative and create hard currency revenue-generating opportunities for Nigerian renewable energy companies.
According to the company, the investment in SOLSTROEM supports the further development and scaling of its software platform, which enables solar home system distributors and other solar off-grid operators across Sub-Saharan Africa to issue and sell carbon credits on the international Voluntary Carbon Market.
All On said the investment serves as an opportunity to strengthen access to climate finance for their existing portfolio companies, as well as other established and emerging players in the solar off-grid space in Nigeria and beyond.
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“We are very grateful for All On’s support in our mission to make carbon markets more accessible to solar off-grid operators”, said Karim Jabbar, CEO, and Co-Founder of SOLSTROEM.
“The relentless work of these actors in giving marginalized communities access to renewable energy has a considerable impact in terms of CO2 emission reductions, as well as measurable social co-benefits. We are therefore looking forward to collaborating with All On in making this solution available to companies in their network, and to enable an increased climate finance flow to where it is really needed,” he said.
SOLSTROEM has been in operation since 2018 and has so far established working partnerships with some of the major solar distributors and software vendors in the industry, such as Engie Energy Access, Sun King, and Angaza.
According to the release, All On said this investment will support Solstroem’s aim to increase revenue streams of solar developers around the world by linking their projects to voluntary carbon markets in a transparent, verifiable, and sustainable manner, enabling the purchase of carbon credits associated with their projects
The carbon credits issued on the SOLSTROEM platform are fully traceable, calculated on the basis of an established UN Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) methodology, and are third-party verified by DNV. The issued credits are made available on the platform to corporate buyers wishing to compensate for their CO2 footprint.
Today over 700 million people still live without any access to electricity. In order to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (i.e. universal energy access by 2030) rapid deployment of solar home systems (SHSs) and clean energy, mini-grids are a high priority.
It is a crucial humanitarian challenge that supports health, quality of life, and economic growth in off-grid regions of the world. It is however still difficult for the actors in the sector to close the affordability gap that is prevalent amongst communities in the targeted off-grid regions.
Access to climate finance is therefore a much-needed opportunity for additional funding, particularly since the voluntary carbon market is set to grow by a factor of 15 over the next 10 years if it is to cater to the growing demand for high-quality carbon credits, the company said.
