AfDB helps finance solar powered irrigation systems project

A consortium of investors is opening an $11 million line of credit for SunCulture, a supplier of solar powered irrigation systems based in Nairobi, Kenya.   

New financial partners include the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund of the African Development Bank’s Energy Inclusion Facility; Triodos Investment Management, the Danish government’s Nordic Development Fund; and the investment company AlphaMundi.

The entire transaction was arranged by SunFunder, a financing company specialised in solar energy. SunCulture, which has already started drawing on the credit line, believes the facility will make it easier for it to provide solar-powered irrigation systems to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of these land workers use diesel-powered irrigation systems to irrigate their plots.

SunCulture estimates that the new line of credit made available to it will prevent the emission of 20,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.