Energicity

Energicity provides affordable and clean electricity to off-grid communities in West Africa via scalable, solar-powered mini-grids that it builds, owns, and operates. 

Nearly 800 million people worldwide live without electricity while an additional 800 million have unreliable access; in West Africa, only 42 percent of the total population and 8 percent of rural residents had any electricity access in 2022. This significantly limits opportunities and economic advancement, for individuals and societies. Moreover, without access to electricity, people cut down forests for wood to make fires or use diesel generators that emit pollutants harmful to both human and climate health. 

Energicity offers a clean-power electrification and climate mitigation solution that bypasses the need for significant infrastructure. Homes and businesses are wired to Energicity power grids and connected to a proprietary smart meter. This solution addresses the dual problems of power generation and distribution at an affordable rate; customers pay a service fee and a fixed rate per kilowatt hour that is around $2 a month for those who use it for home electrification and cell phone charging.  

Energicity’s solar-powered mini-grids have already brought affordable, sustainable electric power to households and businesses in Sierra Leone, Benin, Liberia, and Nigeria. Bigger businesses like gas stations, cell phone towers, health care centers, and factories are increasingly adopting these mini-grid installations, quickly scaling access to services and work opportunities that have traditionally been out of reach. According to one study, access to electricity increased the number of female entrepreneurs by 29 percent and raised their income by up to 11 times. 

King Philanthropies’ investment in Energicity is helping to scale solar-powered mini-grids across Africa, bringing clean-power electrification that helps impoverished communities live more productive lives.