Before founding Daystar Power, Jasper Graf von Hardenberg and Christian Wessels worked with large businesses in West Africa for a combined 25 years. They quickly appreciated that the energy deficit was one of, if not, the largest obstacle to businesses in the region.
Without a stable grid, businesses had to provide their own power. In Nigeria, business owners have to run diesel/gas generators for their power supply.
In West Africa, power costs can reach up to 5x the cost of an OECD country.
The lack of affordable and reliable power hampers the growth of businesses, economies and countries. No country can industrialize as long as businesses have to provide their own power.
In 2017, Jasper and Christian founded Daystar Power to help solve the energy crisis facing businesses with solar power.
Solar prices have fallen dramatically over the years. Their modularity - panels can be scaled to fit a client’s specific energy needs - make them ideal for integrating into a client’s existing power system. For any business, solar power, combined with battery storage, can significantly reduce energy costs.
Daystar Power is committed to helping African businesses grow and develop by taking their power needs off their plate. In doing so, it aims to contribute to the clean and sustainable growth of African countries.
Today, Daystar Power is present in seven countries, runs over 400 power installations with an installed solar capacity of 50.4MWdc/43.7MWac, and has a team of 190 colleagues.
We believe strongly that women must have an equal role in leading Africa’s green economy. That starts in our business: we have committed to building a gender inclusive team. As part of the 2x Challenge, backed by our investors, we target a 40% share of women on our team by 2024. We also hire and train women who have recently graduated from university in technical and engineering roles so that they can succeed in the thriving solar sector.
At Daystar, we aim to play our part in building an inclusive and diverse renewable energy sector in Africa.
