Winch Energy Launches Off-grid Clean Energy Crowdfunding Campaign

Off-grid renewable energy developer and service provider, Winch Energy has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund solar off-grid developments in Sierra Leone and Uganda. The campaign will provide for the individuals to invest in Africa’s growing renewable energy market via Crowdcube starting at £10.

Winch Energy has received an investment of £375,000 from shareholder Total Eren for the new Crowdcube campaign. The two key projects under construction in Sierra Leone and Uganda will provide over 6,600 connections, ensuring benefit for over 150,000 people. The company has already raised $18 million through equity and loans, enabling them to establish a pipeline of projects that will benefit over 4.2 million people in off-grid communities.

Winch Energy looks forward to helping the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), specifically, SDG 7, which ensures universal access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy services by the year 2030.  It is targeting sub-Sahara African Nations, which have the largest proportion of the population without access to energy, to make the biggest impact.

Nicholas Wrigley, Winch Energy CEO/founder, said “Access to reliable energy is fundamental for stimulating economies, improving standards of living, and reducing migration and overcrowding in cities.”

“We have witnessed first-hand the impact access to clean, affordable energy has. These countries require a combination of energy solutions to meet development objectives. They have remote communities and are presented with geographical and infrastructure challenges yet are blessed with plentiful sunshine. So, solar is an obvious part of the mix,” he added.

This year, Winch IPP Holdings closed the largest ever mini-grid financing platform for the development of a $16 million project. This round of crowdfunding will provide financing facilities to further renewable energy projects in Africa and support Winch Energy’s vision to serve as the largest off-grid utility in Africa.

The organization has already installed renewable energy facilities in Benin and Mauritania, developed a commendable project to power community healthcare centers in Sierra Leone, provided electricity access to 20,000 people on Lake Victoria, and began construction for 25 mini-grids in the Northern Lawo district of Uganda.