The Off Grid Electricity Fund (OGEF) invests in Solengy to accelerate the supply of off-grid solar energy systems for commercial and residential customers

The Off Grid Electricity Fund (OGEF), the renewable energy access fund for Haiti supported by the World Bank, has provided a loan to Solengy Haiti S.A. (‘Solengy’) to support its expansion plans outside of Port-au-Prince. The loan will allow Solengy’s lease-to-own program to be expanded beyond Port-au-Prince, enabling more customers to install and use solar systems.

OGEF was launched by the Haitian Government in 2019 with the aim of providing electricity to 200,000 households and SMEs in Haiti within 10 years. Currently less than one in three Haitian households have access to electricity, which is often unreliable and in rural areas, electrification rates are as low as 5%.

Solengy was set up in Haiti in 2007, to supply solar solutions to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. In 2019, Solengy launched its lease-to-own program to increase accessibility to households and businesses that cannot afford the upfront capital cost of renewable power solutions. The OGEF loan will help Solengy expand the lease-to-own market outside of Port au Prince, in areas where the problem is particularly acute, leaving many households and businesses forced to rely on expensive and polluting diesel generators to provide their electricity as they cannot afford the upfront cost of solar equipment.

OGEF’s investment into Solengy was facilitated by USAID’s Haiti INVEST program through its transaction advisor CrossBoundary.