Why we invested in Beacon Power Services (BPS)

By Guilhem DUPUY, Partner at Gaia Impact

 

The Challenge

The landscape of energy in Africa is evolving rapidly as the continent faces increasingly significant economic challenges. Demand for affordable and reliable power is growing continuously, but supply remains stagnant. Decentralized renewable energy projects face financing challenges that limit their scalability, while centralized generation paradoxically struggles with overcapacity as African utilities face increasing difficulties to maintain their distribution networks. Technical and commercial losses can reach up to 50% in some cases.

Unreliable electricity is a major hindrance to economic progress across Africa. A recent International Energy Agency report quantifies the staggering consequences – power outages cost African countries up to 2% of their GDP annually. This represents a significant barrier to economic progress, job creation, and quality of life for millions of people. Businesses struggle to operate effectively, hospitals face life-threatening service disruptions, and families are left in the dark.

At Gaia Impact, we’ve been supporting renewable energy companies in Africa for nearly a decade. As macroeconomic shocks have limited progress in terms of new electric connections for offgrid households, we think our mandate as an energy-focus venture capital firm pushes us to think outside of the box to decisively advance Africa’s energy agenda. Through our experience, we’ve recognized that simply developing new generation capacity won’t be enough. Reaching end-users with affordable and reliable solutions is key. It’s time for African tech to revolutionize African electricity distribution.

The Solution

The team at Beacon Power Services (BPS) started up in Nigeria, a country where outdated distribution infrastructure leads to frequent power outages. Nigeria concentrates nearly half of the 6.5 million diesel generators used across Africa.
BPS is addressing these issues head-on with innovative data-driven solutions. They learnt to start from scratch to fully digitalize utilities’ distribution networks. Their method combines door-to-door survey techniques employing hundreds of workers with an AI-enabled digital mapping platform called CAIMS. These digitalized grids, referred to as “digital twins,” enable utilities to make smarter, data-driven decisions and deliver improved service to millions of customers. The company’s network management platform, Adora, offers real-time grid monitoring and control, empowering utilities and their staff to enhance operational efficiency and precisely manage distribution networks, effectively reducing outages for end-users.

Currently, Beacon Power Services is partnering with six utilities across Africa, reaching more than 60 million direct customers.

The Impact

Access to better and more reliable energy drives systemic change in Africa. The solution significantly improves quality of life for households and enhances business competitiveness by reducing reliance on costly generators. It lowers household energy costs and emissions, improves public safety through better lighting and connectivity, reduces operational costs for businesses, and increases productivity by minimizing power outage downtime.
The environmental impact is equally compelling. The solution substantially reduces dependency on fossil fuel-powered backup systems while actively helping utilities integrate renewable energy sources into their energy mix. Improved business productivity drives job creation across key sectors, including information and communication technology, agribusiness, and other energy-intensive industries.

Job creation begins with the company’s direct impact. Their grid digitization processes currently creates thousands of qualified temporary positions and hundreds of full-time jobs. This aspect was a decisive factor in Gaia Impact’s investment. The quality of BPS’ team ranges from their world-class C-level executives, to highly motivated project managers who provide training and guidance to utility staff, empowering them to manage complex operations and increase their productivity through efficient use of advanced digital tools, to perfectly trained field agents doing the heavy lifting of grid digitalization district by district, and customer by customer.

Beyond the demonstrated criticality of their day-to-day solutions, Beacon Power Services acts as a trailblazer for African tech, demonstrating how a human-centric, job-creating approach to product and business development can chart a promising path forward for tech startups on the continent.