Okra Solar

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Okra is an IoT technology solution that enables solar generating communities to share, store and uti But until now, power hasn’t been cheap.

For the vast majority of the 760Million people living off-grid, access to reliable electricity brings about a whole new world of opportunities and experiences. Okra is a plug & play hardware + software solution that allows smart pay-as-you-go microgrids to be created by connecting existing off the shelf solar panels and batteries. Okra mesh-grid design allows for grids to start small, with more panels and batteries able to be added to the grid to increase capacity as demand increases. Remote monitoring keeps grid operators informed so they can eliminate blackouts, adapt to variations in demand and identify exactly where and when the grid needs scaling. Each household is metered and charged using mobile payments, meaning families without bank accounts can easily access affordable power, for the first time.

22/10/2026

13 weeks. That's our target from a signed MOU to a financed mesh-grid. ⚡

Getting a DARES project over the line means securing sites, surveying communities, applying for the grant, finalising the design and lining up finance, often while grant windows are closing. So we work through every stage alongside our developer partners:

🟢 Partner: an MOU aligns both teams on costs, roles and financing options. Under a Joint Development Agreement, we also sign the exclusivities and run the surveys.

🟢 Select and size: Pipeline Builder shortlists DARES-eligible sites, and we help design a bankable portfolio around the equity and debt available.

🟢 Secure and survey: exclusivities are registered with NERC, and community surveys happen in the same visit.

🟢 Apply: site-specific applications go to REA through Odyssey, with the documents generated in Pipeline Builder.

🟢 Design and contract: our Network Planner re-checks every site, the developer signs off on the final design and financial model, and procurement begins.

🟢 Train and implement: the implementation plan is timed to the DARES grant window, and installation training gets local teams ready to build.

🟢 Financial close: equity and debt are drawn down, and it's time to build.

Swipe through for the full process. Got communities ready to energise? Contact [email protected] 👇

19/10/2026

Bringing Power to the People takes a lot more than building hardware. 🌍

Back in June, our team headed to Mozambique. First stop: RENMOZ’26 in Maputo, where regulators, funders, customers and old friends came together to push off-grid energy access forward.

Then came about 15 hours on the road to Mavalane, a community near Nova Mambone where our partner Captive Power plans to bring mesh-grids. The whole community turned out to welcome us in their traditional way, with dancing and plenty of questions about how mesh-grids work.

Every community has its own character. Here, families live in compounds: one main house with smaller rooms around it, quite different from where we usually deploy. And productive use is already everywhere: corn milling, bread baking, TVs and freezers running.

Our first connections in Mozambique are on the way. Até já! ⚡

16/10/2026

You can’t really talk about poverty without talking about power. 🌍

Ahead of tomorrow’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, it’s worth remembering that 655 million people still live without electricity. Without it, it’s harder to keep a shop open after dark, keep food cold, study at night or grow a small business into something more.

Electricity alone won’t end poverty. But it’s hard to build a living without it.

That’s why Okra exists: to unlock opportunities through energy access for everyone in the world. We build mesh-grid technology that lets energy companies bring reliable power to communities the grid has never reached. Together with our partners, we’ve helped energise more than 45,000 people so far.

There’s a long way to go, and every connection counts. Power to the People. 🔋

16/10/2026

What are engineering students looking for in their first job? We went to the FEUP Career Fair to find out. 🎓

On Wednesday, Diana and Fábio Dias met talented students and recent graduates at our stand, and learned a lot about the fields that excite them, the internships and first jobs they’re after, and what they value in a company. There were plenty of questions about our products and startup life, too.

Thanks to FEUP for a brilliantly organised event!

Keen to help bring Power to the People? See our open roles: okrasolar.com/careers ⚡

15/10/2026

Find the funding before you build. Get paid after you’ve built. That’s the DARES puzzle every developer has to solve. ⚡

Adebowale (Debo) Dosunmu, Managing Director of Renewvia Energy, knows it well. Under Nigeria’s DARES program, the grant is paid once connections are built, so developers need capital upfront.

Renewvia went with mesh-grids because the numbers work: lower CapEx, no expensive distribution lines across multiple sites, and better revenue and consumption. Then they chose Okra Capital to finance the build.

🟢 3,000 connections being built in the first tranche
🟢 6,000+ connections in Renewvia’s DARES grant agreement
🟢 A financing partner that knows the developer, the operations and the team

In Debo’s words, it’s not just financing, it’s a relationship.

Building under DARES and need capital to get started? Get in touch: [email protected]

13/10/2026

Two more developers just signed on to build their DARES pipelines with us. ⚡

Since August, Privida and Saf-Aga Renewable Energy have signed Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) with Okra, bringing a further 34,000 mesh-grid connections into development:

🟢 Privida: Pilot completed & 22,500 mesh-grid connections in Kogi State already submitted to DARES.

🟢 Saf-Aga Renewable Energy: 12,000 connections coming in hot for DARES.

With a JDA, Okra supports on site selection, simulations and exclusivities, the longest stages of project development. Developers get to remove the pain of project development and bring power to the people faster.

More developers are lining up behind them. Want your pipeline in the next wave? Send us a message. 👇

25/09/2026

Mesh-grids are moving faster than anything else in DARES. ⚡

Across First Electric, Sosai and Renewvia, 13,420 connections are already signed, and deployment is well underway. First Electric is energizing communities across three states, with tens of thousands more committed. Sosai is live in Kogi. Renewvia's Akwa Ibom sites are financed, in production, and next in line.

Add it all up, and mesh-grids through DARES are bringing reliable power to more than 60,000 people this year, opening the door to greater independence and new opportunities along the way.
That's exactly why we do this.

And with a strong pipeline still to come, we're only getting started. 🌍

04/09/2026

For a barber, reliable power is a crucial part of the business. That's where Okra steps in ✂️⚡

Musa Mohammed runs a barbershop in Burum Community, Nigeria. Before Okra, he ran on a generator: it was loud, an inconvenience, unreliable and expensive. He would spend around ₦3,000 a day for energy to cut out mid-haircut over fuel or a faulty carburetor.
On top of that, customers complained about the noise and the smoke.

With Okra, everything changed. Now he spends ₦200 a day, and no longer has to drag a generator or face random blackouts. Just flipipng a switch to get energy has given him peace of mind.

This change also brought major personal life improvements. Musa says his income has doubled, his children go to school and eat well, and his customers keep coming back to a shop that runs smoothly. Next, he's planning to renovate and add a TV so people can watch football and the news.

Shoutout to First Electric for bringing Power to the People in Burum! None of this would be possible without your work. 🔋

Access to energy unlocks so much more than just light. It powers communities and helps families get better opportunities: it gives room to dream bigger.

02/09/2026

Can impact pay for itself? 🌱

That was the question at our latest Field Day in Porto, where we hosted Lukasz Urbaniak for a session on building social businesses in Nepal. Over more than 5 years, he's worked on projects as varied as roads made from recycled plastic, menstrual products made from banana tree fibres, and water filtration for schools, all with one goal: impact that creates lasting change.

What made it resonate with us?

🟢 You can't just drop in a product: you have to build the whole ecosystem around it, infrastructure included.
🟢 There are always more stakeholders than you planned for, each shaping whether a solution survives.
🟢 Local buy-in takes time. Training and trust are crucial steps for the success of the project.
🟢 You can start by solving one problem, and end up realizing it was really about another.

For a company bringing energy access to the last mile, every one hit home. Building technology is only part of the solution. The people, infrastructure and ecosystem are what makes impact truly possible.

Thank you, Lukasz, for a session that left us thinking. This is exactly why we do Field Days. 💡

20/08/2026

Meet Tioluwa John, Deployment Specialist at Okra. ⚡

His job is to bridge the gap between our technology and the communities we serve. And that gap is bridged through people: the warehouse teams, the installers, and everyone who makes sure our equipment gets from the box to the field, and works exactly as it should.

From equipping warehouse teams to know what to send where, to hands-on field training where installers learn to deploy to Okra's standard, the journey is thorough, but rewarding. By the end, every participant is certified and ready to bring more mesh-grids to life.

This is the very process that we took First Electric and SOSAI through recently, to onboard their installers ahead of deployments. They've rolled out over 1,000 new household installs in the past couple of months and are just getting started!

These are the people behind our deployments, who help bring the technology to the place where it is most needed. Without them, no mesh-grid would bring Power to the People. 🔋

Endereço

Porto

Website

http://www.okrasolar.com/

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