Solarise Africa case study: Data-driven solar energy management

"With Odyssey, we're not just monitoring our energy, we're understanding it in ways that drive smarter decisions across our entire portfolio." —Andre du Plessis, Head of Operations at Solarise Africa

‍

Overview: From sunlight to insights

Solarise Africa, a leading Energy-as-a-Service company in East and Southern Africa, is transforming the way commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors access and manage renewable energy. Operating primarily in Kenya and South Africa, Solarise Africa has teamed up with Odyssey to bring visibility and intelligent control to their solar projects: across farms, flower farms, manufacturing, and beyond.

Through Odyssey’s integrated platform suite, Solarise Africa monitors technical performance in real-time while generating powerful, stakeholder-ready portfolio reports. Solarise Africa is leveraging Odyssey’s technology suite to enhance site performance, maximize asset efficiency, and deliver comprehensive energy insights to stakeholders.

‍

Key challenges, and how we solved them

1. Advanced KPI dashboards & customized reporting

Challenge: Solarise Africa requires tailored reports to meet the needs of asset owners, offtakers, and financiers, including detailed monthly performance reports and stakeholder-specific dashboards.

Solution: Odyssey delivers highly tailored KPI dashboards, downloadable PDF reports, and offtaker-specific views: balancing technical rigor with narrative clarity.

"Our dashboards don't just tell us what's happening, they help us explain it to those who matter most."

‍

2. Measuring performance without on-site sensors

Challenge: How to assess solar asset efficiency without installing extra equipment? Accurately measuring asset performance without on-site sensors is difficult. Many industry players rely on theoretical desktop calculations rather than real-time performance tracking.

Solution: Enter SolarGIS. Odyssey seamlessly integrates this advanced solar irradiation dataset to calculate true performance ratios, benchmarking actual yield against modeled expectations. No additional hardware required.

‍

3. Multi-brand device integration

Challenge: Solarise Africa operates across numerous sites with different equipment manufacturers, including Huawei, SMA, and Schneider. The lack of standardization creates complexity in data collection and integration.

Solution: Odyssey developed custom drivers and APIs to create a harmonized data environment across all Solarise systems.

‍

4. Remote monitoring & real-time data accuracy

Challenge: Capturing complete and accurate data from remote sites presents challenges, including communication failures and hardware inconsistencies.

Solution: Solarise Africa leverages Fernview, Odyssey’s technical dashboard, to track solar, battery, and grid performance in real time, augmented by automated data backfills.

‍

5. Data discrepancies and synchronization

Challenge: Data inconsistencies between platforms led to misalignment and reporting delays.

Solution: Odyssey’s continuous monitoring, automated syncing, validation, and data recovery tools ensure cohesive, consistent performance insights.

‍

Why this is unique

Solarise Africa doesn’t just use Odyssey’s tools: they stretch them. While most C&I stakeholders stop at basic monitoring, Solarise Africa pairs Odyssey’s granular technical device-tracking with advanced portfolio-level analytics. This dual lens allows them to act like an asset financier, without losing operational visibility.

They’re also ahead of the curve on performance ratio reporting, embracing SolarGIS to set data-backed benchmarks across their 25+ (and growing) sites. This approach fosters transparency, builds stakeholder trust, and enables proactive management across geographies and sectors.

"Our investors love that we can show exactly how every site is performing, without guessing."

‍

Impact & future outlook

• Footprint: Active in Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda and Ghana with a focus on agriculture and C&I markets.
• Scale: 25+ sites live on Odyssey, expanding to 50+.
• Innovation Pipeline: further OEM integrations are on the horizon, enabling even richer monitoring.

‍

Looking ahead

Solarise’s partnership with Odyssey is a blueprint for scaling clean energy with clarity. By combining engineering depth with stakeholder-facing insights, they’re redefining how solar assets are managed across Africa.

"With Odyssey, we’ve moved from data overload to actionable clarity. That’s a game changer."

‍