In a region where the renewable energy market is still small, despite a natural and seemingly perpetual gas shortage, one startup is making big strides.

KarmSolar is an Egyptian company dedicated to bolstering solar energy use. It is now the first company in Egypt with official permission to sell solar power off-grid. The Egyptian Electricity Regulatory Agency granted the license in December 2015.

After receiving the nod of approval, KarmSolar finalized a 1-megawatt solar energy installation at a dairy farm in Egypt’s west.

The company was founded in 2011. Just two years later, it created MENA’s first high-capacity solar-powered water pumping station, able to lift water from record-breaking depths – an innovation designed for the desert.

KarmSolar’s company compound is itself in the Western Desert and fully powered from the sun. The company’s conscientiousness about the environment doesn’t stop at solar power. The buildings of the compound were constructed entirely from locally-sourced, environmentally-friendly materials.

A great video on the Climate Heroes website shows us KarmSolar in action and features three ambassadors from the company. Yumna Madi, head of the business department, reminds us that solar power is so refreshingly simple. It’s so direct – involving point A and point B, the sun and some sunbathing solar panels. Egypt’s location on the solar belt makes solar power an obvious winner.

Solar power provides cost-competitive energy solutions, helps to mitigate climate change, and encourages job creation (KarmSolar started with four people and grew to a team of about thirty.) With KarmSolar on the rise, Egypt – and the rest of the world, for that matter – will be brighter. And I’m not only talking about the sun.

Image of KarmSolar workers and solar panels from wamda.com.