Author's posts
Mar 04 2021
Martin Kariongi, in his own words
As we remember our friend, Martin Saning’o Kariongi, who passed away this week from coronavirus, we wanted to collect together some of the material that we, and others, have on the internet featuring Martin talking about his work.
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/martin-kariongi-in-his-own-words/
Mar 03 2021
Martin Saning’o Kariongi – a life in brief
While looking through my notes this week hunting some site data for a community in Tanzania that we are working in jointly with our partners OMASI, I found – on the very first pages of my notebook – the notes from our first project meeting, where Martin gave us a little glimpse of his life …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/martin-saningo-kariongi-a-life-in-brief/
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/the-innovate-uk-energy-catalyst-programme-and-working-with-partners/
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/what-we-mean-by-community-engagement-the-svrg-way-of-working/
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/the-svrg-approach-what-are-we-all-about/
Apr 01 2020
Demand-side Modelling in Somaliland with the Minigrid Game
SVRG is carrying this project out jointly with our partners non-profit Energy Action Partners in Malaysia, and innovative private sector minigrid developer Clear Sky Power in Somaliland. This project is funded by InnovateUK, the UK’s Innovation Agency. Worldwide, renewable energy minigrids hold great promise for providing electricity to over 1 billion people who are still …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/minigrid-demand-side-modelling-with-the-minigrid-game/
Apr 01 2020
Sustainable Minigrids in Lesotho (STI4D)
This project is being carried out by SVRG’s sister company, STI4D, in collaboration with local offgrid energy company MOSCET, the National University of Lesotho, and technical lead Gram Oorja, an experienced community minigrid and rural technology company based in India. This project is funded by InnovateUK, the UK’s Innovation Agency. At a national electrification rate …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/sustainable-minigrids-in-lesotho-sti4d/
Apr 01 2020
Minigrids and Integrated Anchor Loads in Rural Uganda
SVRG is carrying this project out jointly with our partners in Uganda, social enterprise EcoLife Foods, and community NGO Kiima Foods. This project is funded by InnovateUK, the UK’s Innovation Agency under the Energy Catalyst Round 7 programme. Worldwide, there are more than 800m people living without any access to electricity. In Uganda, only 10% …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/minigrids-and-integrated-anchor-loads-in-rural-uganda/
Mar 02 2020
Innovation Africa-style
One thing that the Smart Villages model is based on is the notion of “appropriate technology” – that is the use of technologies that are specified and optimised based on their context and utility, rather than their absolute efficiency or performance. The classic example is the use of, say, an off-the-shelf lead acid battery instead …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/innovation-africa-style/
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/removing-waste-plastic-from-the-nairobi-athi-river-system-in-kenya/
Jan 07 2020
Unbalanced 3-phase power nearly killed the radio
So let’s start by stepping back a little. Our innovative partners, OMASI, have set up a number of different productive, social and community projects on their main site in the village of Terat in the Simanjiro District of Tanzania. There’s a shop, a community meeting hall, and a hostel (originally set up as somewhere for …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/unbalanced-3-phase-power-nearly-killed-the-radio/
Dec 13 2019
Meetings with Remarkable Trees…
We were delighted to find that one of the many amazing things about working in the Maasai Plains of Simanjiro District, south of Arusha, is the indigenous baobab trees. The baobab, Adansonia digitata, is native to Africa, and classes as one of the biggest trees in the world. Whilst they “only” reach 25-30m in height, …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/welcome-to-big-tree-country/
Nov 25 2019
Low-cost Efficient Rural Cold Storage in Uganda
SVRG is carrying this project out jointly with our partner in Uganda, social enterprise EcoLife Foods, based in Matugga, north of Kampala. This project is funded by the Efficiency for Access Coalition. Our partners in Uganda, Ecolife Foods, have developed an innovative low-cost local-technology driven cold storage solution, and were finalists in the CLASP/Global LEAP …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/low-cost-efficient-rural-cold-storage-in-uganda/
Nov 20 2019
Solar Boma Systems should be a thing
For the Maasai, the traditional living unit is the boma. This is an extended, or multi-family compound surrounded by a thorn hedge (usually), which will contain between 3 and 10 houses. There is an inner circular compound, also surrounded by a thorn hedge, to keep the livestock safe during the night. Satellite photos of the …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/solar-boma-systems-should-be-a-thing/
Nov 01 2019
Integrated Community Energy in Northern Tanzania
SVRG is carrying this project out jointly with our NGO partners in Tanzania, Orkonerei Maasai Social Initiatives (OMASI). This project is funded by InnovateUK, the UK’s Innovation Agency. Minigrids are widely advocated as the most appropriate solution for solving universal energy access in the developing world. However, few minigrids achieve sustainable long-term operations without subsidy. …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/integrated-community-energy-in-northern-tanzania/
Mar 01 2019
Webinar: Resilience and reliability of energy projects in Nepal
The successful provision of energy services depends on the creation of resilient and reliable energy projects. Their resilience depends on the whole system’s ability to handle shocks and stresses, such as natural hazards and the effects of climate change. Meanwhile, the reliability of schemes depends on the on-going relationship between communities and technology. This can, …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/webinar-resilience-reliability-energy-nepal/
Jun 04 2018
Webinar: Minigrid Impact and Long-Term Sustainability of Energy Access
[:en] The number of Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) systems, particularly for rural electrification, is growing globally and estimate suggest that 45% of the new connections needed to achieve universal electrification by 2030 will come from mini-girds. However to date a widely accepted and comprehensive methodology to assess the impact and long term sustainability of these …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/webinar-minigrid-impact/
May 25 2018
Webinars: “Transforming Energy Access”, the 7th Annual LCEDN Conference 2018
[:en]The 7th LCEDN Annual Conference on the theme of ‘Transforming Energy Access?’ took place from 30 May – 1 June 2018. This year, in addition to attendance in person, LCEDN in partnership with Smart Villages allowed remote participation in many of the conference session via webinar, for those who were unable to join us in …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/webinar-lcedn2018/
Mar 06 2018
Webinar: Crowd Power – Crowdfunding Energy Access Ventures
[:en]https://youtu.be/qMftQkAWcI8 If you are a start-up or a smaller energy access firm looking to raise funds, then energy-targeted crowdfunding may just be for you. Raising the necessary finance for start-up and scale-up energy access ventures on terms that make commercial sense is one of the biggest challenges in the sector. In the search for appropriate …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/webinar-crowd-power/
Dec 13 2017
Webinar: Closing the Gap – bridging research and practice in energy access
In September 2017, the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network (LCEDN) held its annual conference on the topic of “Equity and Energy Justice” at Durham University, UK. As a follow-up to this conference, we are holding two webinars to share highlights from the conference. The first webinar focussed on energy justice. This month, we will …
Permanent link to this article: http://e4sv.org/december-2017-webinar-closing-the-gap/