Stories are what make the world and inspire the imagination. We have collected, and continue to add, stories about energy access and rural development around the world, as well as the latest updates and thoughts from our own projects and activities.
What is your off-grid energy business? Portable biogas Can you give a brief overview? Portable biogas is a system that can be easily installed and used in households and institutions like schools, food vendors etc… system uses organic wastes such as food leftovers to generate a cooking gas, additionally the system has a purification system …
What is your off-grid energy business? i. Drying fruits using solar oven ii. Solar power in the agricultural sector. Can you give a brief overview? i. In Tanzania there’s no fruit preserving factory, which means fruits gets destroyed easily by either for not being consumed for long time or by climatic conditions such as high …
What is your off-grid energy business? My off grid energy business is to produce efficient stoves which will use briquettes and charcoal. Can you give a brief overview? The stove will have an adjustable plate which allows accommodation of different pan size in order to increase efficiency. Other additional features on the stove is …
What is your off-grid energy business? My off-grid energy business is an efficient stove producing business known as Jensen Energy incorporated in collaboration with partners named Nelson Maleko and Senteu together with Elifadhili Shaidi. Can you give a brief overview? Our business incorporates at producing efficient cooking stoves that avoid the loss of heat plus …
What is your off-grid energy business? My off-grid energy business idea is drying fruits and vegetables by using solar energy technology. Can you give a brief overview? The process will involve drying of fruits and vegetables by using a friendly energy which is solar energy, so as to tackle the problem of food wastage and …
What is your off-grid energy business? Production of efficient stoves Can you give a brief overview? These stoves will use normal charcoals or briquettes in low amount since, in the way they constructed will preserve heat loss What inspired you to start working in off-grid energy? Are there any key people who inspired you to …
What is your off-grid energy business? Our business dries food, such as fruit and vegetables, using solar energy, in order to preserve post-harvest food. Can you give a brief overview? The business mainly deals with drying product by using solar energy. We provide services to farmers and training to customers so as to make them …
What is your off-grid energy business? The business is the production of affordable efficient stoves which uses less fuel to produce more heat. Can you give a brief overview? The problem we identified is that most stoves produced locally dissipate large amounts of heat to the surroundings, do not focus the energy to the pan, …
[:en] Maarten Strengers, Founder, Greenlink Location: De Bildt, Netherlands / Tanzania “We’re building a company, we’re not rescuing Africa.” As an electrical, mechanical and ICT engineer, Maarten Strengers flies to Africa when his technical know-how is needed; when there is a problem with installation capacity, or to advise on a solar community centre. “After a …
Greenlink: We’re building a company, we’re not rescuing Africa Read More »
[:en] Interview with Vishnu Raghunathan CEO & Co-Founder at Lytyfy “The appeal of the product is there only if the financing is there. So we decided to group the product with the financing.” After college, Vishnu Raghunathan and S. Deepak Kumar spent more than two years working for the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, a …
[:en] Augustine Ndasi, Managing Director, Haute Energy Systems Ltd. Location: Limbe, South West Region, Cameroon “As we say in our dialect – no point waiting for someone, it’s better to get going!” Augustine Ndasi did not count on lugging equipment, weighing 12 tonnes, through rough terrain on the border of Congo. One tubular battery, which …
Interview with Steve Andrews, CEO, NewLight Africa (Heya!) Location: London, UK and Nairobi, Kenya “Think of us as the Amazon of rural Africa” After some time in the solar lights business, Steve Andrews asked himself what more his customers could need. He was CEO of SunnyMoney, a company owned by the NGO SolarAid, which he …
Steve Andrews, Heya: for-profit models are working for clean technologies in Africa Read More »
Interview with Mohamedrafik Parpia Founder, Zara Solar Location: Mwanza, Tanzania “I didn’t know anything about solar” A Dutch woman walks into an electronics store in north-western Tanzania. It sounds like an improbable beginning. Karlijn Arkesteijn is one of the people Mohamedrafik Parpia credits for going from running a family business on the shores of Port …
Making the market” for solar in northern Tanzania Read More »
Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President & MD, Customized Energy Solutions India (CES) and Executive Director, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) Harsh Thacker, Project Manager for MICRO, the Microgrid Initiative for Campus and Rural Opportunities, Customized Energy Solutions India (CES) Location: Pune, Maharashtra, India “Learning should not be proprietary; we have to learn from each other’s mistakes” …
How will India install 10,000 micro-grids over the next five years? Read More »
[:en] Interview with Leena Chandran-Wadia Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation Location: Bangalore, India “The day we can say that every home is electrified is very far away” ‘Kerala is totally electrified!’ run the headlines in the Indian papers. It’s a claim many Indian villages make, says Dr. Leena Chandran-Wadia, the Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation …
Leena Chandran-Wadia: Are mini-grids the answer to rural electrification? Read More »
Neha Juneja, Co-founder, Greenway Location: Mumbai, India “If you don’t experience a problem yourself, it’s not easy to solve it” There was a year in the early days of Greenway in India, where Neha Juneja and her two-co-founders were eating everything they were cooking on a traditional cookstove that each of them kept in their apartments …
Greenway: Bringing cleaner cooking to rural India Read More »
What is your off-grid energy business? Can you give a brief overview? How long have you been working on this business? Lytyfy addresses the twin issues of last mile service delivery of off grid products and end user financing. We believe that these are the two main factors that prevent adoption of off grid energy …
Profile: Vishnu Raghunathan, Lytyfy – Winner, India Read More »
What is your off-grid energy business? Can you give a brief overview? How long have you been working on this business? Lytyfy is a clean energy financing company which helps low and middle income customers to buy good quality solar products and service with flexible financing options. We are trying to increase the adoption of …
Describe an overview of your organization and highlight the vision you see way forward? Naturetech Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. is a social enterprise building model villages based on holistic approach to rural development centered on smart solar AC micro grid infrastructure. Naturetech microgrids power village street lights, households, schools, water pumps and its grids can be …
Profile: Shyam Patra, Naturetech – Winner, India Read More »
Brief biography Arpan Mukhopadhyay is a design engineer looking into the smart metering aspects of smart village initiatives of Naturetech Infra. He is a newly passed out post graduate and is passionate about development of the weaker sections of society and protection of environment using technology. He did his M.Tech in Power Electronics and Drives …
Profile: Arpan Mukhopadhyay , Naturetech – Winner, India Read More »