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.
Although our first solar installation in rural Tanzania has been having overwhelmingly positive reviews by the local community (powering the local water borehole, the first fridge in the local shop, and a small, efficient, electric milling-machine) we still have a hard time explaining the concept of solar power to some of our other target communities. …
Recently, we were invited to give a presentation by our colleagues at the UK Low Carbon Energy for Development Network (UK LCEDN), as part of a webinar they were running on “Transforming Energy Access” for organisations who were interested in applying for the latest Innovate UK Energy Catalyst (round 8) competition, closing in September 2020. …
The InnovateUK Energy Catalyst and working with SVRG partners Read More »
Recently our project partners in Lesotho, the Energy Research Centre at the National University of Lesotho, asked us to contribute to a week-long Masters’ students event on rural energy access. Because of COVID, we were sadly unable to make it in person, but delivered the presentations via Webex instead. Here is the contribution from Dr …
What we mean by Community Engagement – the SVRG way of working. Read More »
Recently our project partners in Lesotho, the Energy Research Centre at the National University of Lesotho, asked us to contribute to a week-long Masters’ students event on rural energy access. Because of COVID, we were sadly unable to make it in person, but delivered the presentations via Webex instead. Here is the contribution from Dr …
Vidya Sagar Devabhaktuni, President, SKG SanghaLocation: Bangalore, India “Human beings are divided, but their basic problems are all the same” Having provided biogas solutions to over 10,000 villages since the mid-80s, Vidya Sagar Devabhaktuni has explored remote areas all over the world. For the president of SKG Sangha, exploring local cultures and understanding the different …
Vidya Sagar Devabhaktuni, SKG Sangha – biogas entrepreneur Read More »
Saddek Fenardji, General Secretary, CanopyLocation: Paris, France “The biggest challenge is getting paid” Saddek Fenardji remembers a local mayor’s surprise at how off-grid energy shaped Akonolinga, a town 70 kilometres away from the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé. “We built 250 street lights in a city of 20,000 inhabitants, which was otherwise totally in the dark after …
Sergina Loncle, Communications Manager, KopernikLocation: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia “The supply chain in Indonesia is a real challenge” On one of Indonesia’s 18,000 islands, Adonara in East Nusa Tenggara, crops such as copra – dried coconut flesh – are sold raw and unprocessed. Copra is usually left strewn on the ground, to dry in the open …
Nico Tyabji, Director of Strategic Partnerships, SunFunder Location: US, East Africa “As a financial intermediary for the off-grid solar sector, we’ve grown alongside companies” Since it launched as a specialist debt financier for the off-grid solar sector in 2012, SunFunder has improved energy access for 2.9 million people. Co-founders Ryan Levinson and Audrey Desiderato lead the …
Suleiman Mzungu, Co-founder, SUJA Location: Tanzania “Changing the practice of cooking with charcoal is complex” As part of the plan to make charcoal from more sustainable sources, Suleiman Mzungu and Jacqueline Proneth are passing by the sugar cane sellers of Dar-es-Salaam, collecting the empty husks thrown aside. Collecting sugar cane husks also solves a …
Carlo Figa Talamanca, Chief Executive, Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise Location: Phnomh Penh, Cambodia “We compete on industrialising the clean charcoal process” The other day, there was a fistfight on the factory floor. More worryingly, an employee’s child did not turn up at school. This is directly the responsibility of Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise (SGFE). …
Carlo Figa Talamanca, Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise Read More »
David Achi, Director, AD Solar Entreprise Location: Abidjan, Ivory Coast “Ivorians can now access life” Running a business in Ivory Coast is not easy, much less a solar company. David Achi trained over 1,000 technicians via a company he created in Reims – “the capital of champagne!” – in 2010. Achi also taught engineering at …
David Achi, AD Solar Entreprise – minigrid entrepreneur Read More »
Shyam Patra, Founder and Director at Naturetech Infrastructure “We are ensuring that electricity is available and all the basic services are available. We don’t provide the electricity and then wait for the rest to happen.” The first time Shyam Patra visited India’s rural north, he was working for a traditional energy company and helping …
Shyam Patra, Naturetech Infrastructure – solar entrepreneur Read More »
Segun Adaju, CEO at Consistent Energy Limited “I think Nigeria has the biggest market for this kind of business in all of Sub-Saharan Africa.” To get a sense of Nigeria’s problems in the energy sector, it helps to know that more 60 million people in the country have their own gas-powered generators. In many …
Segun Adaju, Consistent Energy Limited – solar entrepreneur Read More »
Mawuli Tse, Director, Solar Light AfricaLocation: Accra, Ghana “Good technology migrates by itself” In the early nineties, Mawuli Tse spent time in Cape Verde, as part of a group working to install 5,000 photovoltaic systems in homes on the archipelago. “They were so progressive,” he says. “My thought was, if Cape Verde was doing so …
Mawuli Tse, Solar Light Africa – solar entrepreneur Read More »
Richard Fahey, CEO, Liberian Energy Network (LEN) Location: Liberia “We give Liberians, be they fishermen or child soldiers, a powerful tool to do their job better” When a shipment of solar lights disappeared at the port of Hamburg en route from China, only to turn up three months later, every single battery dead. It was …
Richard Fahey, Liberian Energy Network (LEN) – solar entrepreneur Read More »
Jeroen Verschelling, Chairman and Co-founder, Kamworks Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia “It’s hard to go faster than the market” Jeroen Verschelling first designed his zero-energy home when he was a consultant for Ecofys, taking notes in the back of a conference room with experts on how to build homes in the tropics. Verschelling spent three years …
Jeroen Verschelling, Kamworks – solar home system entrepreneur Read More »
Emal Barekzai, CEO, Zularistan Location: Kabul, Afghanistan “We worked in areas which were 100% Taliban” Emal Barekhzai came to Jalalabad in 2002. He was living in Kassel, Germany, and he found a two-month role working as an IT technician at a girl’s school there. Only 3% of girls were going to school in the country …
Vladimir Delagneau Barquero, President and Managing Director, Tecnosol Location: Managua, Nicaragua “20 years ago, some Nicaraguans thought renewable energy was the work of the devil” When Vladimir Delagneau Barquero explains why he launched Tecnosol he brings the story back to an experience he had over a decade in the mid-eighties, during his military service in …
Vladimir Delagneau Barquero, Tecnosol – solar entrepreneur Read More »
Abdul-W. Raaj, CEO, Suka Energy West Africa Location: Tamale, Ghana “People often ask me why we do everything – in, Africa there is no niche in solar energy” In Ghana in the eighties, around 40 schoolchildren in one class would burn kerosene lanterns, to be able to keep on studying after dark. Lanterns, some burning …
Abdul-W. Raaj, Suka Energy West Africa – renewable energy entrepreneur Read More »