Simpa Networks and Kenyan solar energy company M-KOPA are bringing pay-as-you-go models to solar photovoltaics while also capitalizing on innovations in mobile banking. In Simpa’s system, customers make payments—via mobile phone if they have access to mobile banking—for a particular amount of energy, and the company unlocks the customers’ equipment until they use what they’ve paid for. When a customer has paid in full for the equipment, it unlocks permanently. Needham believes that this financing approach will allow investment in larger systems by those who would otherwise have been able only to afford a small light.
While many of these ideas are still unproven at the large scale, UNDP’s Gitonga says the sun will play a growing role in providing energy to the developing world. “Solar energy will remain a big piece of energy expansion, especially in decentralized remote areas,” he says. “There are 1.3 billion people without electricity as we speak. This figure has remained like this for the last 50 years. If we don’t do anything, it will remain like this until 2030.”
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For those who'd like to learn more about, and get involved in bringing solar to low-income villagers in developing countries, I compiled relevant resources here:
http://bennu-solar.com/
Hope this helps,
Yotam
(http://www.linkedin.com/in/yotamariel)
WakaWakaLight discovered at a field survey in Northern Nigeria that families did spend 2.5 hours extra every day thanks to their newly acquired solar LED lamp.
Moreover, it is a major step in combatting the forgotten routine horror of heavy poisoning by the suffocating air pollution from toxic kerosene fumes and the 300,000 yearly death victims by burning accidents AND the 6,000,000 severely burned victimes.
This 'silent drama', unfolding e-v-e-ry day, 365 days e-v-e-r-y year has to be stopped.
And it CAN be stopped.
With our solar LED lamp and its 'brother', that also can charge power driven devices like mobile phones, radio's, MP's players and tablets, we hope to contribute to ending this horror, to help escape 'killer kerosene' and to enable also people to build a better future for themselves.
More info: www.wakawakalight.com and www.wakawakafoundation.org
I think that fact alone--having a cell phone but not light--is astonishing. More importantly, it also shows that dispersing solar powered devices with scale is possible in this decade. If cell phones can, then solar lights surely can too.
More info on how people anywhere in the world can invest in rural, off-grid solar projects: www.sunfunder.com
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