LOW COSt ENERGY IN UGANDA

In Collaboration with Boxx

 

Background

There are currently more than 1.3 billion people living without access to electricity around the world. These people spend billions of dollars each year on kerosene to light their homes. Kerosene lanterns fill crammed homes with fumes causing a variety of detrimental health effects in addition to the fire hazards posed by these lanterns. 

 

Kerosene use is also responsible for millions of tons of carbon emissions each year, contributing to accelerating rates of climate change. The widespread adoption of cellphones throughout Africa has made the need for electrification in rural communities more pronounced. People without electricity walk miles to charge their phones multiple times per week and pay $.30 per charge. For households making less than $2 a day, expenses related to kerosene and cell phone charging can account for over 30% of the household's monthly budget. The lack of electrification in these communities contributes to a cycle of poverty caused by economic stagnation and high costs for alternative sources of lighting. 


Intent

There are three primary barriers to the adoption of solar home systems: lack of awareness of solar products, lack of appropriate distribution channels for solar products in remote rural areas, and financing. ChangeLabs worked in collaboration with BOXX, a company that provides an electrification solution for off-grid communities. BOXX manufactures and sells solar home systems ranging from 7W to 185W to serve a variety of budgets. The company currently sells a wide variety of low-wattage appliances ranging from radios and TVs to laptop chargers and refrigerators. 


Impact Goals 

BBOXX has created a subsidiary called "BBOXX Capital" in order to provide financing for their products. In order to address the barriers of raising awareness and last-mile distribution, BBOXX has historically relied on local distribution partners in each of the countries in which they operate. Given that these local partners had not been effective, BBOXX ran a pilot project to assess the potential of creating their own distribution network in Uganda. The goal of the project was to create a scaled way of distributing solar energy to rural areas; and leverage the power of communities, network, word of mouth, and intelligent diffusion strategies.


Approach 

A team was  tasked with creating a scaled strategy for spreading solar energy in rural Uganda, developing interventions to encourage people to interact with solar solutions and improve user experience.

 

Solar technologies are difficult to diffuse even if technologies are great. The team was tasked with developing innovative ways to help solar technology become an important component of Africa's energy security future.