VUTSELA means "keep burning" in Siswati. Energy access in Eswatini is limited and very dependent on neighbouring countries with 80% of electricity being imported from South Africa and Mozambique. Liquefied petroleum gas availability is declining sharply with production facilities in South Africa closing down. The bulk of the population (78%) are based in rural areas, contributing to the crisis of ensuring viable and sustainable supply of energy to households. Decentralised energy supply solutions such as solar PV and biogas are suitable solutions to this problem. Biogas may be particularly well suited for adoption in Eswatini as 71% of the land is agricultural and feedstock for digestion is readily available. Biogas generated sustainably from waste could satisfy household or light-industrial heating requirements, which form the majority of energy needs. Farms would be an appropriate route to market entry as digestion provides the added benefit of waste disposal and fertilser production in addition to energy savings from biogas production. As 37% of the economically active population of Eswatini is employed in agriculture, targeting farms aids the economic survival of a backbone of employment in the country. Moreover, it effectively exposes a large proportion of the population to a new technology (biogas generation through anaerobic digestion) which aids in education and wider scale later adoption. This project aims to roll out 100 digesters (plus an initial 15 prototypes) to low income farms in Eswatini and the bordering regions of South Africa. Eswatini is targeted due to the reasons stated, and South Africa is seen as a potential market expansion in neighbouring regions with a similar context. This project period will be used to gain valuable market feedback through community engagement and the established methods of Smart Villages Research Group to understand and define the real needs of the local farms and communities and use this information for design revisions before future commercial rollout and continued operation. The project will be executed with a local tertiary training centre, STREEC, aimed at equipping Eswatini youth with technical skills in renewable energy and entrepreneurship. Small commercial farms will be chosen for initial sites within a 100km radius of the training centre for ease of monitoring, training, and engagement hubs for wider groups of low income farmers to introduce the technology and understand the specific needs and value to the community. Innovation will be largely focused on technology adoption and developing a viable and sustainable business model.

Despite its potential, Malawi's Mini-grid market remains in its infancy, facing barriers to realising full impact. These include, most notably, accurately forecasting Average Revenue per User (ARPU) and Average Weekly Time of Power (AWTP) when assessing potential locations, and initial low energy demand during evening hours, increasing battery storage costs. Building upon existing hardware and software developed by CREATIVenergie during Energy Catalyst 7, our approach stimulates impactful community demand for energy by integrating portable small-scale productive applications into a rental model that incorporates pay-per-use battery swapping, simultaneously generating local data on ARPU and AWTP to support accurate load projection analysis and de-risk prospective minigrid investments. To sustain operations, we will employ a two-tier 'franchisor-franchisee' model. As franchisors, Challenges Catalyst will partner with local aspiring mini-grid developers (MGDs) to act as 'franchisees', procure hub equipment, manage branding and set quality standards. Franchisees will own and operate the pay per use battery swap and PUE model, collecting ARPU and AWTP data and acting not only as the frontline for customer interactions, but also as community advocates for present and future energy needs. Guided by Malawi's Integrated Energy Plan, we will target communities where minigrids have been identified as the preferred electrification option. As we expand, we will also target more remote off-grid communities, inclusively recruiting and training local franchisees. This project includes the following key work packages: \* Hardware and software development involves updating electronics hardware design, software design, casing design, prototyping, and testing for battery rental and management. \* During the demonstrator implementation phase, tasks include installation, manufacturing hardware for trials, deploying and commissioning hubs, commissioning portable productive loads, installing communication systems, conducting trials, and data collection. Ongoing operation, maintenance, and data collection are also part of this phase. \* Commercial implementation involves conducting baseline community and energy needs assessments, establishing franchisee relationships with MGDs for franchised hubs, providing commercial and franchisee training, mentoring, community marketing, implementing the hub model, and monitoring and evaluating hub performance. \* The project focuses on MGD and government engagement, including convening a stakeholder technical advisory board, assessing data needs, developing an MGD value proposition, and establishing a complementary go-to-market strategy. \* Franchise model development activities include establishing a franchise structure and legal framework, designing the franchisor business and revenue model, codifying operations and quality systems, optimising franchisee training and support programs, developing a marketing and branding strategy. \* The development of a comprehensive business and financial plan.

Oxygen is classified as an essential medicine by WHO and oxygen therapy described as "highly effective" at reducing global mortality for various medical conditions. The importance of oxygen therapy has become mainstream news during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Health Organisation, "good-quality oxygen concentrators can provide a sustainable and reliable source of oxygen to multiple patients. Oxygen concentrators operate by drawing air from the environment to deliver continuous, clean and concentrated oxygen. They may run for up to five years or more, with minimal service and maintenance." Yet the availability of electricity, essential for powering oxygen concentrators/plants, compressing oxygen into canisters or piping it throughout a hospital, is an "important, but often overlooked, building block of health service delivery" \[poweringhc.org\]. Indeed, when only 44% of Sub-Saharan Africa's population have access to electricity, dropping to 22% in rural areas \[TrackingSDG7.esmap.org\] it is unsurprising that estimates indicate only 28% of health facilities in the region have "reliable electricity" access \[poweringhc.org\]. Globally estimates suggest "tens of thousands of health centers across low- and middle-income countries lack electricity" whilst similar numbers of hospitals "suffer from frequent and debilitating blackouts" \[poweringhc.org\]. Lack of electricity access constrains healthcare provision, most topically in the context of COVID-19, exacerbating difficulties in both generating and managing oxygen supply in response to sudden surges in demand for oxygen therapy. Drawing on our expertise in the Sub-Saharan African off-grid energy access sector, we have identified an opportunity to innovatively enhance the energy efficiency of oxygen production as well as enabling this process to be powered by renewable energy. Our proposed off-grid oxygen concentrator will be custom designed to be affordable and easy to manufacture, maintain and repair within low-resource settings including disaster and emergency response. The intended oxygen output is set to fill a gap in the market, sitting between a portable pressure-swing-adsorption (PSA) oxygen concentrator (5-10L/min) and a (PSA) oxygen plant that supplies high pressure oxygen through a piped network across a healthcare facility or for compression into canisters to be consumed elsewhere. For example, each severely ill patient with COVID-19 would require 10L/min of oxygen therapy whilst a critically ill patient requires 30L/min (WHO Guidance for COVID-19 Treatment Centres). Hence our proposed solution seeks to design an off-grid oxygen concentrator that can meet the requirements of such treatment for more than one patient at a time. During the first six months we have constructed a lab prototype of our Resilient Oxygen (R-O2) concentrator which proves the concept and commenced optimisation to increase energy efficiency. Our market research and partnership development identified demand for off-grid oxygen solutions amongst governments, health ministries and NGOs. EFI funding will increase speed to market by enabling us to: turn the lab prototype into a pre-production unit designed for manufacture and construct test units for field testing and CE Mark certification.

Biogas digesters transform waste organic matter into methane gas, providing a source of clean renewable energy, a safe alternative to the pollution caused by burning wood. However construction of biogas digesters is only a first step to providing clean energy. Maintenance is crucial; many digesters constructed are out of action at any one time and functioning digesters are not always operated to their full potential. When digesters break or operate below expectations, it is often difficult for households to identify and contact a technician with the specialist skills to repair the system. This leads to biogas digesters remaining defective or completely broken, forcing users to supplement their energy supply by, or revert to, burning wood again. Failure leads to unavoidable health, financial and environmental costs and damages the reputation of biogas technology. The Smart Biogas Network, the technological solution being explored in this project, will connect owners of defective or broken biogas plants across Tanzania with those who can fix them, hence improving the security of clean, renewable energy supply with potential wider applicability across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

There has been significant investment into solar panels and biogas digesters within Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the poorest members of off-grid communities remain unable to afford these assets, and are prohibited from accessing such energy sources, whilst those with assets have an energy supply that exceeds the capacity of their current storage options and/or their own consumption needs. Modifying existing techniques and technologies for combined application in a new context, will create opportunities for business model innovation. This will enable surplus energy generated to be packaged into bitesize amounts for distribution via virtual, rather than physical, grids or transferred to other productive uses. As a result, the Smart Energy Exchange Network (SEEN), will facilitate greater entry level access to low carbon, energy supplies for those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid as well as transformative change at a community level through the provision of new energy services (refrigeration, milling, irrigation).