In sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) the combination of vast solar potential, estimated at 60,000,000 TWh/year (40% of the global total), and the latest photovoltaic technology should mean that solar energy can address the energy trilemma in the region. However rural access to electricity remains low and expensive. In Mali for example, only 16.5% of the 11.5m people living rurally have access to electricity, coinciding with high incidence of poverty, 93% of rural Malians live on <$3.10/day.
The regional mass-deployment and investment in solar minigrid (60kWp--1 MW) is being restricted by:
1. High-upfront capital cost.
2. Inefficient energy generation (fixed-tilt; high down-time).
3. Lack-of-portability and transportability, meaning deployment and redeployment expensive/difficult.
4. Inability to remotely monitor/manage generator assets (e.g predictive maintenance, real-time ROI data).
Together, these results deliver an unattractive levelised-cost-of-electricity (LCOE), and prevent serious financial investment in systems.
Solution = Mobile Industrial Solar Platform (MISP) - Scalable and portable solar generation (60kW - 10MW) bringing industrial-scale levelised cost of electricity for last mile electrification
An 18-month industrial research program delivered by Cambridge Energy Partners who will develop a scalable and portable solar generator solution (60kWp - 10MW) that delivers industrial-scale levelised cost of electricity for last-mile electrification in sub-Sahara Africa. Fully fabricated in our state-of-the-art semi-autonomous production facility, the affordable and simple to deploy solution, which can be remotely managed, takes a holistic approach, optimising efficiency at every stage of the lifecycle.
Through our partners on the ground, Kowry and Ben-Yeleen, we will provide real world evidence of the product's capabilities and its industry-leading levelised cost of electricity through a demonstration in rural Mali.