How Pre-Paid Energy Services Aid In Rural Electrification

Posted by timothy on Friday February 10, 2012 @11:33PM from the grateful-for-1st-world-problems dept.

First time accepted submitter superfast-scooter writes "I wanted to let the community know of a research project I've been fortunate to be part of — it's a rural electrification project called SharedSolar at the Modi Research Group at Columbia University. The project has 17 pilot sites in sub-Saharan Africa to-date, providing prepaid energy services to over 3000 people who did not have access to electricity — a fraction of the over 1.3 Billion worldwide. The lab has been developing custom software applications to integrate off-the-shelf hardware components, and also provide the operational and management mechanisms needed. Communications with the sites are over the mobile networks. Consumers can recharge their accounts using either cellphones, or visit a designated local vendor who can do it at the site using an Android app. Software residing locally makes each site autonomous, and the online platform allows for remote visibility, localized consumer interactions and integration with payment solutions. And we're planning on deploying soon in Haiti and Kenya."

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Re:Not new by Richard_at_work · 2012-02-11 02:06 · Score: 5, Informative

I make a comment further down in reply to someone else, but largely its through sales of goods in markets, or other services - I was buying vouchers in denominations as small as 500 Shillings in Uganda, which is about the equivalent of 15 British pence, or 10 cents. And that would do for a 10 minute call.
Charging is done at roadside stalls, usually either off of a mains supply where there is one (and where the person with the phone isn't connected to that supply), petrol generator or just by a kid or two sat all day turning a hand crank. You saw several of these at each roadside trading point, nothing more than a shanty shack with hand painted advertising.
There certainly is money exchanged in rural villages, and these people travel for hours just to make the equivalent of a dollar or two through selling bananas or pineapples. You have to go really rural for money to disappear altogether - I did a lot of traveling in Uganda and we never came across a village which didn't have some form of money transaction going on.