In a small village in Senegal, nearly nobody has electrical energy, however that’s about to alter. Final yr, a 40-foot-shipping container rolled into city, unfolded an array of photo voltaic panels on its roof, and crews started working wires to attach the entire village to wash energy. After closing approvals from the native authorities, the brand new microgrid will quickly swap on.
The mission had an uncommon funding supply: ChargePoint, the EV charging firm identified for its community of a million chargers within the U.S. and Europe, spent six figures serving to get it constructed, working with a know-how associate known as Africa GreenTec.
The EV charging firm used cash that it earned promoting carbon credit from 10,000 EV chargers in Germany. Beneath the EU’s emissions buying and selling program, it will get certificates for changing fuel or diesel gas in vehicles with electrical energy. However for the reason that electrical energy used to cost vehicles isn’t but 100% clear, the corporate wished to make use of the carbon credit score funds to go a step farther. (Germany’s grid reached a file of 62.7% renewable power in 2024, however nonetheless makes use of some coal and pure fuel.)
“From the very starting, we mentioned we’re going to put aside a sure amount of cash for every kilowatt hour,” says Andreas Blin, director of segments and partnerships at ChargePoint. “And that is going to be invested right into a renewable power product or mission, simply to make it possible for all people’s clear that we’re not about greenwashing—we’re about burning much less fossil fuels.”
Because the workforce thought of the place to spend the funds, it determined to associate with Africa GreenTec, an organization that makes a cellular system known as the Solartainer Amali, designed to rapidly deploy solar energy and electrify total communities.
The primary mission was in-built Keur Ndiangane, a village with round 1,200 residents on the southern border of Senegal. Most individuals dwelling there are subsistence farmers, coping with a harsh local weather that swings between floods and droughts.
“Earlier than our mission, Keur Ndiangane had no entry to centralized electrical energy or public lighting,” says Wolfgang Rams, CEO of Africa GreenTec. “Every day life successfully ended at sundown—retailers closed, faculties emptied, and the streets have been plunged into darkness. Most households relied on candles or kerosene lamps.” Some small companies, akin to mills that course of grains, ran on costly diesel mills.
To put in the brand new microgrid, a crew spent a couple of weeks getting the “Solartainer”— which has 144 photo voltaic panels and battery storage—able to run. (The method is generally even sooner, however set up was slower due to excessive warmth). On the similar time, they spent two months placing up greater than 100 poles and almost 16,000 ft of wiring for the brand new grid. In addition they added 55 avenue lights that every run independently off their very own photo voltaic panels, serving to enhance security for individuals strolling at evening.
Households can join totally different plans relying on what time of day they wish to use electrical energy and the way a lot they want. Greater than 140 individuals are pre-subscribed to date. (ChargePoint doesn’t personal any a part of the mission and gained’t get any monetary return from it.)
The influence shall be vital. Previously, whereas households might need used candles or kerosene for gentle at evening, they’ll now simply be capable of use shiny LED lights and cost different small home equipment. “Kids can examine within the night,” Blin says. “Individuals can work within the night . . . This extends the daytime that folks can use.”
It might assist allow web entry and refrigeration. Farmers can use the ability to pump water on their fields, or run gear to make new merchandise, akin to peanut oil. Healthcare clinics can use lighting and refrigerate medication. New jobs have been created, as native residents will preserve the brand new photo voltaic microgrid.
In different areas the place Africa GreenTec has put in photo voltaic microgrids previously, it has seen that electrification set off financial progress—after which there’s extra demand for energy. Due to that, the system has been designed to adapt. The village can swap in a bigger, extra highly effective photo voltaic microgrid when it’s wanted, and the unique Solartainer might be packed up and reused.
“The beforehand used Solartainer Amali might be transported to the following village that’s not but electrified and can be utilized there once more at any time,” says Rams. “This distinctive characteristic saves manufacturing effort and sources and reduces our carbon footprint.”
The work is a part of a a lot bigger development: Photo voltaic microgrids are rapidly spreading throughout Africa. In Zambia, as one instance, the federal government has put in 45 microgrids in rural communities, with plans for an additional 200 by subsequent yr, and 1,000 over the following few years, with assist from nonprofits, the UN, and different funders.
In Nigeria, World Financial institution funding has helped thousands and thousands of individuals entry electrical energy from photo voltaic microgrids lately. Final yr, World Financial institution lending for off-grid photo voltaic initiatives reached $660 million. The World Financial institution Group has additionally partnered with the African Improvement Financial institution with a purpose of connecting 300 million individuals in sub-Saharan Africa to electrical energy by 2030.
These bigger efforts dwarf what a single firm can do. Nonetheless, Africa GreenTec says that ChargePoint’s assist meant that the village of Keur Ndiangane seemingly acquired energy sooner than it in any other case would have. “With out ChargePoint’s financing, implementing the mission would have been extraordinarily difficult,” Rams says.
ChargePoint, based in California in 2007, has been navigating a troublesome interval, with web losses of $282.9 million within the fiscal yr ending in January, and round 250 jobs reduce in 2024. It’s additionally incomes much less cash now from carbon credit, as a result of the worth of carbon credit has fallen. Nonetheless, its community of EV chargers continues to develop, and the corporate expects to put money into electrifying one other village. “I’d wish to see extra firms assist issues like this,” Blin says.
