IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2016 - 12

models, and entrepreneurship training to establish a
local business that is technically and financially sustainable. Seed funding is provided to local nongovernmental
organization (NGO) partners for microutility equipment,
and, through IEEE Smart Village's incubator process,
local entrepreneurs receive training and support to
grow a self-sustaining business of the scope and character that best fulfills the needs of customers in their
specific communities. All profits and benefits remain
within the local communities.
The microutility and training program offer a unique
model, with viability being proven today in dozens of offgrid communities around the world
where the people are typically living
on less than US$1-2 per day. By the
end of 2015, IEEE Smart Village and
local partners provided electricity to
more than 50,000 people in 34 villages
through pilots in Cameroon, Haiti,
India, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South
Sudan, and Zambia. The projects are
as varied as the individual markets
served. IEEE Smart Village has helped
fuel a wide range of deployments,
including solar home systems powered by 5-W panels, a 4-Ah battery,
and 1-W light-emitting diode (LED)
lightbulbs; energy kiosks supporting
portable battery kits for homeowners;
and village-center microgrids supporting metered customers. Implementations are planned in several other
nations, and potential partners have
already been identified in Burkina Faso, Gambia, and
Malawi. IEEE Smart Village encourages its local village
entrepreneurs to build a long-term relationship with their
customers with affordable pay-as-you-go schemes and
discourages transactional product sales.

for critical needs such as exchanging money, education,
and health services.
Initially, IEEE Smart Village's local nonprofit partner in
Haiti, Sirona Cares, implemented the renewable-energy
solutions in six villages. In August 2012, ten more were
deployed as Phase 2 of the pilot. Ten more were planned
but never built; instead an end-of-grid charger system
was requested by the UN to electrify 3,100 homes using
the same home kits and business model. In 2015, Sirona
Cares expected to expand its footprint to 55 communities across Haiti and reported that, for every home lit, ten
more homeowners joined the waiting list for portable
battery kits. Plus, leveraging IEEE
Smart Village's initial gifts of equipment, professional support, and seed
funding, Sirona Cares has subsequently attracted additional funding
from other international donors to
greatly expand its capacity.
A George Mason University analysis
of the work in Haiti said that access to
electricity boosted entrepreneurial
growth and productivity, fueled health
improvements and better educational
opportunities, and enhanced opportunities for leisure activities. With access
to electricity, one participant in the
study was quoted to say, "Now I feel
like a human being."

Moved to help

Nigeria

In the wake of Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake, IEEE
volunteers went to work on trying to develop a reliable,
low-cost source of electricity for the people there. The
response to the disaster led not only to the SunBlazer-
an open-source, modular, easy-to-install photovoltaic
(PV) community charging station that could power portable battery packs to provide light in off-grid or disaster-stricken villages-but also the IEEE Community
Solutions Initiative (its name was changed to IEEE
Smart Village in 2015).
Utilizing six silicon 250-W PV solar panels, the SunBlazer trailer could collect over 4 kWh of energy per day-
enough to charge 80 portable battery packs, which are
used to power LED lightbulbs and charge cell phones. That
is important to the well-being of people in Haiti because
many of the remote villagers depend on their cell phones

Green Village Electricity Projects (GVEP), Ltd., initially implemented a 6-kW PV minigrid in Egbeke, Nigeria. The project
has brought Egbeke's villagers access to reliable electricity
for basic lighting and powering of small gadgets. Furthermore, a health center and water borehole could be powered
with the IEEE Smart Village solution. GVEP's efforts have not
gone unnoticed-in 2013, GVEP was named a winner of the
Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge, a General Electric
and U.S. African Development Foundation initiative. GVEP is
now leading a major initiative financed by the Bank of
Industry, Nigeria, and IEEE Smart Village to install three
220-V ac microgrids with 25 kW of solar panels that will
each serve 200 customers (Figures 1 and 2). The Bank of
Industry and GVEP plan to build on this base and electrify
100,000 off-grid homes over the next five years, with an
impact reaching 1 million people.

Reliable access to
electricity is widely
regarded as a
keystone to
overcoming poverty,
dramatically
enhancing quality of
life, and encouraging
sustainable
community
prosperity.

I E E E E l e c t r i f i cati o n M agaz ine / March 2016

More human Needs,
More Technical requirements

From the initial success in Haiti, a larger, longer-term vision for IEEE Smart Village took shape: to
bring basic electrical and educational services to more than
50 million people by 2025. IEEE Smart Village implementations have spread to more markets around the globe,
including Nigeria, South Sudan, India, Zambia, and Kenya.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2016