Because of unreliable grids, there are millions of small fuel generators in (not only) Nigeria that emit millions of tons of CO2 every year. Following the analysis of the economics of these small fuel generators in Nigeria together with Dalberg (download study here), the Access to Energy Institute (A2EI) set out to provide the sector with an open source hardware solar business system that can replace the noisy, unhealthy fossil fuel generators. Our customers call the solution the Solar Generator. We are providing those systems to the market with the brand name AAM.
Two years later, we have not only made the solar generator available, but already sold over 1,000 to local distributors, who are installing them, mostly at small businesses. A solar generator customer can stop using his/her fossil fuel generator, has a much higher quality of life (no noise or fumes anymore), a way more reliable product and never has to buy fuel again.
The fuel savings pay for the solar generator and over five years, which is the minimum lifespan of the solar generator, we estimate over 1,700 USD are saved. The solar generator can be connected to the grid and thereby acts as a back-up to ensure uninterrupted energy access, but also functions as a standalone pure offgrid solution where no grid is available.
From a climate perspective, 7.5 tons of carbon are being saved per installed solar generator. Gold Standard Certificates are officially confirming the carbon mitigation. Every solar generator is sending real time data on consumption, system state and allows the A2EI to share millions of data points with the sector as open source data.