Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

The Solar.20 team has been providing solar power in rural parts of Latin America for over a decade. We have observed many solar home systems abandoned after just five years when the batteries fail. Rural populations, many who have never been more than 5 kilometers from their homes, don't have the capacity to change batteries. When batteries fail entire solar home systems fail. Solar.20 systems are designed so that all components last 20 years, a 300% increase in utility at a 5% to 10% increase in cost.

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

We are a women led organization with our Executive Director, Program Director and Latin American staff all being women. Our program for Solar.20 is to replicate our Mayan Power and Light women's empowerment and social venture business program on a larger scale with a focus on wholesale of Solar.20 hardware. 

The Solar.20 pilot program, Mayan Power and Light in Guatemala enrolls women to e evangelists for solar power and other clean technology products. Women learn about electricity, circuits, solar power and how to install solar power. ""the women climb the roof, they put the solars, they do the connections, they do the repairs within the system, and really changing the narrative from 'oh, these poor women they're victims' to women as change agents."" [1] 

The Solar.20 model for distribution is to wholesale solar products that last longer than the competition. Solar.20 systems will be available with Pay-go options or as stand alone systems. Due to their long lives Solar.20 systems have residual value for decades thus incentivising distributors to reacquire rather than abandon unfunded systems thus reducing electronic waste in rural environments. 

In addition to wholesale, Solar.20 will have retail sales offices that recruit, train, mentor and incubate woman owned solar businesses. Solar.20 women will earn commissions selling a portfolio of solar power, clean cookstoves and water filter equipment. They will also earn commissions on the sale of larger scale solar systems. 

Energy poverty disproportionately impacts women. The World Bank says 70 percent of those suffering from energy poverty are women and girls. We see women manage energy in their households. They also are primarily responsible for fetching fuel, and in recent years young girls have primary responsibility for charging the family cell phone. We have seen girls hike 60 minutes to the nearest village with electricity to charge their family phone. This chore makes girls miss school and drop out at an early age. 

[1] Solar powered electricity access: Implications for women‚ empowerment in 
rural Kenya 
Tanja Winthera,‚Åé, Kirsten Ulsrudb, Anjali Sainic 
a Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Norway 
b Department for Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway 
c Seacrester Consulting, Nairobi, Kenya 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629618303694?via%3Dihub, 02/10/2020

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