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Off-Grid Energy Solutions - Switch On: The Series - YouTube
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[6]
- [Scott Tinker] Across
the developing world,
[7]
governments and utility
companies are working
[9]
to expand the grid, to provide electricity
[12]
to the 1 billion people
who still don't have it.
[15]
This is mostly happening in
[17]
and around rapidly growing cities,
[19]
where populations are dense
[21]
and existing infrastructure
can be extended.
[24]
Still for many, often rural customers,
[26]
grid electricity is
unavailable or unaffordable.
[30]
They need off-grid energy solutions.
[37]
(upbeat music)
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There are nearly 3 billion people today
[44]
who still live with little or no energy.
[46]
And what I want to know is
how they'll finally get it.
[50]
So this is sort of what
it was, that's the future.
[54]
- That's the future.
(laughing)
[56]
- I'm Scott Tinker, and I study energy.
[59]
(upbeat music)
[61]
Come with me around the world
[63]
to meet people and
communities as they Switch On.
[72]
(upbeat music)
[73]
So you told me when we were
driving here this morning,
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you saw giraffes?
[76]
In the Maasai territories
of Kenya, I met with Isaiah,
[79]
a Maasai tribesmen, who's
also a traveling salesman.
[83]
So we're standing under
power lines right now,
[86]
which I didn't expect.
[87]
- Yeah, this is, this
was a government project,
[90]
but there is no power supply
to the community here.
[93]
- Okay.
[94]
- To take the electricity from
this place to the homesteads
[98]
will take time.
[99]
It will be a little bit costly.
[101]
- [Scott] I asked Kenyan
energy consultant, Elsie Mbugua
[104]
about the country's rural
electrification efforts.
[107]
The grid is really extending quickly.
[110]
What percentage of the country
actually gets the access
[113]
to the grid now?
[114]
- You know, depending on
who you talk to, it might be
[116]
between the 50 and 70% range.
[118]
- [Scott] Right.
[120]
- That's significant from where
we were even a decade ago.
[122]
- It's crazy.
[123]
- Most of the grid passes through the
[127]
sort of the central part of the country.
[129]
I would say much of the
Northern part of the country
[132]
and Western parts of the country,
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a lot more needs to be done.
[136]
In many ways, we have limited
resources within government,
[139]
and so you have to be very thoughtful
[142]
about where you're putting your money.
[143]
(bright music)
[145]
- Often this means that
bringing electricity
[147]
to the most remote areas
becomes a lower priority.
[150]
(Isaiah greeting locals
in native language)
[154]
Isaiah works for M-KOPA, a
Kenyan company stepping in
[157]
to provide electricity
where the grid does not.
[160]
They are listening to M-KOPA radio.
[162]
- [Scott] Okay.
[163]
- And they are saying it is very good
[164]
because it is portable.
- [Scott] Yeah.
[165]
- And it has a very clear sound.
[168]
- That's perfect, and they
get good reception here.
[170]
- Yes, and they get the news
[171]
of what is happening all over the world.
[173]
As well, they have the lights,
so they light the house.
[176]
They have kids
- [Scott] Okay.
[177]
- who go to school.
[178]
So the light is helping
the kids do their homework.
[181]
- [Scott] Right.
- Yeah, in the evening.
[182]
- Isaiah, you were raised
[184]
in this community?
- Yes.
[185]
- You went to school here?
- Yes.
[186]
- Did you have any electricity
in school or at home?
[189]
Not at all.
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We didn't have any.
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- So this is really changing lives.
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This one is automatically
changing our life
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and it is putting us to another standard.
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- Yeah, that's fantastic.
[200]
- What we're currently
seeing at the moment
[203]
is there's a significant
number of startups.
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Young, very bright entrepreneurs,
who've come to resolve
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and actually get people who
are not connected to the grid,
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access to power.
[216]
- [Scott] Companies like
M-KOPA hire young locals
[219]
who know the area, culture and language,
[221]
to sell-home solar systems.
[223]
Isaiah and I were here to install one.
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(Isaiah greets locals in native language)
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Nice to meet you.
[230]
Nice to meet you.
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Well, we should probably get started.
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We got the kit, right?
[237]
These home solar systems
consist of a battery.
[240]
It's powered by a small
solar panel on the roof.
[243]
It can charge a portable radio,
flashlight or cell phone,
[247]
run some low wattage LEDs in the house.
[249]
Okay we'll just pull it
a little bit this way.
[251]
- Yeah, that will be okay.
[253]
- Is that good?
- Yeah that one is good.
[254]
- Okay.
[255]
Even run a very efficient TV.
[257]
Oh the power.
[259]
Got it.
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In Nairobi, I met with
M-KOPA's director of marketing
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Pauline Githugu.
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- We have about 200 staff.
- Yeah.
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- Who are within the call center.
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- 200?
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- Yeah.
- Wow!
[272]
- And the basic activity here
is to support our customers,
[274]
making sure that he knows that
it's, you know, on credit,
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he knows how to pay for it.
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And then we switch it on.
- Yeah.
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- Young people.
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- Yes.
- A lot of buzz.
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- Yes, I'd say our average
age here is probably 28.
[290]
- Really?
- Maybe even younger.
[293]
- Wow!
- Within the call center.
[295]
The payment for this is
done by mobile money.
[298]
- So that comes through a mobile network?
[300]
- Yes, that comes
through a mobile network.
[303]
So this device has a SIM card.
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So it operates like a mobile phone.
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Say, I want to pay 50 cents today.
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I'll go to the phone
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and I will pay M-KOPA.
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- And once it recognizes
that, M-KOPA sends a message
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to the customer on this device
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that you now have one day
[321]
of credit.
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Yeah.
[323]
- So there's mobile technology
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that's allowing all of this...
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- Absolutely.
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- Transactions,
- At the backend.
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- To happen
- Yes, yes.
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- Hello.
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Hello.
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- Hello.
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So I can activate it now?
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Okay.
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- Showtime.
[344]
So we count to three.
(laughing)
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Three,
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two,
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one.
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(switch flicks on)
(applause)
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There it is.
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(lady speaks in native language)
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A remote.
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- You think that is very good.
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- Oh, yes, beautiful quality.
[363]
- They are happy now
they have first pictures.
[365]
- Congratulations.
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- They are very happy.
- Wonderful.
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(Scott chuckles)
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(soft music)
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This doesn't look like
something I wanna drink Pauline.
[378]
- No, it's not.
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So these are a representation
[381]
of just how much kerosene
a family would use
[385]
if they were not using an M-KOPA device.
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So these are 365 bottles,
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which is just about the same
amount of time a customer needs
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to pay off for one of our products.
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So you can imagine this is all they inhale
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for close to a year.
- Right.
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- And for many years.
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- Right, they had to
spend money on this too.
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- Yes, so it's actually
a displacement product.
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- [Scott] Yeah.
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- So instead of paying for this,
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then you now pay for clean energy
[414]
that you eventually own
[415]
and don't have to pay for
- [Scott] Right.
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- at the end of it.
- [Scott] Yeah.
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So this is it,
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if you don't have the ability
[423]
to use your phone and pay,
- Yes.
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- you don't do this.
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- No, you can't do this.
You can't do this.
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- This is the heart of your business?
[429]
- Yeah
[429]
- Is this something that
Kenya, M-KOPA and others
[434]
can share and export to the world?
[436]
- Absolutely, I think this is something
[438]
that we've proved can really work,
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but it is really
predicated on the existence
[445]
of a good mobile network.
[448]
- It's phenomenal that you have technology
[450]
that allows people who did not have access
[452]
to financial services.
- Right.
[454]
- To finally be able
to pay for their goods.
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- Yeah.
- That's a game changer
[459]
- Right.
[460]
- That means kids can actually study,
[462]
- Yeah.
[463]
- you know, in areas where
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that would not have been possible before.
[468]
- Right.
[469]
- It's sort of the dynamic,
it's a domino effect
[471]
that touches on every aspect
[473]
- Right.
- of people's lives.
[476]
- [Scott] These home solar
systems won't run a stove
[478]
or a refrigerator,
[480]
but they bring light for reading
[482]
and connection to the outside world
[484]
that change lives,
[485]
at a cost that off-grid
customers can afford.
[489]
And cost is a significant concern
[492]
though the grid already
reaches this rural neighborhood
[494]
outside Nairobi.
[496]
Farmer, John Kidenda, has
found an energy solution
[499]
that works better for
his finances and needs.
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- And then I have the tomatoes,
[503]
which requires a lot of attention.
[506]
- Can all of this grow
with natural rainfall,
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or do you have to use more water?
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- Nothing, you get nothing,
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Really, you wouldn't grow at all?
[515]
- This...
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Do you know the next rain
we expect here in March.
[519]
It's January now.
- We're in January now.
[521]
(Scott laughs)
Yeah.
[522]
- So you have to irrigate?
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- I have to irrigate.
[525]
- How does the water get from
your system to the plants?
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- I could get a solar
system that has a pump,
[532]
that is solar powered.
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And, this being Sub-Saharan Africa,
[537]
that to me was key where I
can just use the solar energy,
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which is available like 365 days a year.
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I've been having the pump
for the last four months,
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and there is no single
day I've not had sun.
[550]
- Really?
- Or I've...
[551]
I've never used an electric pump.
[553]
Because of what I do, I have a tank
[555]
and I just pump water to the tank.
[557]
- [Scott] Okay.
[558]
- And if it's in the evening,
I want to do sprinkling.
[560]
- [Scott] Yeah.
- I just put on and it works.
[563]
- So you're pumping water.
- [John] Yes.
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- To a tank.
- [John] Yes.
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- That's elevated.
- [John] Yeah.
[568]
- And then when you need it,
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- [John] I just use gravity.
- You just use gravity.
[573]
- Here we have the solar panel.
[575]
- Yeah, what's the capacity of these?
[577]
- 80 watts each.
[579]
So total of 16O watts.
- Yeah.
[581]
What does a system like this cost?
[584]
- You give them a deposit of $100.
[588]
They supply you the equipment.
[590]
So what you're supposed to
do after that is they...
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You pay $45 a month,
- [Scott] Okay.
[595]
- for the next 12 months,
and the system is all yours.
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And what I get from the farm,
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I can comfortably pay the $45.
[602]
- Okay, so your costs are covered here
[603]
by what you get every month.
- [John] Comfortably.
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Comfortably.
- That's fantastic.
[607]
- [Scott] Samir Ibrahim
is the American educated,
[610]
Silicon Valley style entrepreneur
who started SunCulture
[613]
that built John's system.
[615]
- Most farmers in Africa live off-grid.
[618]
- Yeah.
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- And they live in rural areas like this
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and make up two-thirds of the workforce.
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- Yeah.
[624]
- Farmers make money in two ways,
[625]
they either sell their crops
[626]
or they sell milk from their livestock.
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Both of those two things need water.
[630]
- Right.
[631]
- So a lot of people, rain is
unpredictable, undependable.
[633]
It leaves them one bad rainy season away
[635]
from being completely wiped out.
[636]
- Yeah.
[637]
- Where most farmers use these buckets,
[640]
and then they fill buckets
up from a water source,
[642]
which is either on their farm or nearby.
[644]
- Right.
[645]
- And they fill it up
with 20 liters of water.
[646]
(Scott laughs)
- 50 pounds.
[648]
- Lulling it around for
their domestic needs,
[651]
for their agriculture needs,
[653]
and it's heavy.
[655]
70% of the farmers in Africa
[658]
are women.
- Are women.
[658]
- Yeah.
[659]
The farmers actually tell us that,
[660]
the woman of the household
spends over 17 hours a week
[664]
lifting weights
- Yeah.
[665]
- for their livelihood?
[668]
- Oh, it's way down there.
[671]
- It's really deep.
[672]
- Yeah.
- Hand dug.
[674]
- So how deep is the water itself?
[676]
It looks like the top of
the water is at least 10...
[678]
- It's at least 50 feet
deep, the whole well.
[681]
- 50 feet?
- Yeah 50 feet.
[682]
So it's really deep.
[684]
- So you got a lot of
water in here, a lot of it.
[686]
- A lot of water, I pump the whole day.
[687]
- Yeah.
[688]
- It's...
- Yeah.
[689]
- I have the water all year round also.
[690]
- Wow.
[691]
- Initially I used to
pull the water manually
[695]
with a bucket and a rope
that was really tough.
[698]
- No kidding.
- Yes.
[699]
- So can you do this
without a well like this?
[703]
Is it possible
[703]
- To farm?
- to farm like this?
[705]
- No.
- Not really.
[707]
- If it's possible, then
you have to rely on the...
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You have to time with the seasons.
[712]
- Okay.
[712]
- When you have the rains.
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And you know what that means?
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You'll harvest at the
same time with everyone.
[717]
- Right.
[718]
- So the market,
[719]
you all meet at the market.
(Scott and John laugh)
[721]
- Too much supply, no
demand and then there's...
[723]
- Now I can just time when I want
[725]
to plant or even harvest.
- Yeah.
[727]
- So, I can play with the market,
[729]
the demand and supply.
- [Scott] Yeah.
[732]
- [Samir] In Africa.
- [Scott] Right.
[733]
- We have 60% of the world's
unused farmable land.
[736]
- Okay. Of the world's unused...
[738]
- Of the world's unused farmable land.
[739]
- Right.
- We're the only continent
[741]
when we talk about water scarcity,
[743]
It's not a physical water scarcity,
[745]
it's an economic water scarcity.
[746]
People just can't afford
to pull the water up.
[748]
- Right.
[749]
- So this is good for five acres.
[751]
- Yeah.
[752]
And most farmers here have just about two.
[754]
When you think about selling water pumps,
[757]
you have to be very
careful to not over spec,
[759]
because we have precious
resources underground.
[761]
- Sure.
[762]
- [John] We are very food insecure.
[764]
And the reason is this: we've
not made farming profitable.
[769]
And I think that's why the
food production systems
[772]
are failing in Africa.
[774]
We don't have youth engaged in farming.
[777]
The average age of the
farmer is increasing,
[780]
you find that up to 50 year olds
[782]
are the ones doing the farming.
[783]
You need to cut on overhead costs.
[786]
One of it is the energy consumption.
[789]
Like now if you're using electricity
[791]
or diesel to pump your water,
[793]
definitely that would be very expensive.
[795]
If we were to make the farming profitable,
[797]
the youth would not walk away from it.
[800]
- Africa only contributes
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to about 15% of global agriculture output
[803]
and it's projected to import
a $100 billion dollars of food
[807]
in the next 20 years.
[808]
My dream is to prove this out
[812]
in a way where we get dozens
of companies doing this.
[815]
- Yeah.
[816]
- With hundreds of thousands,
[817]
if not millions of acres of irrigation,
[819]
with modular energy management
services and the systems
[822]
so that people can plug
in other appliances
[825]
and that people have the
choice of what they do.
[828]
I mean, we're very fortunate,
we can choose what we do,
[831]
when we use power, when we take a shower,
[833]
when we watch TV.
- Right.
[834]
- We wanna give people that choice.
[835]
We wanna give people that freedom.
[837]
And I think it has to do with energy.
[839]
And I think it has to
do with connectivity.
[840]
- Sure.
[841]
- But I think it's
giving people the freedom
[843]
to choose how they do, what they do,
[846]
and when they do it.
[847]
- And I think that we can get
there not only across Kenya,
[850]
but across Africa and around the world.
[851]
I think in five years
we'll have picked up steam.
[854]
- What I just do now, I just place it
[856]
to a location I want it to pump.
[862]
And it's a simple set up.
- Yeah.
[866]
- You just physically connect it
[867]
and the pump
- Yes.
[869]
- starts, and the sprinkler goes.
[870]
- Yes, are you ready?
[872]
- I'm ready, let's sprinkle
(Scott chuckles)
[873]
- Okay, let's see.
[875]
There.
[877]
- I can hear it.
[878]
- Whoa.
- Whoa.
[880]
- You have it.
- That's spraying.
[882]
I mean, it's spraying far.
[884]
- Yes, and I think what will be good is
[886]
for me to get four sprinklers
at the same time and
[890]
- Now you're thinking big.
- spray at the same time.
[891]
Yes.
[893]
- [Scott] Across the developing world,
[894]
several things are coming together
[896]
to makes small solar
energy systems possible.
[899]
Inexpensive solar panels, LED lighting,
[902]
and small electronics and appliances
[904]
that keep getting cheaper
and more efficient.
[907]
Mobile phones and electronic banking
[909]
that allow payment of micro loans,
[911]
and tech startups that
want to combine them
[914]
to serve off-grid customers.
[917]
Wherever there's plentiful sun,
[918]
these things are making home
solar systems affordable
[921]
and available, and they'll
help millions of people begin
[924]
to experience the benefits of energy.
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