10085579Super Mini-grids for Off-grid Rural TanzaniaActiveCollaborative R&DInnovate UKWhat is stopping the proliferation of electricity mini-grids in off-grid Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)? In one word: bankability. The investors, who are vital to widespread rural electrification, will not invest before they see a profitable business model for mini-grids demonstrated in real working conditions. This is a thirty-month 'proof-of-concept' project in which two off-grid rural communities in Mbeya Region of Tanzania will be provided with an affordable and reliable supply of electricity, and easy, affordable access to electrically-powered "Productive Use Equipment" (PUE) such as agri-processing equipment for the workplace e.g. maize milling machines, commercial refrigeration for crops, fruit-juice processing equipment, and electric cooking facilities for the home, so that the project will: a) create immediate demand for electricity by establishing 'anchor clients' for each mini-grid (thereby reassuring investors that RoI will accrue from the guaranteed use of mini-grid electricity) b) create jobs, reduce post-harvest crop losses, adding value and volumes to crop sales, and generally creating wealth at village level (wealth which later translates into the purchase of more electrical appliances for the home and thus a greater demand for electricity). This emphasis on the provision of affordable PUE for both the home and the workplace, along with more-affordable tariffs for mini-grid electricity, is now 'accepted thinking' among international aid agencies, but it has not yet been tested as a combined solution (what this project is calling "Super Mini-grids") in real working conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project will focus on economic impact, specifically those aspects which are linked to electricity demand in the local community: the development of female-led agri-processing enterprises at village level and the adoption of 'clean-cooking' practices in the homes of the communities. The project has a very female-centric focus: the use of clean-cooking technologies in the home (electric pressure-cookers) is the primary driver for carbon emission reductions, empowerment of women through new freedoms to engage in paid work, and reduced levels of smoke inhalation for women and children in the home; the development of female-led enterprises is a more assured path to the success of a mini-grid's 'anchor clients' (they are more successful, for longer, than their male-led equivalents). At the end of the project, we will have hard evidence of the economic viability, the profitability, of the Super Mini-grid business model which we can take to the private sector investment community to enable finance for upscaling of the business model, and removing the need for further grant-funding.