SolaFin2Go (Solar Finance 2 Go)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Ulster
Department Name: Sch of Built Environment
Abstract
More than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live without access to electricity and 90% of the population directly burn solid fuel for cooking, boiling water, lighting and heating. Significant issues exist in the continued lack of access to proper energy supply giving rise to detrimental socio-economic conditions, poor health and well being and local/global environmental concerns, exacerbated by population growth and urbanisation.
The SolaFin2Go project will address the challenge of providing standalone solar systems to make available cost effective and affordable access to electricity and thermal hot water for off-grid households in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective is to test the feasibility of 'entry level' technological solutions combining novel PV and solar thermal technologies financed through improved business PAYG models (enabled by the innovative FinTech platform through Mobile, Cloud and Blockchain technologies) that fit with household/community circumstances to provide basic electrification and hot water. Combining the partner technologies, resources and knowledge in this study has the potential to create a viable, cost effective off grid standalone solar solution to meet many of the challenges identified by the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative and directly relates to the Botswana Off Grid Plan and Energy Efficiencies plan. This unique project combines traditional PV systems with battery storage and solar thermal technologies packaged together under an energy, payment and customer management platform that has customer relationship at the heart of the finance model and also has significant potential to add to economic momentum in rural communities and to Transform Energy Access (TEA) for all.
Ulster University and SolaForm Ltd (a Northern Ireland start up spinout with an innovative near-market solar thermal product offering) have teamed up with dpSun/KRD Global Ltd (Poland/UK based PV Company with experience in microgrids) to combine their expertise to develop unique technology driven solar home solution/s for the Botswana market. EmPowered (Pty) Botswana has many years of experience in the Botswana energy and business markets. EmPowered (Pty) Botswana (Fintech solution provider) is supported by Stanbic Bank (as part of the EU WiSE Projects submission) and Barclays Bank. Combining the technologies, resources and knowledge of the partners in this study has the potential to create a viable, cost effective off grid standalone solar solution.
The SolaFin2Go project will address the challenge of providing standalone solar systems to make available cost effective and affordable access to electricity and thermal hot water for off-grid households in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective is to test the feasibility of 'entry level' technological solutions combining novel PV and solar thermal technologies financed through improved business PAYG models (enabled by the innovative FinTech platform through Mobile, Cloud and Blockchain technologies) that fit with household/community circumstances to provide basic electrification and hot water. Combining the partner technologies, resources and knowledge in this study has the potential to create a viable, cost effective off grid standalone solar solution to meet many of the challenges identified by the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative and directly relates to the Botswana Off Grid Plan and Energy Efficiencies plan. This unique project combines traditional PV systems with battery storage and solar thermal technologies packaged together under an energy, payment and customer management platform that has customer relationship at the heart of the finance model and also has significant potential to add to economic momentum in rural communities and to Transform Energy Access (TEA) for all.
Ulster University and SolaForm Ltd (a Northern Ireland start up spinout with an innovative near-market solar thermal product offering) have teamed up with dpSun/KRD Global Ltd (Poland/UK based PV Company with experience in microgrids) to combine their expertise to develop unique technology driven solar home solution/s for the Botswana market. EmPowered (Pty) Botswana has many years of experience in the Botswana energy and business markets. EmPowered (Pty) Botswana (Fintech solution provider) is supported by Stanbic Bank (as part of the EU WiSE Projects submission) and Barclays Bank. Combining the technologies, resources and knowledge of the partners in this study has the potential to create a viable, cost effective off grid standalone solar solution.
Planned Impact
The SolaFin2Go project will address the challenge of providing standalone solar systems for available cost effective and affordable access to electricity and hot water for off-grid households in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective is to test the feasibility of 'entry level' technological solutions combining PV, solar thermal (with storage and control) financed through improved business PAYG models (enabled by the innovative FinTech platform through Mobile, Cloud and Blockchain technologies) that fit with household and community circumstances.
This project will bring together UK and African academics and industry partners to undertake R&D of the SolaFin2Go system, which will address the 3 fundamental elements of the energy trilemma: cost, emissions and security of supply in SADC countries. The deployment of the system in a typical traditional dwelling in rural Botswana will permit monitoring of the performance of SolaFin2Go on a targeted end user and serve as a realistic, in-situ example for many local community stakeholders to see the applicability of the system for distributed communities in SADC countries. The partners will seek to maximise the impact of this research with the academic community, government and industry, including working with local SMEs that can produce the various services and components using locally available materials and resource. This will build local capacity and go a long way in ensuring the economic sustainability of SolaFin2Go. The benefits the project will accrue to energy professionals, manufacturers, installation contractors and utility companies. The project will have a direct impact on the following beneficiaries
Academia: The system will further the scientific understanding of thermal 'diodicity' and PV module/laminate fabrication techniques. This work will be of interest to those working in solar heat transfer, PCMs and vacuum technologies, PV fabrication and operation/storage. The FinTech platform will be of interest to those working in energy finance and management, telecommunications, IT, big data and storage. The wider socio-context to the work will be of interest to many involved in the social implications of energy access and financial empowerment in rural/peri-rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The project will enrich existing knowledge/understanding of the technologies through the cross-disciplinary collaboration, facilitating knowledge transfer between the UK and African partners.
Industry: Various industrial sectors, in the UK and Africa could benefit from this research; they include SMEs' with interests in solar technologies and energy-finance management. They will be actively sought out, invited to examine material produced in the project dissemination activities.
Policy Makers: This project will demonstrate the potential for independent solar technologies combined with an innovative energy, payment and customer management platform for harnessing and supplying solar energy locally as well as the economic and environmental benefits of utilising the abundant solar resource. This improved understanding will be highly beneficial to policy makers. The consortium will highlight the benefits and findings of this study to policymakers in the UK and Africa through dissemination activities.
Society: SolaFin2Go will reduce the use of fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emissions It will support financing and empowerment of the 'unbankable'. Local community structures will develop through accelerating the transition to modern energy services in remote and rural areas, while also offering the co-benefits of healthy living, improvement of living standards, contributing to climate change, as well as positive effects on income growth and distributive equity in communities. The project will also enhance the electrification of communities which will improve communications and facilitate greater quality and availability of education.
This project will bring together UK and African academics and industry partners to undertake R&D of the SolaFin2Go system, which will address the 3 fundamental elements of the energy trilemma: cost, emissions and security of supply in SADC countries. The deployment of the system in a typical traditional dwelling in rural Botswana will permit monitoring of the performance of SolaFin2Go on a targeted end user and serve as a realistic, in-situ example for many local community stakeholders to see the applicability of the system for distributed communities in SADC countries. The partners will seek to maximise the impact of this research with the academic community, government and industry, including working with local SMEs that can produce the various services and components using locally available materials and resource. This will build local capacity and go a long way in ensuring the economic sustainability of SolaFin2Go. The benefits the project will accrue to energy professionals, manufacturers, installation contractors and utility companies. The project will have a direct impact on the following beneficiaries
Academia: The system will further the scientific understanding of thermal 'diodicity' and PV module/laminate fabrication techniques. This work will be of interest to those working in solar heat transfer, PCMs and vacuum technologies, PV fabrication and operation/storage. The FinTech platform will be of interest to those working in energy finance and management, telecommunications, IT, big data and storage. The wider socio-context to the work will be of interest to many involved in the social implications of energy access and financial empowerment in rural/peri-rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The project will enrich existing knowledge/understanding of the technologies through the cross-disciplinary collaboration, facilitating knowledge transfer between the UK and African partners.
Industry: Various industrial sectors, in the UK and Africa could benefit from this research; they include SMEs' with interests in solar technologies and energy-finance management. They will be actively sought out, invited to examine material produced in the project dissemination activities.
Policy Makers: This project will demonstrate the potential for independent solar technologies combined with an innovative energy, payment and customer management platform for harnessing and supplying solar energy locally as well as the economic and environmental benefits of utilising the abundant solar resource. This improved understanding will be highly beneficial to policy makers. The consortium will highlight the benefits and findings of this study to policymakers in the UK and Africa through dissemination activities.
Society: SolaFin2Go will reduce the use of fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emissions It will support financing and empowerment of the 'unbankable'. Local community structures will develop through accelerating the transition to modern energy services in remote and rural areas, while also offering the co-benefits of healthy living, improvement of living standards, contributing to climate change, as well as positive effects on income growth and distributive equity in communities. The project will also enhance the electrification of communities which will improve communications and facilitate greater quality and availability of education.
Organisations
Publications
Borujeni M
(2022)
A solar backup system to provide reliable energy in presence of unplanned power outages
in Journal of Energy Storage
Muhumuza R
(2019)
Experimental investigation of horizontally operating thermal diode solar water heaters with differing absorber materials under simulated conditions
in Renewable Energy
Muhumuza R
(2018)
Energy consumption levels and technical approaches for supporting development of alternative energy technologies for rural sectors of developing countries
in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Muhumuza R
(2019)
Experimental study of heat retention performance of thermal diode Integrated Collector Storage Solar Water Heater (ICSSWH) configurations
in Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments
Pugsley A
(2019)
Theoretical and experimental analysis of a horizontal planar Liquid-Vapour Thermal Diode (PLVTD)
in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
| Description | The main aim of the award was to "test the feasibility of 'entry level' technological solutions combining novel PV and solar thermal technologies financed through improved business PAYG models (enabled by the innovative FinTech platform through Mobile, Cloud and Blockchain technologies) that fit with household/community circumstances to provide basic electrification and hot water". The study has successfully achieved this aim through completion of the following work: • A review of Sub-Saharan African household energy demands was undertaken and used to establish a design target for the daily electricity and hot water outputs of an entry-level stand-alone solar energy system. • Design targets were used together with climatic data to establish a rational approach for the sizing of photovoltaic and thermal solar collectors; and battery and hot water energy storage elements. • Prototype entry-level stand-alone solar energy systems were designed and a trial prototype was tested in the laboratory under solar simulated conditions to characterise performance, validate operation, and enable design optimisation. • Three optimised system prototypes were fabricated, shipped to Botswana, and installed for field trials at a primary school and two nearby houses in an off-grid rural village where residents rely on petrol generators and firewood for their energy. • A remote data communications system based on LoRaWAN and 3G/GPRS cloud technology has been deployed to support the field trial and enable ongoing performance data collection and system status monitoring. Users have expressed that they highly value access to system status data (battery charge state etc) which has enabled them to moderate energy usage appropriate to available resources. • Fintech development has been accelerated during the award period. User interfaces for customer inbounding (biometrics, physical address, personal data collection) have been developed and cost estimates for next-stage development (databases and whole-system API) have been refined. • Results from field trial tests over a 6-month period (representative typical annual seasonal variance) indicate that: o Sizing and design of the household system are appropriate to intended use and that electricity and hot water supplies are reliable. Opportunities for value engineering to minimise capital costs have been identified. o Sizing of the school system is appropriate to typical use, but several design improvements are required to improve electrical supply reliability. o Electricity usage has increased steadily over time, a finding which is in keeping with work of other investigators in the field. o Hot water usage has also increased over time, a finding which does not appear to have been reported elsewhere. • A technoeconomic evaluation involving field trial performance data, prototype capital costs, value engineering, and market assessment, has been undertaken. This clearly defines the size of the market gap which the SolaFin2Go solution aims to fill. It also demonstrates that the system is affordable and cost effective. The findings of the study have given the team's commercial partners confidence to pursue the concept. Measured performance data, cost analyses, and practical experience will inform the next stage of SolaFin2Go product development towards commercialisation. Field trial findings will be reported in peer reviewed journals to enable them to be used by a variety of professionals (academics, product designers, policy makers, investment analysts etc) working in the rapidly growing energy access field. |
| Exploitation Route | The following dissemination activities will be carried out: Project Website- A dedicated project website is set up to contain information related to project aim and objectives, to share project outcomes to general publics, stake holders and policy makers, project events Social Media- The consortium is created and maintained project profiles in popular social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and videos on You Tube. Twitter account is used to update project activities, to showcase events and disseminate news, results etc. Videos on You Tube targeted at the consumer and the wider stakeholder group. Non-electronic Media - Non-electronic media, such as promotional leaflet and brochures will be prepared to disseminate project outcomes at international conferences and fairs; the press releases and publications in broadcast media will be used to increase public awareness towards clean affordable energy access. Conference attendance and publications - Project findings and results will be presented at a European International conference (such as International Conference on Solar Technologies & Hybrid Mini Grids to improve energy access conference 2020, ARE Energy Access Investment Forum) and published in scientific journals. Trade fairs: The project outcomes and technology will be presented at relevant trade fairs to promote the SolaFin2Go technology among professionals involved in the wider industry and application to support further exploitation. The members of the consortium will attend and present these technologies via their own support. Engagement with stakeholders and prospective investors: Contact will be made with existing and relevant networks in the sector. e.g. The newly established SADC Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE), The Energy and Environment Partnership Africa (EEP) and Network of Energy Excellence for Development (NEED) project and seek opportunities to promote awareness and share lessons learnt. Additional networks will be set up to look beyond the scope of the project to develop the path to commercialisation of the SolaFin2Go technology. The network will consist of relevant industrial leaders, professional bodies, key individual and representatives along the entire supply chain (including designers, specifies, suppliers, installers, manufacturers, etc. Knowledge and Skills Transfer - The project will facilitate knowledge & skills transfer between industry and academia as well as between multidisciplinary transfer academics in the UK and partners in Africa. The partners and employees working on this project will gain valuable expertise and experience that will be beneficial in their career, whether industry or academia. The research findings will be incorporated into teaching materials for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. |
| Sectors | Energy Environment |
| Description | Direct impacts: Improved quality of life for school staff: provided lighting, mobile phone charging, televised media access, and a ready supply of hot water in their homes. Enhanced educational opportunities for school children: access to computers, printers, and a photocopier for producing teaching materials. Hosting of Africa Code Week event providing students with the opportunity to experience computer programming. Cost and CO2 emissions savings: avoided the need for petrol used in electricity generators, reduced consumption of disposable batteries, candles, gas, and fuelwood for hot water production. Immediate indirect impacts: Supported local employment in Botswana and Northern Ireland through the use of local subcontractors. Increased business for SolaFin2Go's local solar installations contractor in Botswana. Provided capacity building by engaging young people in Botswana, involving students from Botswana International University for Science and Technology in various project tasks. Strengthened organisational links by fostering academia-industry and industry-industry partnerships within and between the UK and Botswana. Promoted solar energy as a reliable and viable solution for energy access, renewing villagers' interest in solar technologies and inspiring policy-makers to consider off-grid solar solutions for rural electrification. Long-term impacts facilitated by the award: Provided confidence to the SolaFin2Go team to pursue further commercial development and secure additional funding. Project findings led to academic publications augmenting existing knowledge on energy access, particularly focusing on rural sub-Saharan African hot water consumption. Established a solid community relationship base for future work, envisioning the development of a "Jamataka off-grid solar village showcase" to raise awareness and accelerate the transition to modern energy services. Enabled significant progress in the development of the Fintech platform, crucial for wide-scale roll-out to empower low-income rural communities across Botswana and sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Sector | Education,Energy,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | New solar power plant for rural village school in Botswana |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The small solar power and solar hot water systems installed by the SolaFin2Go project demonstrated to the Government of Botswana that solar PV and battery storage was a viable, affordable and rapidly deployable solution for electrification in off-grid rural communities. The Government of Botswana subsequently installed a solar PV power plant for Jamataka Primary school which brings lighting and appliances into classrooms which previously had no access to electricity. Provision of lighting has improved the study environment, improved security at night, and provision of power in classrooms enables pupils to us computer equipment for the first time. |
| URL | https://www.esi-africa.com/top-stories/fintech-solutions-disrupt-existing-architecture/ |
| Description | SolaNetWork |
| Amount | £211,716 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/T004819/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2019 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Title | SolaFin2Go Electrical and Thermal behaviour time histories |
| Description | Collated spreadsheets of logged data showing 1) Electrical performance (voltages, currents, charge states, and charger operating modes) for two household solar PV + battery systems and one larger system powering a school office. 2) Thermal performance (temperatures and flow rates) for two SolaCatcher integrated collector-storage solar water heating systems. 3) Solar irradiance data in horizontal plane and three tilted planes (E, W and N facing). All systems located at a field trial site in rural Botswana (Jamataka Village) where they were in regular use by the local community. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Data currently being formatted and analysed to enable evaluation as the basis for load/demand identification in subsequent "SolaNetwork" project. |
| Description | Attend Intersolar Solar Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | By attending this trade show provided opportunity to meet industries, product manufacturers, installers and professionals to get knowledge about the their products, current technologies available in the market, spec out various components required for the prototype development for the SolaFin2Go project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://messe-muenchen.de/en/technical/events/intersolar-europe-2018.php |
| Description | Conference presentation at International Conference on Solar Technologies & Hybrid Mini Grids to improve energy access' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Disseminate project activities to international research community through conference presentation, participate in discussions, develop research network and engaged with industries and investors for the development of the project in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Participation in Rushlight award ceremony |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Rushlight Awards are the only set of awards designed specifically to support and promote all the latest clean technologies, innovations, initiatives and deployment projects for businesses and other organisations throughout UK, Ireland and internationally. The team, were entered in the Rushlight Sustainability Initiative Award and whilst not winners, they achieved commendation in recognition of their work in Botswana. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.rushlightevents.com/rushlight-awards/ |
| Description | Presentation at at COP24 in Poland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presented an overview of the SolaFin2Go project: origin, current status and future perspective of the solafin2go project to attract investors, manufacturers and policy makers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://cop24.gov.pl/ |
| Description | Presentation at professional technical event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | giving an overview of the project and detailing the engineering aspects of the project to local industry representatives and undergraduate and postgraduate students |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Project activities via @solarfin2go twitter feed and project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Engagement with general audience, policy makers, funding bodies, industries, researchers, manufacturers, media through tweets (total 610 tweets and 356 followers) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/SolarFin2Go |
| Description | Radio Interview on BBC "Good Morning Ulster" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview sparked interests among local public, investors and technology providers on the SolaFin2Go technologies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Rushlight Summer Showcase conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Making contacts with the industries and potential investors interested in developing the SolaFin2Go project in the future and explore ideas for future collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| URL | http://www.rushlightevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rushlight-Summer-Showcase-2018-Ulster-Univ... |
| Description | Shedding climate-friendly light on energy services in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Article written for Irish National broadcaster (RTE) as part of their Brainstorm programme. Disseminated via RTE website and on social media Linked-In. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0203/1112803-shedding-climate-friendly-light-on-energy-services-i... |
| Description | SolaFin2Go field trials in Sub-Saharan Africa: Off-grid village electrification and hot water supply |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Conference presentation at 15th Photovoltaic Science, Applications and Technology Conference (PVSAT15) held at Warwick, UK, from 10/04/19 ? 12/04/19. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/solafin2go-field-trials-in-sub-saharan-africa-off-grid-vil... |
| Description | SolaFin2Go launch event at Jamataka, Botswana |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Over 300 members of the local community invited including distinguished guests (including Katy Ransome, the British High Commissioner for Botswana, Botswana government ministers, MPs, local District Council, Village Development Committee and other industrial, policy and academic stakeholders) to showcase solafin2go technologies installed at the school and domestic houses at Jamataka village in Botswana. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/lohaeh8goCw |
| Description | SolaNetwork introductory poster |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presented at the one-day workshop "Opportunities for Energy Access: SuperSolar Supergen and Low Carbon Energy for Development Network (LCEDN)" held at Loughborough University, Loughboroug, United Kingdom, 9 May 2019 https://www.lcedn.com/events/archive/2019-05 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/78216344/SolaFin2Go_SolaNetwork_poster.pdf |
| Description | SolaNetwork targets Africa with distributed solar system |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Article introducing the project and promoting to potential stakeholders |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.theengineer.co.uk/solanetwork-solar-energy-system/ |
| Description | SolaNetwork: Integrated and affordable solar energy access solutions for socioeconomically diverse rural communities in Botswana |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Abstract and oral presentation made live via skype to conference auditorium at BIUST Research & Innovation Symposium in June 2019, titled "SolaNetwork: Integrated and affordable solar energy access solutions for socioeconomically diverse rural communities in Botswana". The Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) is a partner on the SolaNetwork project, who we engaged with during the SolaFin2Go project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/activities/biust-research-amp-innovation-symposium-2019 |
| Description | Ulster University press release |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | To disseminate Solafin2go technologies and its impact on off grid rural sub-Saharan communities to general public, researchers, academics and students |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.ulster.ac.uk/news/2018/december/ulster-university-research-project-changing-lives-in-sub... |