Solar-Hydrogen Powered 100% Renewable Modular Mini-Grid (Solar-H2)

In developed countries across the globe, we take reliable energy access for granted. Although progress on energy access is being made in developing regions, 770m people worldwide are still living without access to modern energy services \[World Bank 2020\], including 600m in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Grid connection and solar PV systems have improved energy access for Sub-Saharan African urban populations, with 74% now benefiting from electricity access. However, in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, only 26% of the population have access to electricity \[WEO2019 database, IEA 2020\]. These rural areas are deprived of clean, reliable, and cost-effective energy to supply domestic, commercial and community buildings. This leads to a reliance on biomass fuels (creating life-threatening health hazards and decimating ecosystems) or expensive, polluting diesel plants \[Oxfam, 2020\].

Stand-alone systems and clean mini grids have been identified as a solution, with IEA predicting they will make up 70% of rural connections by 2030 \[ADGB, 2020\].

In this project, Sun Harvester will work with Kenyan partners, Hope Bright Future Centre (local agent, NGO Hope for the Nations) to design, develop and field test an affordable community mini-grid solution, powered by solar panels. Working directly with local communities, the partners will address all the gender and social inclusion aspects related to design and end-user needs.

We will further develop our stand-alone Instant Grid (IG) modular energy storage technology for use in a mini-grid. Our mini-grid solution will be scalable, so we can achieve enough power supply capacity to supply entire communities. We will replace diesel generator back-up with hydrogen fuel cell technology to deliver a 100% renewable mini-grid solution. Elimination of diesel brings extensive, environmental, fuel saving, security of supply and health benefits. For example, carbon dioxide currently emitted by generators in Sub-Saharan Africa is equivalent to 22m passenger vehicles on the road. \[The Dirty Footprint of the Broken Grid, World Bank 2019\].

Sun Harvester's solution will reduce mini-grid Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) from $0.39/kWh \[Irena, 2020\] to $0.24/kWh. Cost savings are achievable through: easy installation, replacement of individual battery cells and battery monitoring/management for increased lifetime. Furthermore, our modular design allows correct sizing of mini-grid installations, reducing entry level CAPEX costs from c.$100k to $10k.

Our solution will be economically viable and specifically designed for deployment in remote, rural areas of Kenya, and sub-Saharan Africa. This will unlock affordable, secure, energy access for all, bringing benefits to sub-Saharan Africa's most at-risk and impoverished communities.