In Sub-Saharan Africa, 65% of the population (37% in urban and over 80% in rural areas) live off the grid [1] and have to rely on polluting fuels such as candles, kerosene or wood for lighting and cooking. The traditional energy grid systems have failed to provide energy access to the peri-urban and rural markets. Those markets are currently serviced by a variety of decentralised products, however there is a growing use of financed solar home systems in peri-urban and rural communities across Africa as a replacement for traditional sources of energy. This research will build on the innovative work of BBOXX[2], a London based company who designs, manufactures, distributes and finances innovative plug & play solar systems to improve access to energy across Africa. Since 2014, BBOXX has manufactured and deployed more than 65,000 "smart" (monitored) solar home systems in peri-urban and rural settings of Rwanda. This research will therefore address the following objectives:
Assess how customer usage changes over time and the socio-economic reasons for this change, which could be studied using traditional socio-economic survey methods.
Assess breakdown of consumer usage of energy for different appliances (based on data from 2000 households)
Model future trends in energy consumption considering different appliances usage to assess market demand.
Explore the concept of energy stacking versus the conventional wisdom of consumers progressing through a linear energy ladder.
Evaluate multiplicity of use of energy for domestic and livelihood purposes.
To characterise the relationship between household time-use and energy demand using available data from survey and determine the extent of flexibility in household energy demand
Develop business models for scale up of energy based on current and future energy consumption patterns that maximise flexibility across the energy demand to support energy efficiency and affordability