Tunis, Tunisia, 28 January 2014

BuffaloGrid Power as service to the off-grid world

Daniel Becerra,Managing Director, BuffaloGrid,

daniel@buffalogrid.org

ITU Workshop on “ICT Innovations in Emerging Economies”

(Tunis, Tunisia, 28 January 2014)

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The pain

1.6billion people without access to power.For 2014, it is estimated that 750million will have a mobile phone.

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The pain

How do they charge it?They pay the most expensive electricity in the planet

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USD12-17 billion – Spent in Africa on Kerosene USD80-100 million – Spent in Solar panels

Off grid power – where does it come from?

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Solar irradiance

Africa has the biggest solar irradiance in the world! So why only 1% of off-grid power is created by solar?

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We are facing a very price sensitive market.Dozens of companies are trying to sell their products and while power demand is growing their sales are dropping.People are just not buying them – In their minds solar panels are products that cost a lot and break after a few months.

Lack of faith in solar

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We believe people need access to power – No ownership of inefficient power solutions.

Our solution

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We provide our units for free to trusted entrepreneurs and run the service of providing electricity

Lowering cost barrier to zero

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The end user pays for electricity by sending a text message – No cash involved at any point

Cashless transactions

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Paying by SMS allow us to obtain data from our clients. This data can easily convert into cheaper or free power to our end user and information for our partners.Example: question by text – answer entitles to a free power charge.

Data collection

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When off grid user have access to power, usage increases between 10-20%This means business opportunities of more than 2 Billion USD for MNOs in Africa a yearHelping to provide power could be a very good business for MNOsWith our data collection we know which MNO each of our client use – so we can offer measurable promotions.

Mobile Network Operators (MNO)

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Scale – 150-200 million off grid mobile phone users in Africa – How can we reach them all?UN Millennium goals – Universal access to electricity by 2030 – That is 16 years from now. 1.6 billion people without power – 160million people you need to reach every year! – keeping a linear equation.

Challenges

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Decentralized power solutions is key.Business over charity – Follow MNOs exampleProvide infrastructure and run a serviceImprove service everyday – Today BuffaloGrid provides power tomorrow it will provide power and internet. We will become a Launchpad for many other services.

Conclusions and Recommendations