Progress Reports from Haiti

Good news from the field. I arrived in Haiti Wednesday and hit the ground running. As it is when you work here, either a lot happens fast or nothing seems to happen at all. Since last summer the trips have all been of the first type. Fast paced and full of exciting motion as we launched and now seek to grow the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Program and the Jatropha Program.

Our Jatropha program is scaling quickly. We will plant 100,000 new trees this year moving quickly once the rains start next month. Over 1,000 farmers are signed up to collect seedlings from our nurseries and care for them in their small farms. From its start, Sirona has worked to build sustainable communities. To that end we work with alternative energy and we support those who care for and educate children in our communities. During our first year we raised the money to feed the children at three orphanages 1/4 of the years food. Never wishing to create total reliance we have assisted as we could when donors wish to help children.

Last year we had some farmers who wished to expand their gardens but needed money to allow them to do so. Sirona lent ten farmers $50 each, and rather than seek repayment in cash we asked that the farmers bring $50 worth of food to the local school and the committee in charge of the Jatropha Program would keep track of the fulfillment of the loans. We reduced the administrative burden on our side and we were able to ensure that hundreds of children would receive lunch at school. The first meals were served this past week and there are many, many happy people in the community. It is wonderful when everybody wins.

I spent Thursday and Friday in Grand Goave with our Country Manager, Lexidan Edme. It was a coincidence that I was in the city at the same time the Edmes were, so they brought me out for our meetings that were planned for the weekend. In Haiti you take opportunities when they are in front of you. We discussed deployment of a new IEEE product, the Light Stick, as well as our current status with USAID funding proposals. I had lengthy interviews with our field technicians and have a good understanding of what is happening at each of our six SunBlazer sites. Bottom line: its all still a success.

Sustainable Change Occurring in Haiti through Alternative Energy

This week brings the end of three years of work in Haiti. As a friend commented recently, we really have come a long way. I am thrilled and amazed by the progress we have made towards our mission to build sustainable communities by placing the power to create, use and sell alternative energy into the hands of the poor. The most exciting thing to report about 2011 is that it was the year in which we empowered Haitians to change the lives of people in their communities, sustainably.

With over 100,000 jatropha trees planted (and an additional 150,000 funded for next year) we will soon see dramatic economic changes in rural Haiti. Each tree produces enough oil-rich seeds to create a gallon of oil that is a drop-in replacement for diesel fuel. This means that for the next 25-45 these 100,000 trees will bring economic improvement to rural Haitians while the trees improve soil and reverse deforestation. A critical byproduct of producing jatropha oil is a charcoal replacement briquette that is made by pressing the residue or seedcake from the pressing process. Our nurseries each produce 10,000 seedlings every three months and farmers eagerly take these seedlings to their land and plant them without displacing any food crops. Our press needs repairs and as soon as it is ready we will make our first oil. 2012 promises to be another incredible year.

We end 2011 with 240 homes that have their first electricity. Far from the grid these homes are serviced by the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Program. The IEEE worked with Sirona to design and ultimately deploy six Sunblazer units. These are 1.5kW solar charging stations run by entrepreneurial Operators. Each Operator has forty customers who pay a modest $6.70 per month for basic electricity. Customers receive an energy kit that has a rechargeable battery, lights and the ability to charge cellular phones. When the kit is exhausted (five to seven days on average) the customer brings the battery kit back to the charging station and three hours later the kit is ready to return to their home. The IEEE and the Sirona team have been thrilled to see that, due to our culturally appropriate business plan, all 240 customers have paid every month, every Operator has made his lease payment to Sirona keeping the program sustainable, and nothing has been stolen or damaged since deployment in June.

This program has had such success that the Haitian Secretary of Energy has announced that Sirona Haiti's electricity program is the model for electrification of rural villages. USAID is supporting the program by building Sirona a Haitian assembly facility. This spring the first Haitian built Sunblazers will roll out to rural communities and provide the first electricity many have ever had--at a price lower than what they are currently paying for noxious kerosene, candles and cell phone charging.

We are very excited for next year, the groundwork has been laid for amazing progress to occur in 2012. As the year ends we thank all of our partners and friends in Haiti, our supporters, all of our donors, all of the IEEE volunteers and all of the funding provided by the IEEE for the Sunblazer pilot units. We thank the Government of Haiti for including Sirona in the energy sector strategic planning process and inviting us to display our unit at the Caricom Energy Week events. Many have read the article in World Magazine, and we appreciate all of the kind words and donations that this article has generated. Thank you, one and all. 2012 promises to be a very exciting year full of progress in Haiti and beyond. Year end donations are graciously accepted by the Sirona Cares Foundation!

Jatropha Program Thriving with 100,000+ Trees Planted

It's amazing what happens to a community when you give them options for a better future.  It is exciting, and incredibly rewarding.  Since 2009 we have been working with rural Haitians and refining our Jatropha Program.  Because Haitians developed the plan there is a strong sense of ownership and pride associated with the work of planting these trees.

Jatropha is a shrub that produces non-edible fruit.  The seeds of this fruit are rich in oil, and this oil is extracted with a mechanical press.  Once pressed the oil does not need further refining to run in most diesel engines (generators, trucks, tractors, etc.).  Jatropha oil can be mixed with diesel fuel.  This will bolster the economics in rural areas, and lower carbon emissions in Haiti.  As if this isn't enough, the byproduct of the pressing process (seedcake) can be compressed into an alternative charcoal briquette.  This will also generate income in rural Haiti and protect the vulnerable island from further deforestation.

Today we have over 1,000 participating farmers in southern Haiti and over 100,000 trees have been planted.  Hillsides have been bolstered, soil improved, and no food displaced by the process because we either inter crop Jatropha at safe distances or use it as a border crop (because animals do not eat it).  Each of these trees should yield enough seed to create a gallon of oil each year.  If we assume the price of a gallon of oil to be $5.00, that means these communities will bring in $500,000 a year.  Jatropha lives 25-45 years, so in 25 years these communities will have made $12.5 million dollars.  The proposition is exciting, and encouraging.

More encouraging was the news we received from the JDT Foundation last month.  Named for Joseph Dennis Thomas, the Foundation focuses upon improving education, the environment and the economics in Haiti.  Sirona is honored to have received grants from the JDT Foundation which will pay for the planting of our next 100,000 trees in 2012.  In addition, another grant from Dupont will allow us to plant even more trees and begin the process of producing jatropha oil this spring.

It has taken a lot of hard work to get here, but it is gratifying to see the difference that Haitians are making.  The program is run as a partnership with Sirona funding nurseries to generate seedlings, and the trees are then planted voluntarily by farmers to help improve their land.  We are always looking for ways to create even more sustainability, so this past year we allowed 10 farmers to "borrow" $50 each to extend their farms.  Rather than be repaid in cash we elected to have these farmers pay back the debt in food to the local school's lunch program. 

Many thanks to the JDT Foundation, to Dupont, and to our supporters who have gotten our friends in Haiti this far. 

Chasing Away the Night One Village at a Time

Please enjoy this guest blog from Rick Davis, Tech Assist Haiti:

One does not have to spend time in Haiti to appreciate the simple miracle that is artificial light. Each of us has memories of camping trips or major utility blackouts or hurricanes that we can reach back to and recall how absolutely dark is the night on this planet of ours.

An occasional foray into the night of the wilderness does not frighten us. It does not change our lifestyle. Our children are not impacted in their futures by lack of light. It’s just a camping trip. It is just a temporary utility problem. It’s just a hurricane. Soon we will be back in our warm cocoon of light; turning on a switch to chase away the night.

IEEE and Sirona Cares are chasing away the night for the rural people of Haiti one village at a time.

I was thrilled to be able to visit one of the six sites where an IEEE/Sirona entrepreneur-managed charging station is based. What I saw has convinced me that lighting a million homes in Haiti is possible using this model.

Michelle Lacourcere has posted the facts of her recent review of the sites. The facts are as stated. The people are not only extending their days into the night they are gaining a tremendous amount of self respect. In Haiti as in just about every place in the world there is a social divide between rural and urban populations; we certainly have that here in the United States. The simple act of turning on a light switch is no longer the great chasm that rural peoples must span to consider themselves modern. In six villages in Haiti that is.

The base stations are underutilized in a major way. This is a wonderful problem that can be solved in numerous ways. The excellent design and engineering of the base charging station permits one to imagine all sorts of additional utilizations, and revenue sources to the entrepreneur, that spring from the fact the four or five battery units are charged each day. It is my belief that the additional uses of the energy being produced will be provided by the people of each village. Do they need power for a tele-learning center? Electricity for a medical clinic to serve ten or twenty villages in the vicinity? An ice machine to keep water cold for those long humid days? Human ingenuity being what it is I cannot begin to think of all of the ways this gift of affordable, renewable, non-polluting energy will prove to be for the rural population of Haiti.

I have been privileged to view the IEEE/Sirona rural electrification project from inception through to successful pilot.  Indeed it is a privilege to see this project so well designed, built, implemented and managed. So much of what I do in Haiti every day encompasses wonderful ideas that remain, forever, ideas. Kudos to all for a job well done.

Rick Davis

Tech Assist for Haiti

Creating True Sustainability Through Alternative Energy

The mission of Sirona Cares is "To build sustainable communities".  We place the power to create, use and sell alternative energy into the hands of the worlds poorest people.  The goal is to create cycles of sustainability relating to energy and economics, and this vision is being realized in Haiti.

Pastor Honore Guerrier has been running an orphanage in Jeremie since the early '80s.  We met him in 2009 while visiting the area to consider the Jatropha Program.  Pastor Honore, like so many others in Haiti, was trapped in a freefall situation trying to find food and support for the fifty children in his care.  Charity was his only avenue of support, and finding aid in his isolated community was a monthly challenge.

Over the past two years we have received donations specifically earmarked for supporting childrens care, education and health; and we have directed some of those funds to Pastor Honore.  We have provided food, clothing, toiletries, and assisted with rebuilding a section of his orphanage following the earthquake.  Last year we assisted with school uniforms and school supplies for a number of his children and supported the group as they struggled with a bout of cholera wherein 10 children were hospitalized.  Always grateful, Pastor Honore has consistently provided us with his thanks and a clear record showing his stewardship of funds that we have supplied to him.

When the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project moved off of the drawing board and into reality we looked to groups we already know and trust, and Pastor Honore was selected as an Operator for one of our pilot units.  The unit was deployed July 4th and we had a joyful evening there setting up twenty of the lighting kits to check them.  The children were mezmerized by the lightbulbs.  The orphanage itself has not had electricity for eight years, so none of the children under eight had ever experienced electric light in their home.  There was singing, dancing, and sheer joy that night.  I will never forget watching a boy pull the chain and jump back when the lightbulb illuminated.  Imagine being seven or eight and never experiencing something so simple as turning on a light yourself.

We checked in with Pastor Honore the following morning and found him holding a customer seminar.  Our project has moved him from being the requestor of aid to the businessman providing a service to his community.  All forty kits were quickly distributed to customers ready to pay him to have light in their home, and after making his lease payment for the generator Pastor Honore will have an income stream to pay for his childrens food.  

This is the creation of sustainability.  Clean energy lighting an orphanage, lighting a neighborhood, and feeding children.  Business instead of charity creates sustainability.  As Pastor Honore proves his ability to maintain the franchise he will be allowed more units, up to five.  Ultimately he may service 200 homes and finally enjoy economic stability in his orphanage.  Very like the moment the child was dazzled by his ability to turn on the light, Pastor Honore is enjoying the feeling of dignity that comes from self-sufficiency.  Pastor Honore is Haitian, and while he would not make the connection, for me this was an "Independence Day" that I will never forget.

IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Program: Deuxieme Plaine Deployment

Sirona and IEEE/CSI members probably have a million stories to share from our recent trip.  We delivered basic electricity to over 1400 people in rural Haiti and started six franchise businesses by delivering solar-based IEEE/Sirona Haiti "Sunblazer" generating stations designed to re-charge forty customer home kits each. The following blog entries will summarize the deployment of these first six units.

Deuxieme Plaine, near Petit Goave, is the home of our incredible Jatropha farming group.  Their unit was delivered easily, towed by a very small Tracker jeep.  The group operating this franchise is known by Sirona to have very strong organizational skills, and not only have they leased their initial 40 home kits, they already have a waiting list for forty more home kits.  As we find more funding more units will be deployed.  An Operator may have access to a maximum of five units, bringing power to 200 homes through their franchise.

I thought it might it might be interesting to show the highlights of this deployment by video.  The best part for our team was being allowed to attend the first in-home battery kit installation.  The pride of the field technicians in their new work was obvious, and the joy expressed by the family is something I will never forget.  When the lights came on the wife cried, and when her husband got home he practically danced as he thanked us as best he could, in spanish.

Enjoy the following clip:

 

The term "IEEE" (the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is representative of the many subgroups and organizations within the IEEE and working with the IEEE that have participated in bringing the project to Haiti. These include the HTC (Humanitarian Technology Challenge group), the PES (Power and Energy Society), the NPSS (Nuclear Plasma Sciences Society), IEEE Canada, IEEE Region 9, Vodaphone, the UN Foundation, John Lorts Engineering and Nextek Power Systems as a sponsor as well as the dedicated employees who dedicated much time and energy to helping this program succeed. The term "Sirona" encompasses all donors, supporters and in-country partners who have helped to bring light to people in Haiti.

IEEE/Sirona Haiti "Sunblazer" Solar Generating Stations are Haiti Bound

It is with great excitement that I announce that the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity generating units are now on the water headed for Haiti.  We have finalized the schedules for deployment of the six units and along with IEEE engineers we will arrive in Haiti on the 20th to begin that process.  We have been working on this project with the Community Solutions Initiative (CSI) IEEE sub-group since the fall of 2009, and to be at the point of deployment is very exciting for the members of both teams.

The technology has been designed to create small businesses and provide reliable electricity to homes.  There are six "Sunblazer" units in the first deployment, so by July 8th we will have started six businesses and provided light to 240 homes.  The excitement that we have pales in comparison to the excitement in Haiti over the project.  Our first six Operators have already signed up their forty customers, and will attend training next week on operation of both the equipment and their business.  In addition to providing technical support for the units, Sirona is also providing entrepreneurial support for the Operators.  A successful Operator becomes a candidate for additional units and can ultimately receive up to 5, meaning that they will be providing electricity to up to 200 homes in their community and using residual energy from the units to run their businesses.

This is blog entry 200.  Since December of 2008 we have been formulating plans to improve life in Haiti and attempting to educate people here on what life Haiti is like, and what Haitians really need.  130,808 readers have visited the blog, and the support of people who believe in us personally, and/or in the vision we have for creating positive change in Haiti has gotten us this far.  Our early work was more focused on charity, and how to "help"; a reader can go through the posts to follow our transition from the charity mindset of "giving" to one of "partnership": working with Haitians to create sustainable change in their communities.  We are using alternative energy for the basis of change, and have created a strong Jatropha project and now a home electricity kit business.  "Poverty" is not the only word people should associate with Haiti; I hope that our programs will induce readers to associate more words like "inspiring", "ingenious", "creative", and "industrious" to the people of Haiti.

Our trip will last from June 20th-July 8th.  Should anyone in Haiti wish to see the units, we will be training Operators and displaying the equipment on June 22nd.  If you would like to attend, please contact me through this site for specific information on where the training will occur. 

Sirona & IEEE's Electricity Solution for Rural Haiti is Launching

It's 2011 yet in much of Haiti people use candles and kerosene lamps that fill their homes with dangerous fumes.  No electrical infrastructure exists in many areas.  There are no phone lines, so Haitians use cell phones.  People walk long distances and pay to charge their phones.  Having access to electric light and power in the home will be life-changing; and access to affordable power is revolutionary.

Sirona Cares has been working with a dedicated group of IEEE volunteers called the CSI (Community Solutions Initiative) for over a year designing a system that promises to bring sustainable change to rural Haiti.  Not charity, this endeavor is designed to create businesses and be economically self-sustaining.  Sirona surveyed 70 rural communities and we know what people are already paying for kerosene, candles and cell phone charging.  The goal of our project is to provide reliable electricity to homes at a price they can afford.

Mobile, solar-based 1.2 kW generating stations are being sent to six areas of rural Haiti this month, each generator has 40 home kits (three lights, wiring, and a DC adaptor for cell-phone charging or use of other small electronics). The generating stations will be run as franchises where each operator leases out 40 home kits and runs a small business with the station's residual electricity.  Most operators are planning to run small freezers as their business as ice is a valuable commodity in Haiti.  Each month the home customers and station operators will make lease payments for their equipment, and Sirona will train  Haitian field operators to maintain the units.  

At every level of the project there is opportunity for revenue generation and job creation.  Enterprising home kit customers will charge their neighbors cell phones for a modest fee; operators will create businesses; maintenance teams will be trained; and ultimately in-country assembly will begin. 

Rather than compete with Government of Haiti utilities, our project compliments their effort to bring power to rural areas.  We are creating a base of customers prepared to pay for electricity in their homes; and as utilities reach their areas we will move the generating stations further out into the dark areas of Haiti.  Eventually, if the government is able to light every home, we can move the equipment to other countries where the same need exists.

The first six units have left New York, they are in Florida and will be in Haiti shortly.  240 homes will receive affordable, reliable electricity and six new businesses will start this month.  We plan to send the components for nine additional units by the end of the year and begin in-country assembly.  There are many eyes on this project because potential investors want to see if an economically sustainable project is possible in Haiti.  We strongly believe that it is.  We have spent enough time on the ground to know that Haitians crave the opportunity for self-reliance beyond charity.

Post Washington DC & Pre IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Pilot Launch

We traveled to Washington DC last week to meet with different funding organizations for the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project.  The discussions went very well and we are now back following up, organizing materials that show the scalability of this project, and preparing for the shipment of the first six units.  It is a very exciting time for us.  During our meeting at the UN Foundation we discussed the fact that 2012 is the International Year of Sustainable Energy For All.  We are excited to be part of this important initiative.

In Haiti our groups are preparing for the arrival of the equipment as well as the training for our first six Franchise Operators and first Field Technicians.  In only a few weeks we will be turning the lights on, for the first time, in 240 homes and starting six small businesses.  By the end of the year we hope to have all 15 pilot units in Haiti, and have lit 600 homes and started 15 businesses.  The children above live in an orphanage that will receive light next month.  We are working to co-locate several of the next units with schools in Haiti.

The pilot will demonstrate that Haitians are both willing and able to pay leases on their equipment and that we have designed a sustainable program.  Sirona will use the data we collect from the pilot to encourage social investors to supply capital for formation of a Haitian for-profit company, Sirona Haiti.  This capital will fund in-country assembly and bring the project to scale.  By the end of year five we hope to supply electricity to 1,000,000 Haitian people.  Very much a chicken-and-egg scenario, Haiti is far too risky for capital investment on an unproven business plan, so the equipment and pilot was developed by the IEEE Community Solutions Initiative Group and The Sirona Cares Foundation: both non-profits that are focused upon using alternative energy to improve lives in developing countries.  Many groups within the IEEE contributed funding for the pilot.

The beauty of this project lies in its simplicity.  Due to our relationships and our experience in Haiti we know that to simply survive Haitians have honed their entrepreneurial skills.  This project gives Franchise Operators the ability to supply home battery kits (3 lights, wiring, a dc outlet for cell phones and small appliances, and a rechargable battery) to forty homes and use the excess energy generated by the 1.2 kW charging station for their own business.  The battery charging service alone more than covers the Franchise Operator's lease payment, and what he/she makes beyond that is theirs to keep.  We are excited by all of the possibilities and we fully expect to see uses of this power that we cannot even imagine.  Perhaps the home kit customer will use their battery to charge a neighbors cell phone and offset his/her monthly fee ($50 Haitian per month, or $6.70).  Where there is money to be made, we can be certain that the Haitian entrepreneur will capitalize on this opportunity, at every level.

People ask about our concerns regarding theft of equipment and the answer is simple: Haitian-to-Haitian accountability will provide security for the equipment.  If someone steals a battery kit they are not stealing from us, they are stealing the from their neighbor, probably the first electric light he/she has ever had; and from the Franchise Operator who will then face a challenge meeting his/her lease payment.  Theft is not a primary concern for us, because we know Haitians will manage that risk.

There is much to do, and daily we receive positive comments as well as inquiries about access to this program for rural Haiti.  Interest is very high, and we are working very hard to deploy this program as quickly and efficiently as possible.  I would ask that any reader interested in investing in this program contact us for a copy of the Sirona Haiti Business Plan.

 

IEEE/Sirona Rural Electricity Project: Preparing to Ship

On Thursday we will be in Washington D.C. meeting with potential funding sources for the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project and our Jatropha Project.  I cannot possibly express the level of our excitement to see that funders are considering Haiti.  For the first time since the earthquake I feel optimistic that money dedicated to Haiti will finally find its way to help Haiti help itself. 

 
We are also preparing the final logistics for shipment of the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project equipment.  There are six 1.2Kw solar trailers and 240 home battery kits (battery, three lights, cell phone charger).  The equipment is in New York, so we must ship to Haiti, move the equipment to Grand Goave for final preparation and training, and then deploy the six units to their operators in St. Etienne, L'Azile, Jeremie, Anse au Veaux, Deuxieme Plaine and Marmelade.  A team of IEEE members will train the Haitian operators and the first members of our Haitian technical support team.  We will also be providing ongoing entrepreneurial support for the new businesses.  The trip should take several weeks and we're optimistic that the equipment will clear customs by early June.

IEEE members have dedicated uncountable hours to design, construct, and test the equipment for this project.  They had technical issues with the equipment and had to make some changes.  This caused a delay but will be worth the wait in the end.  The Sirona team has continued our work with the operators and Haitian teams to prepare for the arrival of the project.  The logistics are complex, and navigating Haitian customs is a process not to be taken lightly.  We are busy working out schedules, crossing our "t's" and dotting our "i's".

This project will literally change the lives of people in Haiti who, until now, have had no option for electricity in their homes.  Children will be able to study at night, people will be able to charge their phones at home rather than walk for miles to do so, candles and kerosene lamps that burn many people each year will be put away.  A step into the present will occur in areas that have been left in the dark for too long. 

Every level of this project generates commerce.  This is an economically sustainable project, not charity.  Charging station operators have access to residual electricity generated by the solar panels that is not used to recharge customer battery kits.  Refrigeration is the preferred business for most of our operators. Each franchise has 40 customer home kits to lease, and the home battery kit user will be able to charge phones at their homes to offset their own utility payment.  Light in and of itself, has value in rural Haiti. 

The project is economically sustainable because station operators lease the equipment from Sirona for $200 US per month starting in month four.  The home kit is currently priced at $50 Haitian a month ($6.70 US) and customers can recharge as often as needed.  The forty home kit payments more than cover the operator's lease payment, and all of the money that the his/her business generates beyond that $200 per month will go to them.  In addition, an operator has the option to keep home kit lease payments for the first three months allowing them to purchase equipment for their business and start debt free.  The solar equipment is leased, rather than sold, to the operators to guarantee that maintenance will be performed by Sirona.  This protects the entrepreneur who would face many challenges repairing/replacing parts for the equipment.  Equipment can decay rapidly in rural Haiti and our program is designed to keep everything working.

We are excited to see how it turns out, and we are looking forward to our trip to DC.  As always I can't wait to get back to Haiti to turn the lights on!