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.

Electricity Project to Launch in Rural Haiti

Along the main highways in Haiti there is sporadic electricity, but once you leave main roads there is almost none.  Sirona Cares in partnership with the IEEE (the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers) is bringing electricity to rural Haiti.  This exciting project was the impetus for last weeks trip.

The CSI (Community Solutions Initiative) Team comprised of IEEE members has been working diligently towards a electricity solution for developing countries, a project needed desperately in rural Haiti.  Thanks to the imagination, skill and hard work of the CSI team and the generosity of the IEEE, the dream of access to electricity will soon become a reality.  Sirona Cares has worked with the CSI team to form a sustainable business model for the deployment of equipment based upon sustainability rather than charity.  During our trip we worked out the logistics required to deploy the pilot units in January.

Each unit is a trailer with a self-contained system including 40 small batteries, four large batteries, and six solar panels which will create 6 kilowatt hours of electricity per day.  The concept is simple, for each unit, 40 electricity "customers" will pay a deposit to receive a kit containing a battery, three DC lights (so no inverter is needed) and a cell phone charging adaptor.  The customers will pay a monthly fee which was calculated by determining the cost rural Haitians pay for kerosene, candles, cell phone charging and other substitutes for having electricity in their homes.  The fee that each customer pays will allow them to recharge their batteries as often as they need to each month.  Customers can offset their monthly expense by charging their neighbors cell phones.

In addition to recharging customer batteries, the unit manager will also have four large batteries with which he can create a business.  The object of our trip was to complete the business plans of the individuals selected as pilot unit managers.  The goal of this project is to create a situation in which a Haitian entrepreneur can pay to lease the unit and still make a profit.  At that point the program becomes sustainable, and there will be light throughout Haiti as the project expands.  Ultimately the project will positively impact 1 million Haitian people.

I cannot adequately articulate the excitement for this project that was expressed to us in Haiti.  Many said that this would be "bigger than Digicel", which is incredible in that Digicel revolutionized communication in Haiti by creating an affordable way for people throughout the country to communicate.  We have a lot of work to do, both here and with our partners in Haiti to launch this program.  The units are currently being fabricated and readied for transport.  The IEEE groups who have provided funding for this program are: Humanitarian Technology Challenge (HTC), Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS) and Power and Energy Society (PES).  As I could not articulate properly the excitement over the project in Haiti, I cannot adequately express their thanks to the IEEE for bringing this project to Haiti.

We will report on the businesses and stories from the customers, one of whom is pictured below: