Sirona Cares

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.

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!