Payment-Enforcement Technology and Business Models for High-Impact Borehole Solarisation in Tanzania

2019 年至 2022 年，在坦桑尼亚北部，SVRG 和 OMASI 合作提供了一项 EnergyCatalyst6 赠款，为边缘化的马赛社区带来创新的综合能源服务和生产性使用技术。该项目取得了巨大成功，在 5 个钻孔（取代柴油发电机）、两个社区迷你电网和商业中心、两所学校和一个社区广播电台安装了创新的太阳能和生产性使用技术，直接影响超过 12,000 人。最具影响力和最佳商业潜力的技术是现有柴油动力钻孔的太阳能利用。我们能够安装创新的太阳能技术而不是柴油系统，并为面粉加工等其他高价值生产用途提供动力。由于钻孔已经运营多年，我们能够访问他们的记录，并为运营商或社区钻孔委员会制定还款计划，该计划比他们每月支付的柴油金额便宜。在过去三年的某个时间里，我们的设施没有一个没有拖欠还款。造成这种情况的原因有几个：马赛文化、地点偏远且距离我们较远、不愿意将向外国人付款比帮助亲属更重要。但主要原因是很容易违约，而且支付的道德义务较少，因为无论是否还款，系统都会继续运行。在这个项目中，我们打算研究和测试技术解决方案，将其集成到我们的系统中，在发生还款违约时可以远程禁用它们。这比听起来更困难。阻止电话、太阳能家庭系统，甚至 Tanesco 计量电网连接都很容易，因为它们是密封装置。建筑物内安装有逆变器的 50kW 太阳能发电系统很难控制。保险丝盒中的遥控开关很容易被绕过。这就是为什么当前没有现成的解决方案来以这种方式控制大型基于组件的系统。我们将研究执行控制功能的替代方案，以及如何使它们不可绕过，然后测试它们的性能以修改我们的业务和技术模型。如果成功，这将消除我们扩大这种非常经济且简单的钻孔太阳能技术的能力的最大障碍，该技术具有直接的经济和碳社区影响

From 2019-2022 in NorthernTanzania, SVRG and OMASI collaborated on an EnergyCatalyst6 grant to bring innovative integrated-energy-services and productive-use technologies to marginalised Maasai communities.The project has been a great success, with innovative solar-energy and productive-use technology installed at 5 boreholes (displacing diesel-generators), two community-minigrids and business-hubs, two schools and a community radio-station, directly impacting more than 12,000 people.The technology with highest impact and best commercial potential is the solarisation of existing diesel-powered boreholes. We are able to install innovative solar-technology instead of the diesel-system, and powers additional high-value productive-uses like flour milling. And because the boreholes have been operating for years, we are able to access their records and set repayment-plans for the operators or the community borehole-committees that are cheaper than the amount they were paying for diesel monthly.Not a single one of our installations has not at some time in the last three years defaulted on their repayments. There are several reasons for this: maasai culture, remoteness of the sites and distance from us, the reluctance to make payments to foreigners a higher priority than helping kin. But the main reason is that it is easy to default, and there is less moral obligation to pay, since the systems continue to operate whether or not they make repayments.In this project, we intend to research and test technology-solutions to integrate into our systems that could remotely disable them in the event of repayment defaults. This is more difficult than it sounds. It is easy to block a phone, a solar-home-system, or even a Tanesco metered grid-connection, since they are sealed units. A 50kW solar-power system with inverters mounted in a building is hard to control. Remote-controlled switches in fuse boxes can easily be bypassed. This is why there is no readily-available current solution for controlling large component-based systems in this fashion. We will look at alternatives for performing the control function, and how to make them non-bypassable, and then test their performance to revise our business and technology model. If successful, this will remove the single greatest barrier to our ability to scale-up this very affordable and simple borehole-solarisation technology, which has immediate economic and carbon community-impact