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

从2019年至2022年，SVRG和OMASI在坦桑尼亚北部合作开展了一项EnergyCatalyst6赠款，旨在为边缘化的马赛社区带来创新的综合能源服务和生产利用技术。该项目取得了巨大成功，在5个钻孔（取代柴油发电机）、两个社区小型电网和商业中心、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利用技术，直接影响了1.2万多人。影响最大、商业潜力最大的技术是对现有柴油动力井眼进行太阳能发电。我们能够安装创新的太阳能技术来代替柴油系统，并为其他高价值的生产用途提供动力，比如面粉加工。由于这些井已经运营多年，我们可以查看他们的记录，并为运营商或社区井委员会制定还款计划，这比他们每月支付的柴油费用要便宜。在过去的三年里，我们的设备中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、遗址的偏远和与我们的距离、不愿意向外国人支付比帮助亲属更重要的钱。但主要原因是，违约很容易，而且偿还债务的道德义务较少，因为无论它们是否偿还，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，以便在还款违约的情况下远程禁用它们。这比听起来难多了。手机、太阳能家庭系统，甚至是Tanesco计量电网连接都很容易被封锁，因为它们都是密封的单元。50kW的太阳能发电系统和安装在建筑物中的逆变器很难控制。保险丝盒中的遥控开关很容易被绕过。这就是为什么目前没有现成的解决方案来以这种方式控制基于组件的大型系统。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实惠和简单的钻孔太阳能技术的能力的最大障碍，这种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