Scaling up smart solar home systems in East Africa through improved breakdown of energy consumption, business models and multiplicity of energy use.

在撒哈拉以南非洲，65%的人口（37%的城市人口和80%以上的农村人口）生活在远离电网的地方，不得不依靠蜡烛、煤油或木材等污染燃料来照明和做饭。传统的电网系统无法向城郊和农村市场提供能源。这些市场目前由各种分散的产品提供服务，然而，在非洲各地的城郊和农村社区，越来越多地使用资助的太阳能家庭系统作为传统能源的替代品。这项研究将建立在BBOXX[2]的创新工作的基础上，BBOXX[2]是一家总部位于伦敦的公司，该公司设计、制造、分销和资助创新的即插即用太阳能系统，以改善非洲各地的能源供应。自2014年以来，BBOXX已经在卢旺达的城郊和农村地区制造和部署了超过65,000个“智能”（监控）太阳能家庭系统。因此，本研究将解决以下目标：评估客户使用情况如何随时间变化以及这种变化的社会经济原因，这可以使用传统的社会经济调查方法进行研究。评估消费者使用不同电器的能源情况（基于2000个家庭的数据）根据不同电器的使用情况，模拟未来的能源消耗趋势，以评估市场需求。探索能量堆叠的概念与消费者通过线性能量阶梯进步的传统智慧。评估能源在家庭和生活用途上的多重用途。利用调查中获得的数据来描述家庭时间使用和能源需求之间的关系，并确定家庭能源需求的灵活性程度。根据当前和未来的能源消费模式，为扩大能源规模开发商业模式，最大限度地提高能源需求的灵活性，以支持能源效率和可负担性

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 65% of the population (37% in urban and over 80% in rural areas) live off the grid [1] and have to rely on polluting fuels such as candles, kerosene or wood for lighting and cooking. The traditional energy grid systems have failed to provide energy access to the peri-urban and rural markets. Those markets are currently serviced by a variety of decentralised products, however there is a growing use of financed solar home systems in peri-urban and rural communities across Africa as a replacement for traditional sources of energy. This research will build on the innovative work of BBOXX[2], a London based company who designs, manufactures, distributes and finances innovative plug & play solar systems to improve access to energy across Africa. Since 2014, BBOXX has manufactured and deployed more than 65,000 "smart" (monitored) solar home systems in peri-urban and rural settings of Rwanda. This research will therefore address the following objectives: Assess how customer usage changes over time and the socio-economic reasons for this change, which could be studied using traditional socio-economic survey methods. Assess breakdown of consumer usage of energy for different appliances (based on data from 2000 households) Model future trends in energy consumption considering different appliances usage to assess market demand. Explore the concept of energy stacking versus the conventional wisdom of consumers progressing through a linear energy ladder. Evaluate multiplicity of use of energy for domestic and livelihood purposes. To characterise the relationship between household time-use and energy demand using available data from survey and determine the extent of flexibility in household energy demand Develop business models for scale up of energy based on current and future energy consumption patterns that maximise flexibility across the energy demand to support energy efficiency and affordability