Conversation with GridlessAfrica: Blockchain-based Clean Energy in Africa
This tweetchat was held on 2nd August 2018
GridlessAfrica: Please tell us more about your company; mission, vision and goals.
Chainge Energy: Our focus is on providing a sustainable energy solution to empower currently off-grid populations, leveraging blockchain and cryptocurrency technology.
We’re driven by the idea that decentralisation can support a more viable solution to energy access using renewable energy sources, and believe that mini-grids present the best opportunity to support the push for universal energy access (SDG7).
Blockchain and crypto-assets utilise decentralised, consensus-driven architecture, and we also feel that this creates a unique opportunity to combine energy access and financial inclusion in the drive towards a more inclusive digital financial system.
GridlessAfrica: Explain your value proposition / solution to those who don’t know much about blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
Chainge Energy: Cryptocurrencies have the potential to support the progression towards a digital financial system that is more democratic by removing intermediaries in the payment transaction process.
Blockchain uses consensus-driven architecture, placing control of the ecosystem into the hands of the users: Our protocol uses a proof-of-stake method which rewards participants for maintaining consensus, thus increasing their balance to purchase more energy.
Our concept attaches a value to the currency as a unit of value for electricity, therefore enabling customers on our energy grids to transact peer-to-peer using crypto-assets, which is always redeemable for electricity from their supplier.
Additionally, as we worked towards development of our technology architecture, we identified an opportunity to improve the economics of PV components deployed in mini-grids, and set about designing an end-to-end solution for energy generation and payments.
We were intent on creating a system architecture for energy generation that mimics the decentralised nature of distributed ledger technology, which we feel holds the most promise in the approach to electrification in remote regions across the world.
GridlessAfrica: Financing clean energy projects is one of the major challenges within the space in Africa. Cryptocurrency is financial innovation. Where does the two meet, what can we expect?
Chainge Energy: Our journey began by trying to find a way to mitigate long-term payback schedules that reduce investor appetite in clean energy projects. It’s a “chicken & egg” scenario: Energy is required for economic growth, but traditional investment needs faster returns
The innovation of the ICO (initial coin offerings) in cryptocurrencies has enabled a way to spread the risk, by democratising investments and allowing “retail investors” to back projects they believe in with the potential for a return, and a previously unavailable liquidity with their investment.
By creating a social impact project offering the potential for real returns, we believe there is a strong argument for utilising crypto as a strategy to finance energy access projects which can have a tangible impact on peoples’ lives, whilst still providing ROI for investors.
GridlessAfrica: The future of clean energy is decentralized, and blockchain allows for a decentralized system where does the two come together in perfect harmony?
Chainge Energy: We couldn’t agree more the future of energy is decentralised, or ideally distributed! Let’s look ‘X’yrs into the future, where each home is its own power generation unit… Underpinned by blockchain technology, p2p energy transactions can occur in real-time using a single utility currency / token representing a unit of electricity. Blockchain tech provides a fully transparent record of the energy distributed, and payment for energy, from each party to the transaction
We believe that in Africa in particular, this energy architecture is actually more viable in the short-to-medium term, than in developed countries, and aim to build the initial blocks to enable this to become a reality. (excuse the pun!)
GridlessAfrica: What are the differences with mini, micro and nano grids in relation to your solution?
Chainge Energy: We define nano-grids as systems of sub-15 kW. There is ranging terminology, with mini-grids generally classified as between 10 kW — 10MW. We wanted to reference that our systems are smaller than traditional mini-grids, but larger than SHS (solar home systems)
GridlessAfrica: Can your technology work without cellular or data coverage as this might not be available in some rural communities?
Chainge Energy: At the moment, GPRS / Cellular coverage is a pre-requisite for our systems and our customers, as the energy monitoring system (EMS) is a cloud-based platform which reports data remotely using GPRS / SMS.
This is something that we’ll be looking into in the future, but at the moment feel there is enough infrastructure to enable us to make headway, whilst then looking to solve additional problems as and when they become critical!
GridlessAfrica: Which countries will you be deploying your solutions in first and why the selection of those countries?
Chainge Energy: Initially, we have focused our attention on Kenya, primarily as we know the region, and feel that the progress of electrification and general “maturity” of digital/mobile-money in the country sits well with our concept.
Longer term, we intend to expand operations into Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, in part for the same reasons, but also for the benefit of proximity with our initial deployment.
Concurrently, we’re intending to manufacture and distribute our integrated power generation and payment platform to 3rd parties (other project developers / energy suppliers) globally, with a focus across sSA, LATAM and South-East Asia.
GridlessAfrica: Please tell us a bit about the team of individuals that makes up the Chainge Energy team? Do you have volunteer or employment opportunities for interested persons?
Chainge Energy: We’re a group of people passionate about creating something which can have true impact, and with real purpose. We’re driven by the belief that decentralisation and democratisation of energy and “money” will drive true empowerment for everyone, everywhere
We believe in a meritocratic environment, where ideas and solutions are the arrived at through the input of many. I personally like the concept of Holocracy (a decentralised organisational structure) — I think that everything should be decentralised!
We’re keen to work with or talk to anyone that has something to offer and believes in what we are trying to do. We intend to build a strong team in each of our target markets, and have already begun this process in Kenya.
If anyone wishes to contribute (voluntarily or otherwise) to our endeavours, I am always happy to connect to see if there is synergy in our thinking, and potential to create a mutually beneficial relationship in the pursuit of realising our vision.
GridlessAfrica: What interesting challenges has your organisation faced especially in regarding to achieving your set goals and objectives?
Chainge Energy: What challenges HAVEN’T we faced…! We’re still embryonic as a company, and a concept, so I don’t even think we’ve touched the sides of the challenges that we’ll face as we progress.
I mean, even crypto-focused start-ups require significant early-stage capital now — The days of funding at seed-stage through an ICO are gone in this space…
There are a lot of start-ups working towards the same goal (energy access), and actually we have found this extremely useful, both as validation for ourselves, but also as we have been able to develop commercial relationships with like-minded firms that have solved certain parts of the puzzle already, and made things that little bit simpler for us!
I think the most interesting challenge is the one we face currently, and that is to convince investors (institutional) to take the big picture view on the opportunity to make an impact in a space that has a potential 1.2bn highly motivated customers!
GridlessAfrica: What is your professional background and what inspired you to solve this challenge?
Chainge Energy: Personally, I studied renewable energy and sustainable technology early 2000s, and spent time developing and testing off-grid energy solutions in Africa and Southern Europe — I’ve believed for many years now that distributed energy is the future.
Our CTO, George, is a Computer Science graduate with extensive experience developing distributed architecture and AI / Machine Learning, and our CCO, Maxwell, has extensive professional experience creating and developing brands, overseeing strategy, design and implementation across all platforms and brand touch-points.
What inspired us? I have young kids, and an unshakeable terror that we’re quickly reaching an inflection point as a global population that will decimate our ecosystem…
In my opinion, further growth in fossil fuel consumption will quickly drive our planet towards catastrophe, but it is every individuals’ right to benefit from the continued advances in technology that have improved living standards across most of the world
I also feel that it is a travesty that around 15% of the world’s population still live without access to energy despite the technology that is available, or a suitable financial system that favours the individual rather than the corporation…
Ghandi said “be the change you wish to see in the world”, so I guess @ChaingeEnergy is my way of trying to leave the world a better place than I found it.
To learn more about Chainge Energy, our solution and our progress towards supporting energy access and financial inclusion through blockchain-based renewable energy projects, follow us @chaingeenergy or visit us at https://chainge.energy.
To get involved in the conversation for the future of energy in Africa, follow @GridlessAfrica: Conversations to accelerate the deployment of clean energy in Africa. Join in every Tuesday, Thursday & Friday (7pm WAT) on the hashtag #GridlessAfrica.
