Sustainable development is often illustrated using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) developed by the UN. Access to energy is an essential requirement and the most critical infrastructure needed to achieve all and any of these goals. Please refer to our ImpactModel as well as to the study of the World Future Council for a more detailed analysis of this issue (World Future Council: 100 % Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development). For us, the most important aspects are that we… 1. provide direct access to clean electricity through our solar-powered system at low cost and to a large number of people in remote areas (SDG 7) and thus contribute to tackling global climate change (SDG 13); 2. enable high power output directly through our mini-grid based system, thus promoting productive use of electricity and enabling small-scale entrepreneurship and growth (SDG 8); 3. help our customers to achieve more self-determination and growth by offering them new opportunities and prospects (SDG 1); 4. enable other important advances, such as reducing food waste by setting up cold chains (SDG 2), improving medical services through refrigeration and access to electricity for hospitals, as well as promoting Telemedicine (SDG 3), improving education through internet access and light for studying (SDG 4), promoting gender equality through the fostering of women’s entrepreneurship (SDG 5), providing access to clean water using water treatment systems (SDG 6), strengthening the autonomy and self-determination of local communities (SDG 11), promoting global peace (SDG 16) by improving living conditions and creating new opportunities and prospects, and by establishing effective partnerships (SDG 17) in order to achieve these goals at the political, municipal, economic and personal levels. We are monitoring these effects in the field and are working with the Chair of Corporate Sustainability at the TU Munich in order to verify and quantify our impact objectively and scientifically.

Over the past years, we have earned a very good reputation in Africa. There is a lot of talk about Africa GreenTec and more than 1 million people are already following along with our work on social media. As a result, village communities have started to contact us on their own accord and we now have a waiting list of over 100 villages that have officially applied to join. Contact is established in a variety of ways: through direct conversations, digitally or through other media. We review each request and evaluate which villages meet the requirements for an ImpactSite. Important criteria here are the geographical distance to the national power grid, the size of the village, the distance between the houses, individual national regulations as well as finances. Fulfilling all suitable requests is our great ambition, which is why we are now taking the next steps to scale up our model.

From the moment a customer starts to use electricity, they gain new opportunities and prospects for themselves and their family. On the one hand, electricity is used privately to improve the quality of life – for example by using radios, televisions, refrigerators or mobile phone charging. Moreover, we facilitate the commercial use of electricity, for example by enabling the purchase of infrastructure and equipment for educational institutions, agriculture and small businesses. This leads to strong increases in productivity and the creation of small businesses, which in turn creates employment and increases income and results in raised levels of self-determination and independence as well as new opportunities and new prospects. ImpactStories

Sensitizing and informing our customers is one of our challenges and most important tasks. The residents of the villages often have little experience with electricity. Our communications teams are responsible for providing future customers with detailed instructions on the safe and efficient use of electricity and our pricing system. This is done at public educational events in the village as well as during subsequent one-on-one meetings as part of our customer service, and also includes consulting them on which devices to use at what rates.

For each Solartainer® there is a responsible staff member on site. They take care of both the technical maintenance and distribution operations. Customers pay the pre-paid rate they have previously selected directly to the local staff member. The staff member can then recharge the customers’ meters via his mobile phone.

Africa GreenTec collaborates with international risk and crisis management service providers, the German Foreign Office (Embassy) and local security authorities, e.g. the National Guard. When German personnel travel to crisis regions, an assessment of the situation is carried out. In addition to escorts, protective equipment and personal protection is provided where necessary.

Our multinational team currently works in Europe and Africa in close coordination with each other. To be successful in rural areas, we combine the values of German engineering with intercultural expertise and rely on trained local staff. With the number of people in the Global South without access to electricity exceeding 840 million (2017), our goals is to empower people wherever sustainable energy solutions are needed.