Cambridge-headquartered Eight19 is launching a portable energy harvesting system in Africa and India, to provide pay-as-you-go solar electricity.
The IndiGo system comprises a low-cost solar panel, a mobile phone charging unit and an LED lamp. Users buy credit for the system on scratch cards to top up the 2.5W solar charger.
The system could be used to replace the dependence on kerosene fuel - used in many household lamps, for instance - in developing nations. IndiGo initally costs KES900 (€6.40)
Low-cost
Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO of Eight19, comments: 'IndiGo enables a new generation of solar power products that are affordable, providing customers with access, often for the first time, to clean, low-cost energy that eliminates the health risks and carbon emissions of kerosene.'
IndiGo is now being trialled by 20 users in Kenya, chosen by partner charity SolarAid as a representative audience. Further trials are planned for 2011 in Malawi, Zambia and India, taking the number of triallists up to 200. The product will then be made available in Q1 2012, according to the company.
Charging
Samuel Kimani, who has installed the IndiGo system in his house, says: 'I am very happy now because this new IndiGo system replaces my kerosene lighting, which has been a very poor quality of light and creates a lot of air pollution. I am very happy because I can do the charging right here in my own house'.
While using kerosene lamps equates to around 1,000 times the cost of electricity for a grid-connected plug socket, Eight19's company will halve this cost through its solar charger, the company claims. The weekly cost for power equates to around KES100-KES150, including mobile phone charging, Eight19 adds.
Eight19, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge, outlined its business strategy to provide solar power to the developing world at the European Cleantech Forum in May 2011 (see +Plastic Electronics 4.1).
The latest issue of +Plastic Electronics magazine is an energy harvesting special, with a series of articles on the latest technologies and emerging markets for printed and organic solar, and other energy harvesting technologies.
To sign up for your copy immediately, click the link below, contact publications@pira-international.com or visit our subscriptions page.
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