Generating Field Data Towards Integrated Energy Access in South Sudan
By Village Help for South Sudan
Today, only about 1 percent of South Sudan’s 11 million people can access the electric grid, according to the state-run utility. Many people use rooftop solar arrays or noisy, polluting diesel generators to keep the lights on; still many more are left in the dark.
Where access to electricity is limited, Village Help for South Sudan are implementing an innovative project that leverages stand-alone solar and storage microgrids to deploy electric pressure cookers, electric induction stoves, and a general 30W outlet for lighting and phone charging in rural South Sudan.
Smart metering and participant energy diaries will support in-depth monitoring and analysis of the benefits of electric cooking from customer costs to energy consumption and cooking burden. The deployments will also be coupled with robust community engagement, technical demonstrations and training, co-development of South Sudanese recipes adapted for electric cooking, and surveys to help identify key barriers and opportunities. Workforce development for the project shall serve as an onramp for female technicians in the solar sector. Overall the project will deploy electric cooking solutions for 26 households in the town of Wanyjok, South Sudan, to prove out specific business models for integrating electric cooking into the offerings of renewable energy providers.
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