Scalable off-grid energy services enabled by IoT: A case study of BBOXX SMART Solar

Abstract

This case study intends to show how Internet of Things (IoT) technology can be used to tackle development challenges by using the case study of BBOXX-a Solar Home Systems provider operating in South-Western Kenya and across Rwanda, and its SMART Solar platform applied to nearly 20,000 currently active systems. It aims to highlight the benefits of such technology to its users and how it can be utilised to create scalable business models for energy access through improved customer understanding. However, it also shows the difficulties in designing, developing and deploying appropriate technologies in an affordable and impactful way.Similar applications in the water sector are briefly looked at to further explore the potential and the challenges of IoT technologies in driving social and economic development. The case study raises ethical questions about the storage, collection and sharing of data and explores whether the data protection models prevalent in the developed world are applicable in a development context. It offers ideas for future research and policy recommendations, pointing to the need of including financial, socio-economic and ethical considerations in the processes of innovative solutions development.

The Long Road to Universal Electrification: A Critical Look at Present Pathways and Challenges

“…Interconnected SHS-based microgrids, on the other hand, can scale just as wide as SHS, but also grow in size due to interconnectivity. AC/DC DC [16,40,42] AC [50], DC [49,51] or hybrid AC DC [32] Community loads/PUE No If planned, yes Yes Yes, depending on the microgrid size [32] Scalability & adoption Very high but limited to tier 2/3…”

“…Internet of things (IoT) is increasingly being used for implementing smart SHS to facilitate easy data acquisition and analysis. For example, BBOXX used its SMART Solar platform in nearly 20,000 SHS to better understand the user needs, enabling them to create scalable business models for energy access [42]. This leads to not just better user insights but also faster service and higher SHS user satisfaction.…”

Can Pay-As-You-Go, Digitally Enabled Business Models Support Sustainability Transformations in Developing Countries? Outstanding Questions and a Theoretical Basis for Future Research

“…As inferred above, the existing literature is at best patchy and a long way from providing any comprehensive overview of what is a rapidly expanding and metamorphosing phenomenon. A literature search using Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, together with direct approaches to authors of some of the papers these searches identified to ask if they were aware of other literature we had missed, resulted in identification of only five articles in mainstream academic journals [8,9,12,18,19], seven articles in practitioner journals [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], and six detailed reports [5,7,10,11,27,28]. Of these latter, three were produced by the global mobile operators' key trade association (the GSMA) [7,11,27], one by researchers from UC Berkeley based on a study commissioned by the World Bank [10], one by the World Resources Institute [5], and one by an independent think tank, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor [28].…”

“…In the case of the three aforementioned peer-reviewed analyses, these data have facilitated sophisticated analysis that is able to look in detail at the practices of consumers. Some commentators also note that PAYG businesses themselves are using the remote data to which PAYG affords access in order to generate consumer debt-financing risk profiles, as well as discussing the potential need for developing more centralised risk profiles, available to all actors across the sector, in efforts to facilitate the scaling up of PAYG-based services [7,11]. Whilst access to such data does facilitate interesting and insightful analysis (e.g., see our discussion of social practices later in this section), there are significant potential ethical issues related to the use of such data, issues that some authors acknowledge [12] and others note as having arisen as salient concerns within focus groups with PAYG users [10].…”

“…Some, for example, provide only PAYG software-based platforms for other companies to use (in whatever application those companies want-from electricity supply and household appliances, to agricultural irrigation and transport), whilst others provide whole-system technology and finance services, from purchase, through maintenance, to end-of-life and recycling. This diversity is also reflected in the PAYG business model being used in multiple other SDG-relevant sectors beyond electricity access, where PAYG first began, but with a continued emphasis on providing access to services (e.g., water, sanitation, cooking, and irrigation) to poor and marginalised people in rural areas [10,11], thus emphasising the potential relevance of the PAYG phenomenon across multiple SDGs. As Alstone et al [9], p.10, put it: " .…”