Marchand Dessalines – Haiti | 2022.02.18 – The Haiti-based Off-Grid Electricity Fund (OGEF), co-financed by the World Bank, has provided USD 230,000 to project developers, Alina’s Enèji, for the deployment of mesh-grids to 300 households in rural Haiti. This comes just five months after completing an initial 35 household pilot in Dulagon, Marchand Dessalines. If successful, this phased scale-up could potentially reach a further 70,000 households in Haiti which would represent a giant leap towards achieving Haiti’s national electrification targets.
With 61% of Haitians currently without energy access, this project highlights the progressive work of ANARSE (the Energy regulatory authority in Haiti) in enabling modern technology to solve the ongoing issue of energy poverty. Alina Enèji is working with ANARSE to accelerate efforts towards nationwide electrification by evaluating the potential of innovative technologies that can service areas beyond the reach of Electricité de Haiti (EDH).
Alina Enèji is a Haitian project developer, established in 2021 with a mission to supply affordable and renewable energy to underserved Haitian communities. They are focused on deploying a disruptive solution known as a “Mesh-grid”, a decentralised grid technology engineered by Australian tech company, Okra Solar. Mesh-grids use IoT (Internet of Things) and machine learning to increase the reliability and maintainability of off-grid energy infrastructure, and have proven to be a more cost-effective method of providing electricity to the most remote areas in the world. Alina Enèji will employ and train local community members to assist with operations and maintenance to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project.
With mesh-grids, Alina Enèji can also offer variable tariffs that match the energy needs of end consumers. For example, a household that only uses essential home appliances like lights and fans only needs to pay for such, whilst households with higher energy consumption can opt for high AC-power output to enable productive use of larger appliances, like freezers. Alina’s Enèji will also utilise Okra’s “Appliance Financing” service to provide appliances, such as electric hot plates, to customers without requiring upfront payments. Increased access to appliances will fast-track households’ transition towards clean cooking and reduce the need for wood burning stoves.