Project Summary: Notre Dame’s research has shown that electricity is a key component for raising the standard of living beyond subsistence. In fact, 85% of the variation in the Human Development Index (HDI – comprised of income, longevity, and education) is explained by increased electricity consumption. Electrical power is important to improve education and essential for Internet connectivity, two of the key drivers for improving the HDI. It follows from this trend that Sub-Saharan Africa, with its low HDI, suffers from a lack of electrical power.
Current strategies for electrification in much of the developing world are fundamentally unsound. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO CHANGE THIS WITH A SIMPLE IDEA THAT WILL TAKE YEARS TO GROW ORGANICALLY, UNLESS SOMEONE PROVIDES THE MEANS TO BRING IT TO SCALE. Notre Dame has developed business models that show that 10 kWh solar/diesel hybrid generators are profitable while creating enough electricity to support local businesses, rather than just basic needs. With the help of Accenture and other business and nonprofit partners, Notre Dame will refine and deploy a scalable and sustainable model to provide internet connectivity and power by putting these solar generators into Ugandan villages via local entrepreneurs. This project will empower disconnected communities with clean, efficient, renewable power + WiFi connectivity + on the ground partners + entrepreneurial training + entrepreneurship mentoring to provide additional clean electricity to a village to create businesses and jobs that utilize the electricity...an economic ecosystem “in a box.”