IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v109y2017icp199-207.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Bisaga, Iwona
  • Puźniak-Holford, Nathan
  • Grealish, Ashley
  • Baker-Brian, Christopher
  • Parikh, Priti

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bisaga, Iwona & Puźniak-Holford, Nathan & Grealish, Ashley & Baker-Brian, Christopher & Parikh, Priti, 2017. "Scalable off-grid energy services enabled by IoT: A case study of BBOXX SMART Solar," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 199-207.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:109:y:2017:i:c:p:199-207
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517304378
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chakrabarty, Sayan & Islam, Tawhidul, 2011. "Financial viability and eco-efficiency of the solar home systems (SHS) in Bangladesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 4821-4827.
    2. Carrie Armel, K. & Gupta, Abhay & Shrimali, Gireesh & Albert, Adrian, 2013. "Is disaggregation the holy grail of energy efficiency? The case of electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 213-234.
    3. Bhattacharyya, Subhes C. & Palit, Debajit, 2016. "Mini-grid based off-grid electrification to enhance electricity access in developing countries: What policies may be required?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 166-178.
    4. Friebe, Christian A. & Flotow, Paschen von & Täube, Florian A., 2013. "Exploring the link between products and services in low-income markets—Evidence from solar home systems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 760-769.
    5. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & D'Agostino, Anthony L. & Jain Bambawale, Malavika, 2011. "The socio-technical barriers to Solar Home Systems (SHS) in Papua New Guinea: "Choosing pigs, prostitutes, and poker chips over panels"," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1532-1542, March.
    6. Urpelainen, Johannes, 2016. "Energy poverty and perceptions of solar power in marginalized communities: Survey evidence from Uttar Pradesh, India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 534-539.
    7. Clastres, Cédric, 2011. "Smart grids: Another step towards competition, energy security and climate change objectives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5399-5408, September.
    8. Jacobson, Arne, 2007. "Connective Power: Solar Electrification and Social Change in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 144-162, January.
    9. Urmee, Tania & Harries, David, 2011. "Determinants of the success and sustainability of Bangladesh’s SHS program," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2822-2830.
    10. Williams, Nathaniel J. & Jaramillo, Paulina & Taneja, Jay & Ustun, Taha Selim, 2015. "Enabling private sector investment in microgrid-based rural electrification in developing countries: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1268-1281.
    11. Cominola, A. & Giuliani, M. & Piga, D. & Castelletti, A. & Rizzoli, A.E., 2017. "A Hybrid Signature-based Iterative Disaggregation algorithm for Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 331-344.
    12. Bhattacharyya, Subhes C., 2013. "Financing energy access and off-grid electrification: A review of status, options and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 462-472.
    13. Tuballa, Maria Lorena & Abundo, Michael Lochinvar, 2016. "A review of the development of Smart Grid technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 710-725.
    14. Chaurey, Akanksha & Krithika, P.R. & Palit, Debajit & Rakesh, Smita & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2012. "New partnerships and business models for facilitating energy access," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(S1), pages 48-55.
    15. Zhou, Kaile & Fu, Chao & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Big data driven smart energy management: From big data to big insights," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 215-225.
    16. Cédric Clastres, 2011. "Smart grids : Another step towards competition, energy security and climate change objectives," Post-Print halshs-00617702, HAL.
    17. Peter Alstone & Dimitry Gershenson & Daniel M. Kammen, 2015. "Decentralized energy systems for clean electricity access," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 305-314, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Ockwell & Joanes Atela & Kennedy Mbeva & Victoria Chengo & Rob Byrne & Rachael Durrant & Victoria Kasprowicz & Adrian Ely, 2019. "Can Pay-As-You-Go, Digitally Enabled Business Models Support Sustainability Transformations in Developing Countries? Outstanding Questions and a Theoretical Basis for Future Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Vivien Kizilcec & Priti Parikh & Iwona Bisaga, 2021. "Examining the Journey of a Pay-as-You-Go Solar Home System Customer: A Case Study of Rwanda," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-26, January.
    3. Bartosz Soltowski & David Campos-Gaona & Scott Strachan & Olimpo Anaya-Lara, 2019. "Bottom-Up Electrification Introducing New Smart Grids Architecture—Concept Based on Feasibility Studies Conducted in Rwanda," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-19, June.
    4. Nishant Narayan & Victor Vega-Garita & Zian Qin & Jelena Popovic-Gerber & Pavol Bauer & Miro Zeman, 2020. "The Long Road to Universal Electrification: A Critical Look at Present Pathways and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, January.
    5. Olumide Hassan & Stephen Morse & Matthew Leach, 2020. "The Energy Lock-In Effect of Solar Home Systems: A Case Study in Rural Nigeria," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-24, December.
    6. Thomas, P.J.M. & Sandwell, P. & Williamson, S.J. & Harper, P.W., 2021. "A PESTLE analysis of solar home systems in refugee camps in Rwanda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas, P.J.M. & Sandwell, P. & Williamson, S.J. & Harper, P.W., 2021. "A PESTLE analysis of solar home systems in refugee camps in Rwanda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Holstenkamp, Lars, 2019. "What do we know about cooperative sustainable electrification in the global South? A synthesis of the literature and refined social-ecological systems framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 307-320.
    3. Joshi, Lalita & Choudhary, Deepak & Kumar, Praveen & Venkateswaran, Jayendran & Solanki, Chetan S., 2019. "Does involvement of local community ensure sustained energy access? A critical review of a solar PV technology intervention in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 272-281.
    4. de Wildt, T.E. & Chappin, E.J.L. & van de Kaa, G. & Herder, P.M. & van de Poel, I.R., 2019. "Conflicting values in the smart electricity grid a comprehensive overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 184-196.
    5. Holtorf, Hans & Urmee, Tania & Calais, Martina & Pryor, Trevor, 2015. "A model to evaluate the success of Solar Home Systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 245-255.
    6. Walter Leal Filho & Abdul-Lateef Balogun & Dinesh Surroop & Amanda Lange Salvia & Kapil Narula & Chunlan Li & Julian David Hunt & Andrea Gatto & Ayyoob Sharifi & Haibo Feng & Stella Tsani & Hossein Az, 2022. "Realising the Potential of Renewable Energy as a Tool for Energy Security in Small Island Developing States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.
    7. George Adwek & Shen Boxiong & Paul O. Ndolo & Zachary O. Siagi & Chebet Chepsaigutt & Cicilia M. Kemunto & Moses Arowo & John Shimmon & Patrobers Simiyu & Abel C. Yabo, 2020. "The solar energy access in Kenya: a review focusing on Pay-As-You-Go solar home system," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 3897-3938, June.
    8. Malhotra, Abhishek & Schmidt, Tobias S. & Haelg, Leonore & Waissbein, Oliver, 2017. "Scaling up finance for off-grid renewable energy: The role of aggregation and spatial diversification in derisking investments in mini-grids for rural electrification in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 657-672.
    9. Urpelainen, Johannes & Yoon, Semee, 2017. "Can product demonstrations create markets for sustainable energy technology? A randomized controlled trial in rural India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 666-675.
    10. Nathanael Ojong, 2022. "Fostering Human Wellbeing in Africa through Solar Home Systems: A Systematic and a Critical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    11. Pahle, Michael & Pachauri, Shonali & Steinbacher, Karoline, 2016. "Can the Green Economy deliver it all? Experiences of renewable energy policies with socio-economic objectives," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1331-1341.
    12. Scott, Inara, 2017. "A business model for success: Enterprises serving the base of the pyramid with off-grid solar lighting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 50-55.
    13. Sarah Feron, 2016. "Sustainability of Off-Grid Photovoltaic Systems for Rural Electrification in Developing Countries: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-26, December.
    14. , Diego, 2017. "The Natural and Infrastructural Capital Elements of Potential Post-Electrification Wealth Creation in Kenya," SocArXiv ddnhz, Center for Open Science.
    15. Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar & Aneesh A. Chand & Maria Malvoni & Kushal A. Prasad & Kabir A. Mamun & F.R. Islam & Shauhrat S. Chopra, 2020. "Distributed Energy Resources and the Application of AI, IoT, and Blockchain in Smart Grids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-42, November.
    16. Bossink, Bart A.G., 2017. "Demonstrating sustainable energy: A review based model of sustainable energy demonstration projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1349-1362.
    17. Martínez-Lao, Juan & Montoya, Francisco G. & Montoya, Maria G. & Manzano-Agugliaro, Francisco, 2017. "Electric vehicles in Spain: An overview of charging systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 970-983.
    18. Kokou Amega & Yendoubé Laré & Ramchandra Bhandari & Yacouba Moumouni & Aklesso Y. G. Egbendewe & Windmanagda Sawadogo & Saidou Madougou, 2022. "Solar Energy Powered Decentralized Smart-Grid for Sustainable Energy Supply in Low-Income Countries: Analysis Considering Climate Change Influences in Togo," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
    19. Yanshan Yu & Jin Yang & Bin Chen, 2012. "The Smart Grids in China—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Kumar, Yogesh & Ringenberg, Jordan & Depuru, Soma Shekara & Devabhaktuni, Vijay K. & Lee, Jin Woo & Nikolaidis, Efstratios & Andersen, Brett & Afjeh, Abdollah, 2016. "Wind energy: Trends and enabling technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 209-224.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:109:y:2017:i:c:p:199-207. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.