Since our inception we have intended to work throughout the UK and beyond. Whilst most of our work is centred around local energy in Scotland, it has been the intention of our social enterprise to use our skills to the wider benefit of humanity.
When we started Scene there where 1.3bn people in the world that had no access to modern electricity services. That number is now estimated at 1.1bn, with much of that reduction due to rapid electrification programmes in India and China. The World Bank and others predict that due to population growth, the bulk numbers of people without energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, could be approximately equal to today's number in 2030. A scary thought.
Power For All is a collective of public and private organisations dedicated to delivering universal energy access before 2030, predominantly through distributed renewable energy. They believe that a mixed-bag of solutions including grid expansion, mini-grids and off-grid solutions is required to meet this challenge. They also believe in a stepping-stone approach to energy access, in which basic (lower tiered) solutions now, are better than nothing; whilst acknowledging that more sophisticated electricity solutions will take time to permeate through to whole populations. We totally agree.
Since 2014 we have looked to do our part, along with a huge number of others, to ensure that this nightmare scenario of unattainable universal energy access does not pan-out. We launched Urjaa Samadhan - an off-grid solar repairs service - in Odisha, India, in September 2015. This social enterprise is ensuring that families in rural Odisha can maintain there basic energy services, such as solar lanterns and home systems, by offering a dedicated and reliable repair services. Unsurprisingly, demand has been massive in the first few two months of operation, with a projects 350 fixes per month in November and December, from our tiny service centre in Semiliguda. In 2017 we'll be looking to scale this model up, to make a genuine impact in Odisha.
We are now at an advanced stage of development of Cloud Solar, a solar pv monitoring and control system that we aim to introduce in India and Latin America. There are other solutions like Cloud Solar on the market, that allow enterprises to sell solar energy as a pay-as-you-go service. Where Cloud Solar differs is in the business model. We are planning on open-sourcing Cloud Solar, so that it was be used, in part or in whole, by whomever needs it.
We are committed to a different way of delivering energy access for the parts of the populations that could be left behind by conventional market based approaches. We are committed to Power For All by 2030.