Renewable Energy and Connectivity Hub

Project Information

REACH

Grant agreement ID: 830204

DOI

10.3030/830204

Project closed

EC signature date 1 October 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 31 October 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 2 584 375,00

EU contribution

€ 1 809 062,50

Coordinated by

BUFFALOGRID LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - REACH (Renewable Energy and Connectivity Hub)

Reporting period: 2019-11-01 to 2020-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

1.2 billion people live without access to affordable power and even more are in areas where supply is unreliable. Despite this, the UN expects the number of mobile phone users to reach 5 billion by 2019.
The majority of these people are living in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and refugee camps worldwide including Europe (90% of families in refugee camps have no access to electricity power). This is at a time where EU countries are under increasing pressure to provide accommodation, health and education support to a growing number of refugees that have been displaced from volatile areas of the world.
Living in these off-grid and grid-edge communities makes charging phones and accessing the internet a daily challenge, leaving many people without access to services like government portals, online banking, eCommerce and information on asylum.

Mobile charging due to unavailability of electricity: Nearly 700 million people worldwide have a mobile phone connection but no access to the electricity grid.
While this is an immediate challenge for people living in these areas of the world, access to electricity slows global economic development, preventing organisations from the EU and beyond from bringing business and services to users at the edge of the grid.

Internet connection: In addition to charging mobiles, 4 billion people are without any internet access. Internet market penetration is lowest in Asia (38%) and Africa (27%) among all continents. Considering the importance of the internet for communication and accessing information, demand is growing daily.

A convenient and affordable internet service provision is now a demand, especially from the deprived people. However, unavailability of electrical power supply cannot support smartphones as they need charging daily, restricting people's access to mobile internet.

Business need, technological challenges or market opportunity: The EU aims to reduce overall global greenhouse gas emissions. Solar power is a promising solution to this burning problem but many poor people cannot afford the up-front cost of these systems.

By working with organisations running large agent networks and using these networks to deploy our hubs, BuffaloGrid is able to avoid forcing end users to take out credit or contracts to access affordable mobile charging.

Our Innovation: Introduction of renewable energy sources will improve the life condition of these people and BuffaloGrid can play a very important role to it. Successful deployment of the hubs will allow off-grid and marginalised communities a reliable and affordable access to mobile communication and internet connectivity, facilitating local enterprises and drive economic growth.

We have done substantial progress regarding the technology readiness of our innovation. At the start of the H2020 project we were at TRL 7. By the end of Phase 2 project, we are now on TRL 8.5.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

We have been working mostly on the Software and Hardware components of our service, while developing business relationships to achieve a successful commercialisation of our technology.
The Software part is formed by our Cloud Platform which is automatically updated and accessible anywhere, the BuffaloGrid Cloud gives complete control over a fleet of BuffaloGrid Hubs.

Our platform can capture user behaviour and data such as phone number, total spend, payment type, time, date and location of the transaction with the user. It can also provide a full hub health diagnostics, the clouds allow easy monitoring of
status, location, battery level, temperature.
Finally, it gives a full report of the agent performance by providing data on charges sold, income earned, contact and payment info.

WHAT WE HAVE TODAY: Subscriber App activated hardware for mobile phone charging and pre-loaded digital services that regularly update content using local Mobile Networks. Grassroots, decentralized, low-cost and highly scalable business model supported by a patented cashless unlocking system and field-tested, robust, portable, solar-powered hubs. Subscribers experience data services before they would organically be adopted while supporting the growth of current consumption trends while allowing customers to use their phones more often and for more things.
HOW: Removing frontier-market barriers of internet adoption:
● Access to power: Phone charging enabling smartphone users to use their devices more often and for more.
● Digital illiteracy: The BuffaloGrid App is designed to help users gain awareness of digital services that can improve their lives & quality of life.
● Cost of data: Amortized cost of mobile data via hubs.
SERVICE:
● B2C:​ ​Subscribers can stream or download uninterrupted material from remote education, tele-medicine and health to commercial, entertainment and sport. Premium users (£0.45/month): unlimited charging & downloading all content. Free users: limited charging time & content streaming with advertisements when near the hub.
● B2B:​ Business customers can distribute advertisements to subscribers, run surveys and increase sales. We align the interest of all our stakeholders, creating value while running a profitable service. During our 2016 - 2020 India pilots, Mobile Network Operator Agents reported an increase in sales of airtime as people had more power, these same agents showed a 50% increase in general sales and a significant conversion rate to the partner mobile operator, making hub custody desirable for all stakeholders.
DISTRIBUTION:​ Partnerships with organisations and companies with large location/distribution networks, offering thousands of locations where people in off-grid, underserved or rural villages and communities buy SIM cards, airtime, data, sweets, drinks and daily basics.
IMPACT OPPORTUNITY:​ BuffaloGrid has a Target of 300K agent locations that will impact over 180M bottom of the economic pyramid smartphone users, supporting sustainable development through​ connectivity​, education, empowerment, ​economic development​ and growth that ​changes lives​. ​Increasing range of access to digital services, helping digitise local economies and drive the internet adoption process.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The combination of our cloud platform with our hardware allows to very easily upload the video message that wants to be distributed and within seconds it can reach tens of thousands of people in the most remote regions.

We have launched our “Get Power, Give Power” campaign, to raise awareness of the global power problem and to play our part in solving it.

At the heart of our campaign is the Buffalito, a smart power bank and multipurpose lamp which will be distributed free to the people who need it most. It will fully charge most smartphones and other devices and act as a lamp for hours. The Buffalito is designed to act as a portable and cost-effective way for millions of people to transport and store electricity. It was created to compliment our solar-powered BuffaloGrid Hub.

BuffaloGrid has confirmed a collaboration with UK for UNHCR, the national charity partner for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and I can now confirm the first batch of Buffalitos will be delivered directly to the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Uganda. UNHCR will ensure that they are provided for free to the people that need them most.

BG Hub with user in a shop

BG Hub help by agents couple

BG Hub with agent in India