Azuri Technologies Ltd’s $5 million joint venture with Standard Chartered Bank is intended to bring renewable power to thousands of homes and small businesses across Sub Saharan Africa.
People run the home solar unit on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis using their mobile phones.
Solar Home Units can be sourced from official Azuri distributors across 13 Sub Saharan Markets, who offer ongoing service support for as long as it is in use.
The lack of a purchase price or upfront expense for inhabitants makes this unit more available for the broader market, where accessing sufficient power is a problem.
Clients can get a completely functional power unit, without having to give any money upfront or sustain any debt.Consumers pay for use of the system on a weekly or monthly basis using a mobile phone, letting users manage their own rate of costs.
Simon Bransfield-Garth, Chief Executive of Azuri remarked, “As the PayGo industry grows, it’s only suitable that we use this technology to make a difference in the lives of people. Standard Chartered’s ground-breaking debt finance system allows us to amplify the amount of units we produce, and eventually lets us to light up more households and small businesses across Sub Saharan Africa.”
Customers are able to take the step to accept new technologies through Azuri’s ‘Energy Escalator’ pathway. The entry-level solar home system has a five watt solar panel which charges a long-life battery (Lithium Iron Phosphate), powering two LED lights (with 150 lumens brightness) as well as a typical USB mobile phone charging port. This entry-level unit normally provides users with eight hours of lighting for two rooms, and power to charge mobile phones.
The bigger unit, called ‘the Quad’, is designed to support a bigger home, featuring a 10 watt solar panel charging the long-life battery (Lithium Iron Phosphate). The Quad offers four LED lights (output 475 lumens) for up to eight hours as well as the mobile phone charging port.
In addition to this, the Quad comprises of a rechargeable and transportable radio which gives 12 hours constant play, appropriate for internal and external use.
The latest contribution “AzuriTV” is the first complete pay-as-you-go satellite TV package intended for households without electricity in the Kenyan market.
Merging solar home power, 24-inch TV, satellite dish and Zuku Smart+ entertainment with 50 TV and 21 radio channels, the AzuriTV system aims for homes outside the power grid offering affordable TV, anytime, anywhere, in one total PayGo package.
