Solar Electricity for Refugees in Bangladesh

For many of our Solver teams who win prizes, the initial amount of money that they win is just the start of an ongoing relationship that they build with the funder. This was the case for Solshare, an innovative approach to bringing affordable solar electricity to rural off-grid communities, including refugee camps, in Bangladesh. The solution connects solar home systems into microgrids and allows rural communities to earn direct income from the sun by selling excess energy to the grid. This 2020 Solver team was initially awarded The Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion, worth 15 thousand dollars, at the 2020 Solve Challenge Finals. They were subsequently awarded a 55 thousand dollar prize by the Andan Foundation in 2021 and a 33 thousand dollar prize in 2022. Solshare have used the funding to expand their work in refugee camps in Bangladesh in partnership with UNHCR. They have had to make key modifications to their solution to tailor it to this setting, such as tying the value of selling excess energy back to the grid to vouchers rather than a monetary amount. 

Hello World, a 2021 Solver team has had a similar ongoing relationship with the Andan Foundation. They received 100 thousand dollars of funding at Solve Challenge Finals in September 2021, and then 60 thousand dollars in May 2022, followed by 33 thousand dollars at Solve Challenge Finals in September 2022.