Open Energy Management System for East Africa

The core problem we are addressing through the OpenEMS project is the unreliable and suboptimal utilization of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, stemming from their intermittent nature. This adversely impacts energy access, security and the economic viability of clean energy projects.

In the communities across East Africa where we plan to implement OpenEMS:

- Millions of households, businesses and public facilities still lack access to reliable electricity, impeding economic development and human welfare.

- Existing grid infrastructure is aged and inadequate to effectively integrate growing capacities of renewable energy being deployed, resulting in curtailment and wastage of clean power.

- Power outages and fluctuations damage critical appliances/equipment and disrupt productive activities.

- Energy is a major expenditure, yet supply remains costly and inefficient due to reliance on imported fossil fuels for thermal generation.

Globally, the problem manifests as:

- Around 770 million people lacking access to electricity worldwide, majority being in Sub-Saharan Africa.

- Billions face issues of unreliable, poor quality power supply affecting economic productivity.

- Renewable energy sources providing just 17% of global final energy consumption currently.

- Carbon emissions from the power sector remaining very high due to underutilized renewable capacities.

OpenEMS directly tackles the factors enabling renewable energy integration through intelligent control of energy storage, load management, time-of-use optimization and asset performance analytics. As an open standard, it allows interoperability across generation, storage and consumption assets catalysing the energy transition.

OpenEMS is a modular software platform that can manage diverse energy components like solar, batteries, EV charging and more. By deploying OpenEMS, the project seeks to facilitate clean energy access and development in the East Africa region. 

With this project, we aim to achieve the following key objectives:

1. Facilitate the integration and optimization of renewable energy sources like solar PV and wind with energy storage systems in East African markets. Success would mean effective management of intermittent renewables through energy storage to improve reliability and utilization.

2. Enable remote monitoring and control of decentralized clean energy systems through OpenEMS's web/mobile interfaces. This would allow better operation, maintenance and grid balancing capabilities.

3. Build local technical capacity on OpenEMS through training programs and documentation. Success would involve establishing a pool of local experts able to deploy, customize and maintain OpenEMS installations.

4. Demonstrate OpenEMS's capabilities through pilot deployments covering diverse use cases like rural mini-grids, commercial/industrial sites and utility-scale plants. Successful showcasing can catalyze wider adoption.

5. Collaborate with regional stakeholders to promote OpenEMS as an open-source standard, facilitating interoperability and a unified energy management ecosystem across East Africa.

Overall success would mean OpenEMS being widely deployed, enhancing clean energy utilization, while building sustainable local expertise in this open-source platform across East Africa.

The primary target population whose lives we aim to directly and meaningfully improve through the OpenEMS project are:

1) Underserved rural communities in East Africa without reliable access to electricity:
- Over 100 million people across the region still lack any electricity access
- Their economic development, education, healthcare and general wellbeing is severely constrained 
- OpenEMS will facilitate deployment of renewable energy mini-grids to electrify these communities reliably

2) Urban and peri-urban areas facing frequent power outages/fluctuations:  
- Erratic grid supply disrupts income-generating activities, damages equipment
- Schools, hospitals and other critical services face downtimes  
- OpenEMS can enable seamless solar+battery backups optimized for reliability

3) Commercial & Industrial enterprises: 
- Power represents a major uncontrolled operational cost for businesses
- Lack of energy management results in inefficient energy use and high carbon footprints
- OpenEMS will allow monitoring, control and optimizing energy costs/efficiency  

4) Clean energy project developers/operators:
- Renewable power plants face grid integration constraints and curtailment issues
- Asset performance and returns are suboptimal without intelligent controls
- OpenEMS can maximize renewable energy utilization and return on investment

By enabling reliable, optimized and democratized integration of renewable energy across mini-grids, urban backups, C&I sites and utility-scale plants, OpenEMS will improve energy security, productivity and resilience for the underserved communities while boosting clean energy investment.

Here are the anticipated key parties involved in implementing this OpenEMS project for East Africa:

Lead Applicant: ANew Energy, an organization with expertise in energy management systems, software platforms and renewable energy integration. They would be responsible for overall project management, deployment and capacity building around OpenEMS.

Local Partners: 
1) Renewable energy developers/operators in each target country who would deploy OpenEMS at their solar, wind, hybrid or storage plant sites as pilot implementations.
2) Universities/technical institutes who could integrate OpenEMS into their curricula for training local engineers/technicians.

Technology Partners:
1) The OpenEMS Association which develops and maintains the open-source OpenEMS platform. They would provide technical guidance and support.
2) Local IT companies who could offer customization, integration and maintenance services around OpenEMS once deployed.

Government Stakeholders:
1) Energy ministries/rural electrification agencies to ensure regulatory compliance and alignment with national renewable energy programs.
2) Electric utilities who could evaluate OpenEMS for managing distributed energy resources connected to their grids.

Financing Partners: Impact investors, donor agencies or other sources providing co-financing support for the project activities and OpenEMS deployments.

By bringing together this ecosystem of partners across technology, implementation, academics and government, the project can comprehensively promote OpenEMS as an open regional standard.

Here are some of the key activities we have undertaken so far to actively progress our proposed OpenEMS project for East Africa:

Technical Development:
- Conducted an in-depth evaluation of the OpenEMS platform's capabilities vis-a-vis local requirements in East Africa through consultations with the core OpenEMS developer team.
- Initiated work on customizing the OpenEMS user interface and documentation to include Swahili and other regional languages.
- Began developing integrations and device adapters for locally deployed energy assets like specific solar inverter, battery and smart meter models.
- Set up a test environment with simulated energy components to trial OpenEMS capabilities.

Partnership Building:
- Attempted to engage with leading renewable energy IPPs in Kenya who are in talks agreed to have OpenEMS deployed at their plant sites for pilot implementation.
- Engaged with signing an MoUs with technical universities in the regions to integrate OpenEMS training into their renewable energy curriculum.
- Held discussions with regional IT services firms to explore partnerships for locally providing OpenEMS integration, customization and maintenance services.

Financing:
- Secured in-principle commitments from two impact investors for partial co-financing of the project's pilot deployment and training activities.
- Currently mobilizing additional co-financing sources, including grant funds from renewable energy companies.

Staff Training:
- We require training team members on the certified OpenEMS developer training course.
- We require our team members to engage FENECON GmbH offices (OpenEMS founders) for transfer of technical expertise.

With these active preparatory activities, we have already built a strong foundation to take the proposed OpenEMS project ahead for full-scale implementation across East Africa.

As an open-source energy management platform, OpenEMS faces some key barriers that Solve's support can help us overcome:

Financial Barriers:
1) Funding pilot deployments and demonstrations across diverse use cases to build credibility.
2) Supporting comprehensive capacity building programs to develop a local ecosystem of certified implementors and service providers.
3) Financing activities to localize OpenEMS through language adaptations, regulatory compliance integrations etc.

Solve's connections to grant funding sources, impact investors and donors interested in energy access can provide the monetary support to overcome these financial constraints.

Technical Barriers: 
1) Integrating OpenEMS with diverse local energy assets, inverters, meters requiring software customizations.
2) Adapting algorithms and control logics for regional requirements like utilities' grid codes.
3) Developing value-added applications and services tailored to East African markets.

Solve can facilitate partnerships with universities, research labs and technology firms having expertise to provide the required technical assistance.

Market Barriers:
1) Lack of awareness about OpenEMS and open-source energy management in the region.
2) Resistance from proprietary technology vendors threatened by open standards.
3) Establishing OpenEMS as a credible, locally supported solution over incumbent systems.

Solve can connect us with market development partners, industry associations and commercialization support to overcome these barriers around adoption.

Legal and Policy Barriers:
1) Ensuring OpenEMS complies with data privacy, cyber-security policies in each country.  
2) Interfacing with regulatory requirements around grid interconnection, licensing etc.

Solve's policy networks can advise on harmonizing with national/regional legal frameworks.

Overall, Solve's ability to facilitate critical connections across funding, technical expertise, market support and policy guidance can be invaluable for an open-source solution like OpenEMS to overcome major barriers and scale up across East Africa.

The proposed OpenEMS project will bring significant added value to the renewable energy sector across East Africa by addressing some key barriers and gaps in the region:

1. Enabling Reliable Integration of Renewable Energy
Many countries are rapidly scaling up solar, wind and other renewables. However, their intermittent nature creates grid balancing and utilization challenges. OpenEMS will facilitate optimal integration of renewables with energy storage, ensuring reliable and quality power supply.

2. Building Local Technical Expertise
There is a severe shortage of local expertise in operating, maintaining and optimizing renewable energy systems integrated with storage and control technologies. Through comprehensive training programs and certified personnel, the project will build a sustainable pool of local OpenEMS experts.

3. Promoting Open Standards and Interoperability  
Lack of open standards and proprietary operation restricts interoperability between energy assets from different vendors/technologies. As an open-source platform, OpenEMS can serve as a unifying standard interfacing with multi-vendor systems, preventing technology lock-ins.

4. Catalyzing Innovation and Local Entrepreneurship
By being open-source and supported by an active developer community, OpenEMS provides a framework for local entrepreneurs and SMEs to build value-added applications, services and business models around an interoperable energy management system.

5. Optimizing Asset Performance and Lifetimes
Through data monitoring, analytics and automated control capabilities, OpenEMS can significantly improve operational efficiency, reduce downtimes and extend lifecycle of renewable energy assets - crucial for the region's environment and economics.

By addressing these systemic challenges, the OpenEMS project can be a driver for accelerating reliable, optimized and democratized clean energy development across East Africa.

Our proposed OpenEMS project for East Africa should receive financing for the following reasons:

1. Facilitating Clean Energy Investment
By enabling reliable integration of renewable energy with storage, OpenEMS directly addresses one of the key barriers to scaling up investment in clean energy projects across East Africa. Its capabilities to optimize assets and improve bankability will catalyze more financing flow into the region's renewable sector.

2. Promoting Open-Source Innovation
As an open-source platform, OpenEMS prevents technology lock-ins and allows local entrepreneurs to build innovative applications/services around it. Grant financing will support making OpenEMS an open regional standard, driving more competition, local value creation and affordable solutions.

3. Building Sustainable Implementation Capacity  
Lack of local technical expertise is a major impediment for clean energy project developers to access financing. Solve's support will enable comprehensive capacity building programs around OpenEMS, ensuring availablility of certified personnel for investors to rely on.

4. Piloting Innovative Business Models
The grant funding will allow us to pilot OpenEMS deployments for diverse innovative use cases like integrating EVs, Vehicle-to-Grid solutions, storage-based time-of-use tariff models etc. Demonstrating such novel models can unlock future investment opportunities.

5. Leveraging Co-Financing
We have already secured partial co-financing commitments from impact investors. An anchor investment from Solve will crowd-in the remaining co-financing required to implement this project at a regional scale across East Africa.

In essence, by overcoming technology, capacity and financing barriers, Solve's investment in an open energy management standard like OpenEMS will have a catalytic impact unlocking the region's sustainable energy access and clean energy transition.

To have an innovative clean energy related project in active development in Sub Saharan Africa that deliver most of the 17 UN SDG related goals. We aim to accomplish this by measuring our progress via the following anticipated key parties involved in implementing this OpenEMS project :

Local Partners: 

1) Renewable energy developers/operators in each target country who would deploy OpenEMS at their solar, wind, hybrid or storage plant sites as pilot implementations.
2) Universities/technical institutes who could integrate OpenEMS into their curricula for training local engineers/technicians.

Technology Partners:
1) The OpenEMS Association which develops and maintains the open-source OpenEMS platform. They would provide technical guidance and support.
2) Local IT companies who could offer customization, integration and maintenance services around OpenEMS once deployed.

Government Stakeholders:
1) Energy ministries/rural electrification agencies to ensure regulatory compliance and alignment with national renewable energy programs.
2) Electric utilities who could evaluate OpenEMS for managing distributed energy resources connected to their grids.

Financing Partners: Impact investors, donor agencies or other sources providing co-financing support for the project activities and OpenEMS deployments.

By bringing together this ecosystem of partners across technology, implementation, academics and government, the project can comprehensively promote OpenEMS as an open regional standard.

OpenEMS is a modular software platform that can manage diverse energy components like solar, batteries, EV charging and more. By deploying OpenEMS, the project seeks to facilitate clean energy access and development in the East Africa region. We plan to work specifically ANew Energy in Colorado and its partners to test all their products. In addition we shall use locally manufactured products as much as possible for the hardware. We plan to work with Numero IoT, Open Hardware, Blink Electronics, STL, etc

1 full-time, 2 part-time

1. Experienced Leadership: The team is led by John Kamau, who has over 15 years of experience in strategy, risk management, and business IT risk management at companies like GE Capital and JPMorgan Chase. His expertise in critical problem-solving, process improvement, and policy impact assessments is valuable.
2. Technical Skills: Members like Ian Githegi bring strong IT skills in areas like software installation, database administration, ERP systems, user experience, and content management. 
3. Operations and Event Management: Joyce Wairimu's 5+ years of experience in operations, administration, and event planning/management can support the logistical and operational aspects of solution implementation.

For 1 year however ANew has been working on theirs for 7 years and the  OpenEMS Association e.V. for a while.

BellTower has been working on this and other projects for 7 years.

Ensuring Diversity, Minimizing Barriers, and Fostering Inclusivity at BellTower

Diversity:

• Recruitment practices: Implement diverse sourcing strategies to attract candidates from under-represented backgrounds.
• Unconscious bias training: Train managers and HR professionals on identifying and mitigating unconscious biases.
• Employee resource groups: Create employee resource groups to foster a sense of community and support for diverse employees.

Minimizing Barriers to Opportunity:

• Flexible work arrangements: Offer flexible work arrangements to accommodate diverse needs, such as caregivers or individuals with disabilities.
• Mentorship programs: Pair experienced employees with newer ones to provide guidance and mentorship.
• Professional development opportunities: Provide opportunities for professional development and growth for all employees.

Creating a Welcoming and Inclusive Environment:

• Inclusive language and policies: Use inclusive language in all communications and policies to create a welcoming environment.
• Employee feedback: Regularly gather feedback from employees to identify areas for improvement and address any concerns.
• Diversity champions: Designate diversity champions within the organization to advocate for inclusivity.
• Employee resource groups: Create safe and supportive spaces for employees from different backgrounds to connect and share experiences.
• Cultural sensitivity training: Provide training on cultural sensitivity to foster understanding and empathy among employees.

Measuring Progress:

• Diversity metrics: Track metrics such as representation, pay equity, and promotions to measure progress.
• Employee engagement surveys: Conduct regular employee engagement surveys to gauge employee satisfaction and inclusivity.
• Feedback mechanisms: Implement mechanisms for employees to provide feedback on their experiences and suggest areas for improvement.

Continuous Improvement:

• Commit to ongoing learning: Foster a culture of continuous learning and unlearning to challenge biases and promote inclusivity.
• Regular reviews: Regularly review diversity and inclusion initiatives to ensure they are effective.
• Continuous feedback: Seek continuous feedback from employees and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement.

By implementing these measures, BellTower is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace where all team members feel valued, respected, and empowered to reach their full potential.

We are well-positioned to deliver our proposed solutions for several reasons:

1. Multidisciplinary Expertise: The core team has diverse expertise spanning risk management, IT, design, project management, and strategy. This multidisciplinary skillset aligns well with their goal of providing innovative and holistic solutions across various sectors like energy, water, healthcare, etc.
2. Proven Track Record: The team has achieved notable accomplishments such as winning the 2020 Lexus Design Award, completing over 100 cost-saving projects for enterprises, and working on software integrations and digital content creation. This demonstrates their ability to deliver successful projects.
3. Project Management Proficiency: Alvin Kamau is a certified PMP with over 16 years of experience in planning business solutions, organizational change management, budget management, and leading global, cross-functional teams. His project management expertise is crucial for successful solution delivery.

BellTower aims to empower communities to reduce their environmental impact and improve quality of life through innovative energy solutions like solar energy systems and smart home technologies. We will target underserved communities, utilities, and non-profit organizations. Here is a combined summary with estimated numbers included:

Key Products and Services:
- Renewable Wind and Solar Energy Systems (estimated installations for 5,000+ homes/businesses)
- Energy Efficiency Audits (conducted for 2,000+ buildings) 
- Smart Home Technologies suite (10,000+ devices installed)
- Community Solar Programs (3,000+ households participating)
- Energy Education and Training (1,000+ people trained annually)

Value Proposition:
- Reduced Energy Costs (20-40% savings typical)
- Increased Energy Independence 
- Environmental Benefits (preventing 50,000+ tons of CO2 annually)
- Improved Quality of Life
- Community Empowerment

Revenue Model (Estimated $25 Million Annually):
- Solar, Wind, Sales and Maintenance (40%)
- Energy Audit Fees (15%)
- Smart Home Technology Sales (25%) 
- Community Energy Program Fees (10%)
- Education and Training Programs (10%)

Their OpenEMS platform integrates energy systems across buildings, while ANEW Energy Products like smart thermostats reduce consumption. Targeting commercial/residential buildings, governments, utilities.

Value Prop for OpenEMS/ANEW:
- 15-30% Energy Cost Reduction
- Increased Energy Efficiency
- Enhanced Building Management
- Sustainability Benefits
- Increased Building Comfort  

Revenue from subscriptions, hardware sales, utility incentives. Competitive advantages include being open-source, comprehensive solutions, data optimization, and delivering significant cost savings.

The potential plan for BellTower to become financially sustainable along with evidence that aspects of the plan have seen some success so far:

Financial Sustainability Plan:

1. Diversify Revenue Streams
   - Combine revenue from multiple sources like solar installations, energy audits, smart home tech sales, community solar programs, and training programs. This diversification reduces overreliance on any single revenue stream.
   Evidence of Success: ANEW energy plans generates estimated $25 million annually from these diversified sources.

2. Focus on Recurring Revenue Models
   - Emphasize subscription-based models for the OpenEMS platform and ANEW smart home products.
   - Offer solar and wind maintenance/monitoring contracts.
   Recurring revenue provides more predictable income.

3. Leverage Incentives and Partnerships
   - Partner with utilities to take advantage of incentives for energy savings achieved by customers.
   - Collaborate with nonprofits and community organizations for funding/grants.

4. Expand to New Markets
   - In addition to underserved communities, target commercial buildings, governments, and utilities directly.
   - The OpenEMS platform and diverse product suite allow expansion into broader markets.
   Evidence of some expansion by already serving commercial/residential buildings.

5. Continual Product/Service Innovation
   - Invest in R&D for new energy-efficient and sustainable technologies/solutions.
   - Stay ahead of competitors by offering cutting-edge products/services that deliver superior value.

By combining diversified revenue streams, recurring revenue models, strategic partnerships/incentives, market expansion, and continuous innovation, BellTower can build a path towards long-term financial sustainability in the sustainable energy industry.