Decentralised Energy Market Access And Co-finance (DEMA2C)

UNSDG 7 targets to achieve universal energy access by 2030, unfortunately, based on the current trajectory there is still a gap and it may be growing. This is so given that globally, about 789 million people (597 million of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa SSA do not have access to energy. Moreover, limited coverage, high interconnection costs, high energy and unreliable supply are the primary challenges of using conventional grid connections for both rural and urban areas.

This would have been the opportunity for decentralised grids e.g. solar to fill the gap, especially off-grid communities completely cut-off from the main grid, unfortunately, renewables intermittency and high upfront costs are strong deterrents, moreover, there is a low affinity for financing micro-grid generation because investors struggle to track their ROI. The current set-up/technologies supporting DERs particularly solar are yet to overcome the peak generation and peak consumption mismatch nor track ROI.

The DEMA2C consortium including Innovation Consultancy & Entrepreneurship (lead Partner), OtaskiES, Wave Insight, Moneda, MAD and Edo State Ministry of Infrastructure will be developing a technology that will enable the creation of a unified renewables-based grid that can supply on-demand green energy to off-grid communities. The technology will bridge the intermittency of the renewable delivering on-demand energy supply by optimising the link between generation and consumption without additional panels, high storage bank costs nor resorting to fossil-fuelled generators.

It will also offer an energy-as-a-service model supported by an innovative payment platform with real-time ROI tracking for investors. This will stimulate investment into DERs to meet SDG 7 target by attracting investors that up to now have been shying away from investing in renewables-based micro grid. Successful deployment of DEMA2C will also enable prosumers are able to get an ROI 5X faster than when they would be just self-consuming their generated capacity.

The clean energy DEMA2C enabled micro-grid will facilitate the avoidance of e1.04CO2kg/kW in emissions by replacing the use of generators.