Breaking yet another glass ceiling in energy innovation
SOLshare, the initiator of the world’s first peer-to-peer energy exchange network for rural communities, in collaboration with Shakti Foundation, is set to break another glass ceiling in energy innovation. Funded by the UK Government, SOLshare and Shakti Foundation will be interconnecting one of their P2P solar microgrids - a network of interconnected solar home systems, in a rural village in Bangladesh through a single point called the Point of Common Coupling (PCC), to feed the excess solar energy into the national grid.
The PCC launch, held on today (Tuesday at 11am, the 21st of June 2022) at SOLshare’s offices in Dhaka was inaugurated by the event’s Chief Guest: Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Bir Bikram, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Power, Energy & Mineral Resources Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. He was joined by Mr. Javed Patel, Acting British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Special Guest for the Inauguration.
The Hon’ble Adviser, Dr. Tawfiq E Elahi Chowdhury congratulated SOLshare and Shakti Foundation for the timely innovation in the power system saying “Hopefully, today’s event will lead to the scale up of this idea so that the benefits of solar peer-to-peer microgrids would reach more customers.” He assured government support for this enterprise.
Acting British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Javed Patel said, “We are delighted to support this ground-breaking pilot program that builds on Bangladesh’s global success in solar home systems and national grid expansion. It has the potential to bring benefits to many remote rural communities as well as increase the contribution of renewable energy in the national energy mix.”
The PCC (Point of Common Coupling) integrates Bangladesh’s two major electrification efforts- grid extension and Solar Home System dissemination. The Rural Electrification Board (REB) grid is connected to one side of the PCC, while the local microgrid from the SHS is connected to the other side. The microgrid is self-sustaining and this grid infrastructure will be used for energy balancing with the national grid, while reducing load shedding, and increasing service stability.
Users of the Solar Home Systems (SHS) are able to sell electricity to the national grid to earn an additional income while paving the path to sustainability for our existing 6 million+ SHS. This is the first step towards the formation of a smarter grid with the integration of existing distributed storage assets ultimately providing the means for the formation of a virtual power plant (VPP).
“Shakti Foundation is proud to collaborate with SOLshare in the action research to examine the feasibility of contributing power to the national grid from Solar Home Systems (SHS). We believe this will be a game-changer in climate change mitigation measures and will help realize the country’s aspiration of generating 40% power from clean energy sources by 2041. We are particularly excited about the potential income-generating opportunities this innovation can create for our microentrepreneurs and marginalized communities as they will be able to sell their excess electricity and collectively contribute to the economy and environment.”, said Imran Ahmed, Deputy Executive Director of Shakti foundation.
“Having reached full electrification is a major achievement for Bangladesh. Now the need of the hour is to increase grid resilience, electricity quality, and the share of renewable energies. This pilot shows how this can be achieved by intelligently connecting user-owned assets to the national grid. Today this is starting with solar home systems, tomorrow it will continue with local electric three-wheeler (B-Tesla) batteries”, commented Dr. Sebastian Groh, co-founder and managing director of SOLshare.
About SOLshare:
SOLshare is a climate tech company operating in Bangladesh for over six years to provide ICT-based services in clean energy, energy efficiency, and e-mobility in rural and urban areas. SOLshare’s globally recognized SOLbazaar has developed into an energy marketplace to fight access deficits to sustainable energy services. SOLshare is the first mover in the latest clean-tech developments in Bangladesh, a high social impact market with more EVs on its streets than Tesla has sold globally to date and the world’s largest distributed renewable energy program. Via its SOLbazaar platform, it caters to peer-to-peer solar microgrids, lithium-ion battery leasing schemes in the electric three-wheeler space, C&I rooftop solar projects, and PAYG electric appliances.
About SOLshare
SOLshare is a climate tech company operating in Bangladesh for over six years to provide ICT-based services in clean energy, energy efficiency, and e-mobility in rural and urban areas. SOLshare’s globally recognized SOLbazaar has developed into an energy marketplace to fight access deficits to sustainable energy services. SOLshare is the first mover in the latest clean-tech developments in Bangladesh, a high social impact market with more EVs on its streets than Tesla has sold globally to date and the world’s largest distributed renewable energy program. Via its SOLbazaar platform, it caters to peer-to-peer solar microgrids, lithium-ion battery leasing schemes in the electric three-wheeler space, C&I rooftop solar projects, and PAYG electric appliances.
About Shakti Foundation
Shakti Foundation is a non-government organization committed to the economic and social empowerment of disadvantaged women across Bangladesh. It believes in realizing the potential of women to become strong, independent members of their communities. Shakti began its mission with urban microfinance programs and strategically expanded its service network to reach remote rural areas. Over the years, it has widened its range of development services to include basic health care and education, agro-business growth, solar power, skills training and advocacy. Shakti was founded in April 1992 and now serves over 500,000 households across 54 districts of Bangladesh.
