Woman in rural Uganda using a solar-powered lamp

International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate the achievements of women and to recognize the challenges that women continue to face around the world. In Uganda, where more than 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas, the lack of access to energy is a major impediment to women’s economic and social empowerment.

Energy poverty in Uganda disproportionately affects women, who often spend hours each day collecting firewood, cooking on open fires, and using kerosene lamps for lighting. This not only puts their health at risk due to exposure to smoke and other pollutants, but it also limits their ability to participate in education, earn a living, and engage in other productive activities.

However, there are efforts underway to improve access to energy in Uganda, particularly through the use of renewable energy sources such as solar power. Distributed solar energy is particularly well-suited to rural areas because it is easy to install, low-maintenance, and does not require a connection to the national power grid. In Uganda, New Energy Nexus supports last mile clean energy entrepreneurs to deliver low cost and high quality entry-level clean energy technologies.

ENVENTURE helps women in northern Uganda to learn how to start a clean energy business.

Supporting woman entrepreneurs in Uganda’s last mile communities.

The majority of entrepreneurs we support at New Energy Nexus Uganda are women and 70% of the jobs created by our entrepreneurs are taken by women. Ultimately, the majority of these women have testified that their quality of live has improved due to access and use of these high-quality energy products in their households,, and those involved in Village Savings and Loan Schemes (VSLS) have increased their financial savings due to lower energy costs.

New Energy Nexus also teaches women entrepreneurs recordkeeping skills as part of its curriculum. We created the ENVision platform, an open-source web-based application to track inventory, sales, and orders in 2G and Edge networks for low-literate sales agents and micro-entrepreneurs. This helps women entrepreneurs to manage their sales and performance more effectively, and allows us to receive real-time product updates to help monitor and measure success. This also ensures that entrepreneurs don’t lose time and information on their businesses through cloud-based storage.

We put justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of our work.

Efforts to improve access to energy in Uganda are still in their early stages, but the progress that has been made is encouraging. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let us recognize the important role that access to energy plays in women’s empowerment and support the organizations and initiatives that are working to improve energy access in Uganda and the Global South. By doing so, we can help to create a more just, equitable and inclusive world for women and girls everywhere which is possible if we work with diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with a focus on women.

New Energy Nexus Indonesia officially announces 10 startups that will join the Bali Women Climate Entrepreneur Project. This acceleration and incubation program offers four months of tailored business support for women-led climate entrepreneurs in Bali to enhance their business. With this program, New Energy Nexus Indonesia aims to close the gender gap and increase women’s participation in  clean energy and climate solutions sectors, helping to improve women’s response and adaptation to climate change.

The Bali Women Climate Entrepreneur Project is supported by the ClimateWorks Foundation and is part of the Bali Climate and Development Initiative (initiated by New Energy Nexus Indonesia, WRI Indonesia, and IESR). The project runs in collaboration with Pratisara Bumi Foundation.

“There are undeniably still many challenges women have to face in the climate space, but we hope that these 10 incredible startups with females in leadership positions will inspire the next generation of women to begin their journey toward making a difference.” Rainy Putri, Program Manager at New Energy Nexus Indonesia and  Co-Leader of this project.

Women are paving the way to become leaders in their communities. From early ideas to later-stage, here are the 10 startups selected to be part of the project.

Griya Luhu

Aims to change people’s behaviour and awareness of sustainable waste management using user-friendly and straightforward mobile applications to help improve waste segregation at home. Learn more about Griya Luhu.

Prawita Tasya, Executive Director & Co-founder, Biorock Indonesia

Biorock Indonesia

Engages with local communities and the government to protect and restore coral reefs so these underwater ecosystems can thrive, while also  providing livelihood and economic benefits to  local communities. Learn more about Biorock Indonesia.

PT. Kolaborasi Bumi Pertiwi

Aims to replace coal with “imitation” coal that contains more heat calories than real coal.

GO EV

Offers a digital platform to rent electric vehicles in Bali at affordable prices.

Go Sustainable

Aims to increase public awareness of environmental impact  from food production by encouraging restaurants to add a  ‘climatarian’ menu (ingredients used must be plant-based, locally sourced, unprocessed, minimally packaged, and organic).

Bendega

Aims to empower coastal communities and fishers with knowledge, facilitation, training, and support with IT tools to adopt green-blue habits.

Nadea Nabilla, Co-founder at Azura (right) with local fisherfolk in Bali.

“Seeing the environmental damage worsen especially in coastal areas like Bali, we aim to empower coastal communities and fishers with knowledge, facilitation, training, and support with IT tools to adopt green-blue habits. As the only female leader among my colleagues, I truly believe that an inclusive environment, as well as being surrounded by supportive male allies can significantly improve our business and create a greater impact for the community.” Nungky Adzani, CMO at Bendega. Learn more about Bendega.

Tri Hita Consulting

Encourages and supports their clients to create an impact through sustainable business practices, deployment of green technology, policies to promote the energy transition, and sustainable investment in Southeast Asia’s emerging markets. .

360E.io

Aims to herald a new era of green investments with an intuitive and easy-to-use app that lets you perform all green investment transactions on the go. Learn more about 360E.io.

Gumitri

Acts as an intermediary between organic rice farmers and the market to support organic farming practices and food security in local villages.

Azura Indonesia

Delivers a solution for the coastal community with their MantaOne electric long-tail boat engine – offsetting 345 kilograms  of carbon footprint per month. Learn more about Azura Indonesia.

“Bali is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia. Considering its potential and emerging opportunities in climate sectors, such as sustainable tourism, we need to make sure that female talents in the sectors are able to fully participate in the shift toward sustainable tourism in Bali.” Diyanto Imam, Program Director, New Energy Nexus Indonesia.

In 2018, Indonesian women made up only 12% of all STEM graduates. In the global energy industry, only 11% of energy startup founders are women – these statistics need to change. As a pioneering clean energy and climate innovation ecosystem builder, New Energy Nexus Indonesia is breaking the status quo. The Bali Women Climate Entrepreneur Project is only the beginning of our efforts to disrupt the rooted beliefs that the clean energy and climate tech sectors are the ‘boys club’.

About New Energy Nexus Indonesia

New Energy Nexus is the world’s leading ecosystem of funds and accelerators supporting diverse clean energy entrepreneurs, from emerging tech through to clean energy deployment and adoption. In Indonesia, New Energy Nexus works to support the development of ecosystems that can support the needs of innovators, startups, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders in the clean energy and climate solutions sectors.

Learn more: New Energy Nexus Indonesia.

Energy storage is critical to help us unlock the full potential of renewable energy. Without energy storage systems, we would not be able to affordably reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. It is a key step to enable low carbon systems that will help fight climate change and make affordable energy more accessible to everyone.

New York is increasingly becoming known as one of the global energy storage hubs in the world, thanks to Biden’s Build Back Better Plan that will invest billions into climate and clean energy among other select industries. Our New York Program, The Clean Fight that was recently selected to manage US$10M Empire Technology Prize to advance building decarbonization brings you ten growth-stage companies in the latest cohort to accelerate New York’s position as a U.S. hub for energy storage.

The program will focus on battery and energy storage solutions, development and manufacturing. The goal is to help these companies to successfully and rapidly scale sales and manufacturing in New York. To facilitate this, each of the selected companies is eligible for:

• a range of tailored benefits, valued at up to $100,000 per company to support capacity building, deployments or manufacturing capabilities in New York;
• hands-on matchmaking with industry leading customer and capital partners;
  bespoke support services; and
• expert insight into navigating the New York State market.

Based in Europe, Australia and North America, and working across the value chain, listed below are the ten transformative companies. We’re excited to see how they work together and with our partners to aggressively advance the clean energy transition, while boosting economic opportunity and job creation for all.

Cells & Packs

Cadenza Innovation, based in Connecticut, makes novel battery packs designed to address one of the greatest concerns with Lithium-Ion batteries – fire prevention, making them safer, more reliable and affordable.

NY’s Electrovaya makes batteries with an exceptional combination of high energy density, safety and longevity, making them particularly well suited to heavy use vehicles such as electric trucks and buses.

Energy Storage Systems

Toronto’s e-Zinc makes battery cells that store electrical energy within zinc metal, storing hundreds of hours of energy at a significantly lower cost. This can dramatically improve the value proposition of intermittent electricity such as wind and solar.

Based in Australia, Glaciem Cooling’s heat pump technology provides heating and cooling to commercial and industrial customers, combined with a phase change thermal battery to provide integrated energy storage, for improved efficiency and cost.

Buffalo, NY based Viridi designs and builds distributed energy storage systems that are affordable, scalable and safe enough for use in occupied buildings, providing on-demand power for industrial, medical, commercial and residential applications.

Mobile & Mobility Systems

Sweden’s Elonroad produces dynamic EV charging solutions embedded into roads, allowing for charging on the go. This also enables battery sizes to be reduced by up to 80%.

Portable Electric, based in Vancouver, makes portable, battery-based generators to replace gas and diesel generators, providing clean, silent power on demand. Their systems are used on job sites, for emergency EV and fleet charging, and as backup power.

Distributed Energy Resources

Canadian company eCAMION delivers a Distributed Energy Resource solution for customers looking to manage batteries, solar installations, and EV chargers to maximize efficiency while minimizing cost and strain to the grid.

OhmConnect, based in California, builds Virtual Power Plants by connecting to residential batteries, EVs and smart thermostats, reacting in real time to the needs of the grid, reducing reliance on high-pollution peaker plants and lowering GHG emissions.

Austin, Texas based Yotta Energy produces distributed energy products, including EV chargers and the first solar battery that integrates behind rooftop solar panels. The integrated battery significantly reduces installation costs, along with its plug-and-play design that means if you can install a solar module, you can install their battery.

Learn more about our New York program, The Clean Fight designed to help the world’s best growth-stage startups significantly scale their business in New York State, while boosting economic opportunity and job creation for all. The Clean Fight is also a member of the winning New Energy New York coalition, who were awarded $113M as part of the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge.

CalSEED’s Prototype Award winners represent the next generation of clean tech entrepreneurs… 

The seven newest awardees – Startups Tolo, ALD Solutions, RePurpose, Gridware, Hago Energetics, Parthian Energy, and Leap Photovoltaics – were selected this year to receive CalSEED’s Prototype award of $450,000 to continue to develop their breakthrough innovations for batteries, storage, energy efficiency, and renewable generation.

Not only are they solving critical energy issues in California and beyond, but they are also positioning themselves to take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act. As one the most significant climate related bill in US history, this could be a game changer for clean energy startups across the country.

Find out what these early stage startups think about the IRA.

RePurpose Energy makes lithium ion batteries a sustainable solution.

REPURPOSE ENERGY

RePurpose Energy is creating a circular economy for EV batteries by creating reliable, low-cost “second-life” energy storage systems. Their turnkey solution involves testing, reassembling and redeploying used electric vehicle batteries for use as storage for solar energy. The repurposing of used EV batteries safely gives them 7-10 years in “second-life” as energy storage systems at around half the cost of new battery alternatives.

“In our view, the IRA is the single most important piece of climate legislation in US history, and it presents a myriad of opportunities for clean tech startups such as RePurpose Energy. Especially exciting are the investment and production tax credits. These incentives will reduce the capital costs of scaling our EV battery repurposing facilities, enhance the profitability of our second-life battery products, and augment our customers’ demand for solar PV + second-life battery systems. In addition, the bill will accelerate EV adoption, which will in turn increase available supplies of retired EV batteries.“ Joseph Lacap, CTO Repurpose Energy

Founders Thomas Karagianes (left) and Iain McClatchie (right) at TOLO

TOLO

Tolo is making in-person inspection of utility infrastructure a thing of the past with their remote inspection platform. Tolo pairs state-of-the-art cameras with unmanned aerial

vehicles (UAVs) and collects thousands of detailed photos from every angle of a utility tower, capturing images at greater detail than what is visible to an inspector in the field at a lower cost. Inspectors can view these images through a novel software application custom-built for utility inspection which provides them  with advanced tools and greater inspection freedom and flexibility than field inspection, resulting in more accurate, shareable, monitorable inspections that drive better maintenance decisions and enhanced grid reliability. Remote inspection creates unique benefits impossible through traditional approaches, like inspection review by regulators, machine learning-assisted inspection, and year-over-year comparison.

“Tolo applauds the Inflation Reduction Act as a much-needed first step in the fight against climate change and a long-overdue investment in modernizing our aging energy infrastructure. Working in utility inspection, we know first hand the damage that inadequately maintained infrastructure can cause, and we look forward to helping support the newly created transmission infrastructure resulting from this bill. Many of the most innovative climate change solutions in clean energy have come from our startup peers, and we hope the IRA will help provide the investment these technologies and companies need to shine.” Thomas Karagianes, CEO Tolo

Wilson Hago, CEO at Hago Energetics looking down the line of cattle.

HAGO ENERGETICS

Hago Energetics is working to convert agricultural waste from dairy farms in the Central Valley of California into green hydrogen that can be used for long-haul trucking and industrial applications. Their technology works by processing biogas generated from cow manure waste in a novel chemical reactor to ultimately convert the biogas into hydrogen. Using just renewable energy as well as waste wood as a catalyst for this chemical conversion, makes their  innovative process distinctly unique.

“It is encouraging to see the Federal government incentivize the production of clean hydrogen with the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The IRA allows us to obtain a Production Tax Credit of $3 per kg of hydrogen or an Investment Tax Credit of 30% given our expected negative carbon footprint. These incentives will enable us to attract investors quicker to our projects, for a faster deployment of our technology.” Wilson Hago, CEO Hago Energetics

Mahshid Roumi, Co-founder and Vice President at Parthian Energy.

PARTHIAN ENERGY

Parthian Energy is dedicated to reducing the cost of battery manufacturing with an intelligent screening technology.

The “Parthian Electromagnetic Sensor (PES”) can detect internal defects in lithium-ion battery cells, which enhances safety and enables higher energy density cells to be deployed into EVs and grid storage with much less risk of lithium-ion batteries overheating. With additional CalSEED prototype funding they will develop a scalable prototype, demonstrate the feasibility of reducing the duration and cost of battery quality control, as well as perform pilot testing on a battery cell manufacturing line.

“A large portion of the most valuable businesses in history started as highly technical startups, at the right place and right time. The IRA can help provide the right conditions for the exponential growth of several key industrial sectors, provided that a meaningful portion of the funding reaches small businesses, who are developing groundbreaking new technologies. No amount of funding is enough, if the government stays too conservative and keeps feeding the incremental growth of the traditional technologies by the old businesses, who have not been able to invent new markets for decades.” – Mahshid Roumi, Co-founder and Vice President Parthian Energy

David Needle Berneyman, Founder and CEO at Leap PV in his lab.

LEAP PHOTOVOLTAICS

Leap Photovoltaics is developing a new process to manufacture solar cells. Their unique approach allows crystalline silicon solar cells to be built without wafers, instead directly depositing a layer of silicon microparticles to a surface that absorbs sunlight and converts it to electricity, achieving the same performance and reliability as traditional solar cells at half the cost using entirely local supply chains.

“The passing of the IRA also could not be more timely. The IRA provides strong incentives to manufacture not only solar modules, but also upstream components like solar cells here in the US. Leap is uniquely poised to take advantage of these incentives by linking the parts of the supply chain that already exist in the US and doing so with a manufacturing process that requires dramatically lower capex to bring online and dramatically lower cost in operation.

“Domestic ratepayers who now have easier access to demand-side subsidies through the modifications to the solar ITC and new PTC will also be able to reap the economic benefits of a domestic end-to-end supply chain, while also knowing that all the components in their solar panel were produced to the highest product, labor, and environmental standards.” David Berney Needleman, Founder and CEO Leap PV

Gridware’s wildfire prevention technology powers a grid that is smarter and more reliable.

GRIDWARE

Gridware is working to create a future where suburban wildfires are a thing of the past. Using multi-sensory perception and edge AI, their wildfire prevention technology continuously monitors a grid that is smarter and more reliable than ever before. The system detects faults in the grid early and in real-time to enable inspectors to schedule timely repairs and rapidly respond to ignitions so disastrous wildfires can be avoided. With the CalSEED Prototype award, Gridware will advance analytical tool development and continue to improve fire prevention capabilities.

“Gridware already has established partnerships with co-operative utilities in California and Utah. Our products are well positioned to benefit from section 60201 of the IRA, as they enable these utilities to both adapt and mitigate against the negative impacts of climate change on their critical infrastructure, especially as it relates to wildfire ignition.” Timothy Barat, Co-founder & CEO Gridware

ALD TECHNICAL  SOLUTIONS

ALD Wire Wrap offers innovative advanced composite material and solutions to accelerate penetration of renewable and clean energies.

As our grid infrastructure is aging and becoming more stressed with new electricity generation sources, women-owned, clean-tech company ALD Technical Solutions is commercializing a patented novel technology that will structurally strengthen grid lines by using advanced hybrid composite materials.

ALD’s Composite WiRe Wrap increases ampacity, the power capacity of existing grid lines, and extends lifespan while also addressing thermal sagging, with NO downtime. This is a key requirement for achieving safe, resilient and reliable 100% renewable energy goals.

Utilities are building new lines to increase power capacity of grid lines and placing power lines underground to mitigate utility caused wildfires. Current approach is extremely expensive, and it takes many years. It would cost well over $100 billion to place across PG&E’s entire territory underground. At the current pace, moving all of California’s utility lines underground would take 1,000 years, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. ALD Technical Solutions’ Composite WiRe Wrap is a patented, lightweight, high strength, fast, easy to install, long lasting and cost-effective composite reinforcement system. This technology can withstand high temperatures and can be installed and cured in-place around existing power lines by our robotic installer.

“[The] Inflation Reduction Act will not only drive the acceleration of clean energy growth but also it will boost the economy through clean energy and green jobs. Like the internet boom in the late 1990’s, [the] IRA will  accelerate adaptation of clean energy and green jobs.” Davoud Zamani, CEO & Co-Founder ALD Technical  Solutions

About CalSEED

The CalSEED initiative is the first program in a robust energy innovation pipeline the California Energy Commision (CEC) has created with the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program. CalSEED provides two levels of funding: a Concept Award of $150,000 and a Prototype Award of $450,000. Each year, winners of CalSEED’s Concept Awards are eligible to compete for a Prototype Award in the annual Business Plan Competition put on in collaboration with national incubator CleanTech Open (CTO). Last fall, 23 CalSEED Concept Awardees participated in CTO, with 7 startups standing out to the judges due to their innovative efforts and solutions for batteries, storage, energy efficiency and renewable generation – areas that are critical to meeting California’s ambitious climate goals.

New Energy Nexus CEO, Danny Kennedy, takes a hands-on look at Azura – a startup in Indonesia opening an ocean of opportunities for marine electrification.

I saw the future last July behind a Circle K near Denpasar in Indonesia. For those of you that have been to Bali any time this century you might know these countless convenience stores. These are fillup shops for the 4 million scooter and moped riders across the island. Not only can you get your expensive gas for your motorbike, but you can also buy all kinds of goodies inside. This includes some crazy coffee boba caramel combo drinks I have not had anywhere else. But I digress.

The future of electrification, behind a Circle K

New Energy Nexus CEO Danny Kennedy at a SWAP station in Bali

The first thing that struck me was the Swap station sitting on the forecourt by the front door. It’s a simple container for batteries to power the growing number of electric scooters in Indonesia. Each Swap station has three bins, two of which have batteries in various states of charge, while the other one is empty. A rider comes in to Circle K to fill up. They take their battery out, put it in the empty bin to charge. This automagically unlocks one of the other two batteries that has 100% charge. They take this “full” battery and put it into their bike, and in less than a minute they’re off to the races!

There are now 400 of these Swap stations in Circle Ks on Bali and Java, and growing. As the electric advantages of motorbike riding become known this company is going to crush it! To reiterate those advantages: e-scooters are better, faster, and cheaper. That’s right they perform better, take off quicker, are clean, quiet and most important cost less to fill and maintain. The Swap story above saves not only time but serious money for the rider.

Enter Azura: the startup electrifying Bali’s fishing craft

So minds blown, my team and I met the company we had come to see inside the Circle K.  Nadea Nabilla and her cofounder,  are electrification entrepreneurs with Azura (and in fact Nadea, just presented her innovation at the One Young World Summit by the Audi Environmental Foundation. These entrepreneurs are taking the same competitive advantage of electric motors to fisherfolk, with product offerings that are better, faster and cheaper than the infernal combustion engines that these folk have used for decades.

The design of the fishing craft is ancient and common across many of the thousands of islands in this archipelago nation. The modern engine was introduced last century and adapted to this design with a long drive shaft to get a propeller into the water over the gunnel. This is the “long tail motor” of many fishing craft, river boats and the like across Asia and Africa. The engine is often a heavy and rusted block of bits that break down a lot. And this connects to an old gas tank that costs a lot to fill.

Not so the electric version!

In Azura’s solution they have taken an off-the-shelf Mitsubishi electric motor. It has similar torque and power specs as the horsepower the engine puts out. It’s small and lightweight. The battery pack required to charge it for 75 miles of boat business fits in a single Pelican case. They can carry this into the compound to charge off the solar panels or older batteries bundled there. No muss no fuss. And the performance is better, faster, and cheaper.

Azura’s secret sauce

Azura’s battery pack case and a widget on the motor.

Azura’s secret sauce is a little widget that fits the electric motor to the propeller shaft. This may not be defensible but their true moat is the first mover advantage in a difficult but enormous market. I mean defensibility when I say moat but this is also to make a pun about Azura’s blue ocean opportunity. Replacing all the shitty engines on boats around Southeast Asia is a many hundred million addressable market and almost no-one is doing it! There is not a lot of blood in the water from cutthroat competition. It might actually be better if there was for Nadea and friends to have a bit of co-opetition to create supply chains and an e-boat ecosystem. For now they are the pioneers offering a better, faster and cheaper service, which should win.

Better and faster are obvious. Silence is golden to fisherfolk. And the process of fitting and fueling with solar is much easier and quicker in the daily routine for fisherfolk. Not to mention the take off speed an electric motor achieves compared to an old putt-putt two stroke! But cheaper it is not upfront. So when I say, these are cheaper it is a “total-cost of ownership” statement. Like many assets in the clean energy transition it comes down to OpEx versus CapEx. This is biz speak for Operating Expense versus Capital Expense.

A solution that pays back in 3 years (at least for now)

Upfront the electric bundle costs a lot – 10 times more than the old motor. As production scales and pieces of the kit get more standardized that cost will drop – like ICE cars and EVs. But for now, it is a lot. Yet over the life of the motor, which has fewer moving parts, needs no oil nor belts and thus little maintenance, it costs less to own and operate. And low to no fuel cost!

They “payback” in about three years. This means the savings make the upfront cost worth it in 36 months. So, what this bundle will need next is finance to speed up adoption. In many categories – like your cell phone – the way we pay for an expensive item is to put it on a monthly or “amortized” schedule. It is also how the car sold to the masses – a modern auto-loan pioneered by General Motors.

Nadea Nabilla, Co-founder at Azura (right) with local fisherfolk in Bali.

I expect Nadea and her team will be experimenting soon with financing options. She already has a rental agreement for some boats. And as she scales from 12 systems sold so far to hundreds and thousands and then hundreds of thousands it’ll get easier. The asset class will become better understood. The “performance” of loans and underwriting considerations such as how likely a fisherperson is to default will become known. Competition in debt products will come into the market and more and more boats will go electric!

It was so exciting to see this postcard from the future. Like Chinese cities today where the buses make no noise and spit out no fumes, I know someday soon I’ll be on an island in Asia with no motor noise. May it come soon! Full speed to Azura and their competitors.

Shine on!

Danny Kennedy is CEO of New Energy Nexus

Bonus note: For those of you that think this is more about impact in the lives of the fisherfolk than a decarbonization strategy, think again. These small bite markets for petroleum products (scooters and fishing boats) are one of the last strongholds of growth for big oil. At the end of the day, the climate struggle is about putting fossils out of business. Do you know what the biggest force so far in barrels of oil per day consumption destruction has been in the energy transition? Tesla I hear you say. Perhaps BYD for buses? No. Rikshaws and tuktuks. 

See below for the latest data from BloombergNEF.