UK entrepreneurs are showing how off-grid solar power and decentralised grids could save lives by bringing rapid relief to the world’s trouble spots
When people’s lives are thrown into chaos by war, famine or natural disaster, using renewable energy may not seem like an obvious response. However, a group of UK entrepreneurs believes that decentralised renewable energy could provide a cheap and immediate source of power to those who need it most.
John Hingley, founder of Renovagen, a small company that has developed a lightweight roller solar panel designed to be deployed in war zones and remote locations, came up with the idea while travelling in Asia. He explains:
We were staying in a shack in the middle of the jungle and there was a diesel generator running all night to power the fan and all the lighting. I just knew there were better ways to produce power, but some of these places are hard to get to and pose real difficulties in how you run and maintain the power supplies.