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Omilia's Grid runs 24/7

12/15/2022

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EarthSpark is delivering some of the most reliable grid power in all of Haiti now and throughout the national fuel crisis. It's been a very challenging time and far from ideal, but we can say that the lack of diesel pushed us to our 100% solar power plan ahead of schedule!

You may have heard news about the overlapping crises in Haiti: the acute political crisis, hunger crisis, cholera crisis, gang crisis. Exacerbating everything was a national fuel crisis that stopped the flow of nearly all liquid fuels in the country for many weeks. Fuel is still not flowing in the South where EarthSpark operates.

It's hard to convey how challenging, frustrating and sad the working environment has been these last few months. The bright side is that the EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp teams are amazing and are doing a phenomenal job of keeping things running in spite of the challenges. We have the privilege of seeing others in Haiti also adapting, coping, and carrying on. With roads blocked and communications systems on-and-off, the accomplishment of even a basic task can feel like a minor miracle. But miracles abound. Good work is still getting done. A local repairman fixed the air conditioner in the solar system battery container! Spare parts have gotten delivered through a phenomenal relay from Germany through Port-au-Prince to remote Tiburon.

As we head into the holidays, we are grateful for our team, our community partners, and our friends around the world who support our work and, though words and actions, help make the world a better place every day.

Please consider including EarthSpark in your year end giving. We have big plans and mighty mountains to climb.
Donate now
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Insulating from Disruption: Distributed, Mobile and Digital Solutions to Improve Resiliency in Microgrid Communities

4/20/2022

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PictureSolar panels (pre-racking) on the roof of Dispensaire Roger Paradis in Tiburon
It was a blue-sky break from the rain on February 21st, when EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp staff turned on the new microgrid-connected solar + storage solution at the health clinic “Dispensaire Roger Paradis” in the town of Tiburon.

The 16.2 kWp / 77 kWh solar + storage system builds off of EarthSpark’s initial support for the clinic following the August 2021 earthquake, and was designed to provide reliable power to the downtown clinic and neighboring telecommunications tower. Different from a typical microgrid connection, this novel “distributed energy resource” (DER) on-site at a facility providing critical community services is designed to continue functioning *even if the larger microgrid were to be damaged*. Existing in the context of hurricanes and earthquakes, the EarthSpark grids have done very well overall in the face of natural disasters, but hardening the infrastructure even further for critical facilities is a strategic way to further improve the resiliency of those critical services and eliminate their reliance on their incredibly burdensome, unreliable, and expensive diesel generators.

The commissioning of the new solar installation marked the culmination of EarthSpark’s long-running collaboration with the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation Fund through which EarthSpark has been working to improve the capacity of communities hosting solar microgrids to absorb and adapt to disasters. Back in 2019 when the project launched, we had not yet faced COVID-19, the presidential assassination, the rise of kidnappings and impassibility of the roads connecting the South to the capital, the fuel crises, or the earthquake that rocked the region.  Time delivered plenty of opportunities for EarthSpark to stress and validate our hypothesis, and to adapt accordingly.


PictureMicrogrid power online in the Les Anglais Hospital
Distributed Energy Solutions to Build Resilience for Critical Community Services

Flipping the switch at the solar+storage solution in Tiburon marked EarthSpark's first directly service to a healthcare customer. It was also EarthSpark's first installation of a DER in one of our microgrids. This is now our foundation for designing and expanding service to other critical healthcare facilities in other grids.

After EarthSpark had begun work in Tiburon, the hospital in Les Anglais also requested service. So far, that hospital has been connected to microgrid service, with the goal of eventually installing distributed solar+storage solution there as well.

The Tiburon health facility DER also significant in validating a more distributed grid topography for future grids – this has the potential to reduce costs and increase resilience for future grids. This approach will need to be replicated and scaled extensively across other planned microgrids to help support EarthSpark’s vision of 100% renewable microgrids.

At the outset of the GSMA Foundation collaboration, EarthSpark was also able to connect a total of three telecommunications towers from the national providers, Digicel and Natcom, across the Les Anglais and Tiburon microgrids. This not only improved the reliability of electricity service for the towers – and therefore the reliability of the telecommunications services – but also improved the financial viability of the microgrid model by creating key anchor customers for the microgrids.

In fact, since the start of 2021, the two telecommunications towers in Les Anglais have accounted for approximately 18% of total electricity consumption and about 28% of total electricity revenue for the microgrid. This highlights the strategic importance of telecommunications towers not just as a critical community service, but also as a cornerstone for planning and expanding microgrids in Haiti.  

Mobile-Enabled Solutions and New Energy Access for Households and Small Businesses

Through the GSMA project, EarthSpark also launched several mobile services to improve service, customer experience, and overall microgrid operations including:
  • Mobile Money through Digicel’s MonCash to enable customers to pay for electricity credits from anywhere via their smartphone
  • An Iphone / Android smart-phone app and digital kiosk to allow customers direct visibility into their electricity consumption and transactions data as well as access to important information on the microgrid and their electricity service
  • SMS outreach platform that allows for easier messaging and announcements to the microgrid community. EarthSpark has leveraged this platform to conduct a small energy literacy campaign for its existing customers focused on electricity safety, energy efficiency, and the new mobile solutions. As EarthSpark expands as part of its scale up project with the Green Climate Fund, the SMS platform will enable easier entry into and communications with new microgrid communities.
  • In addition to the healthcare facilities and telecommunications towers highlighted above, the project is also expanding microgrid connections to 200 new households and small businesses in Les Anglais and Tiburon.

As the EarthSpark team works to finalize concession documents and financing for the next 6 grids, these learnings and tools will be invaluable in not only improving operations in Les Anglais and Tiburon but also in designing better, more cost-effective and more resilient energy systems for the future towns than would have otherwise been possible. A big thanks to the GSMA Foundation Mobile for Humanity for supporting this work!

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In Haiti, Local Food Production + Preservation of Local Crops Can Mitigate the Food Crisis

4/8/2022

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The looming global food crisis has already arrived in Southern Haiti.  Here, the global forces driving up food prices are compounded by the skyrocketing logistics challenges of transporting goods through the gang-held roads connecting the sourthern penninsula to the capital.

People can't eat electricity. Kilowatt-hours make for empty meals. But EarthSpark is active on two fronts to help the communities where we work weather this growing food insecurity.

First -- see below -- EarthSpark is joining agricultural and health experts in calling upon the international aid community to focus on local solutions. Local food security, like local energy security, should be the long term goal. Support for local farmers should be paramount in food aid efforts.

Second, EarthSpark is launching a campaign to increase our direct support of people working in agriculture and food preservation in the towns we serve. While electricity by itself cannot feed people, electric-powered machines and mechanized  processes, "productive uses of electricity", can preserve foods and expand livlihoods for people to increase their ability to feed their families through this crisis and beyond.

We recognize that energy is a small part of the solution, and we all must do all we can. Please share the following letter and the sentiment widely with decisionmakers in the US and international institutions forming policies on food aid:

Open Letter About food aid to Haiti

Dear Development Aid Agencies and International Institutions Active in Haiti,

Our respective organizations provide a wide range of services in agriculture, healthcare and community development throughout Haiti. While there are many challenges facing our country, we come together to appeal to you in particular regarding food aid arriving in Haiti.
 
The world appears to be on the precipice of a global food crisis of historic proportions. While years in the making, it has been triggered by the war in Ukraine disrupting crucial grain exports. Whereas nations the world over will face this new crisis while still reeling from the pandemic, economic disruption and supply chain slowdowns, Haiti will have the added burden of responding in the midst of political instability and the aftermath of the August 2021 earthquake in the southern region. 
 
The United Nations has warned that close to half of Haiti’s entire population will be confronting severe hunger no later than June, with 1.3 million Haitians one step further to the emergency stage of hunger which is just short of outright famine. This is the result of the domestic situation in Haiti even before the added pressures of a global food crisis, which will then further exacerbate the situation as international food prices continue to spiral. This will have a disproportionate effect on a country like ours that imports approximately 40 percent of its food.
 
When the food emergency is manifest and new commitments of international aid are directed to our nation in response, the Haitian community has two requests that are accompanied with thanks, in advance, for your generous support:
 
  • We ask that organizations like ours, and the many others like us throughout the nation that serve rural communities, be involved in helping to distribute food aid. Throughout the decades we have grown to know those communities and can help with efficient distribution, coordination and to avoid both duplication and ensure reaching areas that are often missed; and
 
  • We ask that every effort is made to purchase emergency food aid from local sources, both to support smallholders and to prevent free food, however much it is needed, from undermining the long-term viability of local agricultural economies. 
 
While the first priority will be to reach the most vulnerable with food during the emergency, we have two additional requests:
 
  • We ask that long term aid directed at Haiti be used to support the estimated one million smallholder farm families to become more productive, climate-smart and integrated with healthcare initiatives to promote nutrition as a key to improving health and wellbeing; and 
 
  • We ask that all international aid be coordinated more directly with national and regional Haitian authorities, that clear delineations of responsibility be identified within that new coordination process, and that our respective organizations have the opportunity to both inform and help implement programs in agriculture, healthcare and community development resulting from this more inclusive consultative process.
 
All of us stand ready to help in the spirit of “konbit”, a Haitian tradition whereby neighbors help neighbors. May we rise together as a community united.

José Andrés, World Central Kitchen
Allison Archambault, EarthSpark International
Skyler Badenoch, Hope for Haïti
Conor Bohan, HELP
Steve Brescia, Groundswell International
Beaver Brooks, Much Ministries Inc.
Kathy Brooks, 2nd Story Goods
Ben Burke, Manzanita Outreach
Sue Carlson, Raising Haiti Foundation
Reginald Cean, Association Zanmi Agrikol
Nathan Chariot, Mission Bon Berger d'Haiti
Sheila Davis, Partners in Health
Jean Raymond Delinois, ACAPE
Jean Marc deMatteis, Hôpital Albert Schweitzer
Patrick Dessources, CASELI
Lucia Di Poi, Centre Haitien du Leadership et de l’Excellence
Ulrick Gaillard, Batey Relief Alliance
Timote Georges, Smallholder Farmers Alliance
Frank Giustra, Acceso
Cassandre Honore-Paul, Partners Worldwide
Cantave Jean Baptiste, FOHMAPS/PDL
Sasha Kramer, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods - SOIL
Suzanne Langlois, Meds & Food for Kids
Ann Lee, Community Organized Relief Effort
Michael Leland, New Generation Ministries
Renee Lewis, Project Medishare
Louise Lindenmeyr, Hispañola Health Partners
Troy Livesay, Heartline Ministries
Hugh Locke, Impact Farming Foundation
Guerda Nicolas, Ayiti Community Trust
Ann Piper, North Coast Development Corp.
Danielle Saint Lot, Danielle Saint Lot Haiti Women's Foundation
Ony Saint-Hilaire, ASSOADEK
Leslie Sosnowski, BoulderShares
Jean Thomas, Haiti Christian Development Fund
Daniel Tillias, Jaden Taptap
Loune Viaud, University of Global Health Equity Haiti
Carole Wakefield, Haiti Medical Mission of Wisconsin
Rainn Wilson, Lidè Haiti
Jane Wynne, Foundation Wynne pour l'Environnement

##
The above letter was sent on April 7, 2022 under the leadership of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance.

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In Haiti, the Sun Shines, Still.

12/31/2021

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This blog post first appeared in the EarthSpark year end newsletter. If you would like to receive updates directly, please join our mailing list.
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EarthSpark's solar-powered microgrids continue to provide some of Haiti's most reliable electricity service to the towns of Les Anglais and Tiburon.
Whoosh – what a year! There’s been a lot to absorb and adapt to. But  –  deep breath  –  the sun still shines. Good things are happening alongside the bad.
 
In the face of overlapping crises, we turn to what we can do. Thankfully, the EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp teams seem eternally up for the task!

New Thinking on Powering Healthcare

“Who would have thought that gang violence in Haiti would provide such a powerful unintended advertisement for solar energy?” An ever-silver-lining colleague asked ironically last month as major hospitals shut their doors to new patients due to a lack of diesel. The national fuel shortage brought the country to a stand-still in many ways, and critical services closed or were severely curtailed.
 
That was months after the August 14 earthquake had also highlighted the value of local, fuel-free energy systems. Through each of these crises, when other energy systems stopped working, EarthSpark’s solar-powered microgrids continued providing power.

EarthSpark has not previously provided energy services to health facilities, but the earthquake shook the team’s thinking on the topic. We now view it as essential.
 
In Tiburon, the health center’s independent solar system went dark the day of the earthquake, likely due to a combination of old equipment and limited ongoing maintenance. When the nun running the facility called EarthSpark seeking help, the team acted quickly, pulling parts from inventory on hand to replace a broken component and restore power. It was a first tiny step in a new strategy of engagement and assistance for health facilities. The new plan combines microgrid power with onsite solar + battery storage for critical community service providers. We’re still working out the details, but we hope to have the Tiburon health facility connected to the Tiburon microgrid and serving as a first example early in the new year. Read more on our plan here.

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New Partnerships in South Sudan

What’s better than one groundbreaking electric cooking pilot project that (we think) can help shift overall policy, funding and system design for energy access? How about two of them?!
 
We’re thrilled to share that EarthSpark is supporting Village Help for South Sudan to adapt our e-cooking pilot for homes and businesses in Wanyjok, South Sudan. The pilot will be powered by South Sudan’s first solar-powered microgrid which is planned for launch next year by local solar company SunGate Solar.

Planning (and Hoping for) Six New Grids

Earlier this year, EarthSpark won provisional approval from the Haitian government for microgrid development and operation in 22 new towns. As a concrete next step, we have been focusing on securing full approval for the next six as a subset of the larger plan. It has been a pleasure (and a lot of work!) interfacing with a broad team in Haiti’s Ministry of Public Works to refine and clarify legal language, technical details, and service offerings. We are hopeful that we will have signed agreements and a green light for the next six microgrids early in the new year.

Two Years in Tiburon!

It was Dec 21, 2019 when power first flowed through the lines of the Tiburon microgrid. By the end of that year, the microgrid had almost 90 connections (including streetlights). Even despite slowdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that figure had jumped to over 380 connections by the middle of 2020 to directly serve about 2000 people.

New connections had been paused awaiting the arrival of components, but with more meters and new connection components now on the way, the team has started pre-wiring houses. Enèji Pwòp now has a waiting list of nearly 400 new customers across the Tiburon and Les Anglais grids. We're aiming to start making those new connections next month.
Images: The Enèji Pwòp team installed 'ready board' plugs and breaker boxes last week in the homes of future microgrid customers in preparation for grid connections.

Soup, Joy, Reflection and Renewal

Tomorrow – January 1 – is Haiti’s Independence Day.  On 01/01/1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines read Haiti’s Declaration of Independence to a group of assembled generals. People in Haiti tomorrow will gather with family and friends to share the traditional pumpkin soup – soupe joumou – of Independence Day. Each New Year, we all hold hopes and dreams for the year ahead and beyond. Some hopes may seem improbable because they are so bold and different from what is, but let us all take heart that from every moment, a new and promising path is possible.
 
We wish for a peaceful and plentiful 2022 for you, for those in Haiti, and for everyone. Thank you for all you do, and thank you for your support in helping us continue our work.
If you are able, please consider donating to EarthSpark.
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What we are reading

Is there an "energy crisis"? Not really — fossil fuels are collapsing, and it's high time

"The Economist calls it "The Energy Shock." Forbes and the Wall Street Journal go further, resurrecting a term from the 1970s: "Energy Crisis." The media is hyperventilating.
But what is going on, really? I'd describe it as the first fossil fuel collapse of the clean energy transition, or even as proof that cleaner and faster means cheaper and stable energy." Read the article on Salon.

Exploring the Other Side of Haiti


"While recent news headlines highlight the country’s mounting problems ... I’ve had the chance to see another side of the Caribbean country. In recent years, I’ve been able to discover firsthand how beautiful Haiti is, exploring a country with scenic beaches, rich culture, and delicious cuisine."   Read the article on Afar.

Haitians Proud as Soup Joumou Gains World-class Cultural Icon Status


Haitians are feeling the pride at news that the United Nations Cultural Agency (UNESCO) has added soup joumou to its list of prized intangible cultural heritage items. Being on the intangible heritage list, soup joumou now has protected status by UNESCO. “It is a celebratory dish, deeply rooted in Haitian identity, and its preparation promotes social cohesion and belonging among communities,” the agency said in its announcement Thursday. Read the article on The Haitian Times.

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Improving Resilience of Healthcare in Microgrid Communities with Distributed Energy Resources

12/22/2021

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By Jean Thaylord and Andy Bilich

On August 14, 2021 Haiti’s Southern Peninsula was hit with a magnitude 7.2 earthquake which caused thousands of deaths and tens of thousands more to be displaced or isolated as buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure collapsed in communities across Southern Haiti.

Critical community services and infrastructure like telecommunications, and particularly health clinics and hospitals were directly impacted by the earthquake itself and then further limited by massively constrained supply chains and logistics for things like diesel fuel for their generators. Most facilities lost power and/or had to alter or curtail service providing a grim reminder of the need for strong resilient local power systems and infrastructure to support communities in Haiti.
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Map of Earthquake Impact in Southern Haiti SOURCE: USAID (with EarthSpark additions for microgrids)
EarthSpark’s existing microgrid communities in Les Anglais and Tiburon were impacted, but fared better than other towns in the region. Even still, in the wake of the earthquake, the EarthSpark truck served as an ambulance helping transport people to the health clinic in Les Anglais and the larger area hospital in Port-Salut. In Tiburon, the small health center “Dispensaire Roger Paradis” saw its independent solar system go dark the day of the earthquake, likely because the quake shook components, that, already-old, were nearing the end of their use.

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The Roger Paradis health center in Tiburon, Haiti
When the Tiburon facility manager called EarthSpark to request help, the team acted quickly, repurposing an inverter from EarthSpark's inventory to fix the small solar system and restore power. This small repair was EarthSpark’s first step into powering health care.
PicturePower restored inside the Tiburon health center
For reasons we will explain in our next blog, no EarthSpark microgrid has ever been connected to a health facility. When the earthquake struck, it became clear that the team should find a way to support the local health centers. Though the Tiburon health center is not yet connected to the Tiburon microgrid, EarthSpark's replacement of the solar inverter  is part of a new strategy of engagement with the health facilities where EarthSpark has or is planning microgrid services. This new strategy is being launched in partnership with the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Development Fund. By early next year, we hope to have a larger and more reliable solar + battery system installed in the health center capable of powering both the health facility and the neighboring Digicel telecommunications tower in the event of another natural disaster that might disrupt normal microgrid operations.

Just as microgrids are generally more resilient to natural disasters than are larger grids with long strung-out transmission and distribution lines, on-site solar+storage embedded in a microgrid can offer even greater energy assurance -- capable of still delivering reliable and fuel-free energy even if the microgrid's central system or distribution system has been damaged.

These new distributed energy resources have the potential to increase electricity quality and reliability at health facilities, help enable operational efficiencies of the microgrids, reduce costs (especially for diesel fuels where clinics use them), and ensure long-term sustainable and resilient energy service to the clinics.
With many technical and financial details still needing to be solved, we are anxious to see these microgrid-connected solar+storage sites powering critical community services as part of a new standard design process for future microgrids. Stay tuned!

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Solidarity in Southern Haiti

9/3/2021

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EarthSpark has worked in Les Anglais for over a decade. The town was hit hard by the August 14 earthquake. The iconic church collapsed, crushing many who had been inside preparing for a baptism. Others were injured as the concrete walls and ceilings of homes and businesses fell. The region continues to feel aftershocks, and people are afraid more buildings will fall. Unable to feel safe indoors, many people have pulled bedding outside and are sleeping in the streets. The health clinic lacked basic supplies before the earthquake. The medical staff, now performing all work outdoors in the courtyard, have been struggling to meet the enormous need for care. With little privacy and inadequate medical supplies, childbirth is happening in the same area as the waiting room. 

There’s a lot of work to undo the structural injustices that have led to the current conditions, but while people are sleeping outside in the rain and infections are dangerously festering in broken limbs, we need all hands on deck helping victims.
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Before the Aug 14 earthquake, the now-toppled steeple was a gleaming icon of Les Anglais. The poles and wires visible in this photo are still standing and providing electricity to the town.

 Powering Through the Tragedy

When the earthquake hit, the EarthSpark team took quick action:

  • Our 2 microgrids were able to power the towns through the tragedy, with total downtime <3 hours;
  • We de-energized the Les Anglais grid immediately after the quake to check for damage;
  • We had minimal structural damage to the grid and will not need specialized repairs;​
  • After ensuring energy provision, we have been helping ad hoc, turning the truck into an ambulance, a hearse; translating for emergency medical providers; coordinating air lift patients; advocating for relief services and supplies to reach the town of Les Anglais; installing new lights in the clinic; supporting our team and community as best we can.
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Being able to continue powering Les Anglais and Tiburon through the earthquake is a case example of the value of microgrids and distributed renewable energy. However, we were lucky this time that our grids withstood only minor damage. As we look to expand microgrids throughout the region, we will work with the municipalities, clinics, and government officials to make sure we do all we can to be ready for when the next disaster hits. 
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  • We need on-site solar and batteries at locations providing critical services like at telecommunication towers and health clinics to ensure continuity of service even if the distribution grid is damaged (and to strengthen the grids during normal operations);
  • Clinics need basic medical supplies onsite. We look to the health sector to lead on this, but as employers in these towns, it is also our responsibility to ensure our team has access to basic care.
  • People need access to better construction materials and methods. Again, we hope others will lead on this, but microgrids cannot deliver electricity to structures that have collapsed or to homes that need to be torn down and rebuilt.
To support EarthSpark's ongoing work building affordable, reliable electricity service in rural Haiti, please 
Donate now
Thank you for your support!
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Earthquake hits Haiti – update from the EarthSpark team

8/14/2021

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This morning an earthquake hit southern Haiti, not far from EarthSpark’s operations.

It's been a whirlwind of a day. The damage is extensive in the region. The iconic church in Les Anglais collapsed while a baptism was taking place. Homes toppled. Bodies have been pulled from the rubble, and many remain missing.

Our EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp teams are accounted for, but family members are injured. One of our colleagues lost his daughter. It's heartbreaking.

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Les Anglais was hit harder than Tiburon. Both towns seem to have fared better than others in the region.

For safety, our team de-energized the Les Anglais grid for several hours to check for downed wires and await aftershocks. Both microgrids are back up and running now. I’m proud and relieved to say that EarthSpark’s systems seem to have fared well and are powering the towns through this tragedy.

With the grids sorted, Wendy and Jean are now busy trying to help our team and community members. Regional roads are impassible due to landslides. Hospitals on the other sides of the landslides are overwhelmed.

With all of the Haiti headlines focused on the awful events in Port-au-Prince recently, this is a tragic reminder that rural Haiti still urgently needs basic services and infrastructure.
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Before today's earthquake, the now-toppled steeple was a gleaming icon of Les Anglais. The poles and wires visible in this photo are still standing and providing electricity to the town.
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The Bold Declaration

7/2/2021

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This weekend Americans celebrate a bold declaration. It wasn’t itself enough, but it was a pivotal piece of what has become history.
 
What will our era’s contribution be?
 
This may be our moment. Let us rise to the occasion.
 
As the United States sees the impacts of climate change but wavers on taking meaningful action to address it, it feels like there is hesitation or inability to state and embrace the obvious: we need to stop using fossil fuels, and we need to act quickly. Everything we need is within reach. Details matter, but only if the big picture is well defined.
 
From our small perch on the planet, the EarthSpark team has already committed to shifting to 100% renewable energy for our electricity systems in Haiti. It turns out that relying on even a small amount of fossil fuels where we work is extremely expensive and difficult to manage. For us, the shift to 100% is already here.  “It’s not only possible, it’s happening!” says Wendy Sannassee. If our tiny organization can go 100% renewable energy in rural Haiti, the United States of America can also get this done!
 
Ready for a smile and a shot of can-do-ism?
Is the transition to 100% renewable energy possible? Of course it is! say the members of the EarthSpark team.
Together, let’s all speed up the transition and get better energy everywhere.
 
The spirit of this email is celebratory and encouraging, but we also want to share that things are very hard in Haiti right now. Our team is ok, but many are not so lucky. Gang violence and COVID are both surging. The vaccine has not arrived. Hunger and physical insecurity are widespread. A political crisis is coming to a head, and the season’s first hurricane is currently tracking towards the coast.
 
It’s a sobering time, but the best answer is always grounded optimism and the diligence to follow it up. If you can support our work, please consider making a donation here. Oh, and please spread the word in your communities about the urgency and our ability to make some bold declarations of independence from the oppressive systems – fossil fuels and otherwise – that we currently face.
DONATE TO EARTHSPARK'S PIONEERING WORK
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Electric Cooking Can Improve Lives, Reduce Emissions, and Boost Solar-Powered Microgrids

4/21/2021

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by Andy Bilich

EarthSpark is delighted to announce the release of "Kwison Elektrik: Solar Power for Electricity Access and Electric Cooking in Haiti." The report, in partnership with SUNSPOT™ and with the UK Government's Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) program details the pilot project

A research project in rural Haiti demonstrates the effectiveness of electric cooking technologies powered by solar microgrids to improve the quality of life for community members while generating new revenue streams and opportunities for energy access providers.

The full report is available for free download here.

Executive Summary:
Around the world, people are realizing that fire-based cooking is neither good for the cooker nor for the climate. As urban centers with natural gas infrastructure grapple with transitioning off fossil fuels for cooking, over 2.8 billion people are still relying on biomass or kerosene to cook. Traditional cooking fuels are often expensive, bad for people’s health, and bad for the environment. “Black carbon” soot from cooking smoke lands on glaciers and lodges deep in people’s lungs. The tiny particles accelerate climate change and kill millions of people—mostly women—each year.

Global “clean cooking” efforts have focused on improved cookstoves, biomass briquettes, and expansion of LPG. However, clean cooking has lagged significantly compared to the need, and the solutions have often not fully solved the problems. Recent initiatives focusing on electric cooking are a welcome shift. For too long access to electricity and access to improved cooking technology have been siloed. Combining the two issues has the potential to more effectively meet people’s basic needs while boosting the business model for solar-powered electricity systems in remote communities.

This study explores the potential of electric cooking in rural Haiti by deploying electric pressure cookers and induction stoves with integrated smart meters in 20 households connected to a community scale solar PV microgrid as well as cookers and stoves supported by stand-alone solar+battery systems in 8 off-grid households. Overall, the pilot project has showcased the value of electric cooking for both local communities and microgrid operators. Key findings indicate that electric cooking in this context is a:
  • Catalyst for improved quality of life – Participants’ primary observation was the time savings and convenience of electric cooking compared to traditional fuels. Indicative willingness to pay values for most participants met or exceeded existing microgrid tariffs which highlights the opportunity for electric cooking to support improved livelihoods for vulnerable households. The electric cooking deployments also significantly reduce the risk of household air pollution.
  • Risk and opportunity for microgrid operators – Electric cooking requires significantly more energy than what most “energy access” microgrids have been designed to deliver. This is both a challenge and an enormous opportunity for microgrid developers. The significant new revenue stream may be an incentive to build more robust infrastructure which, in turn, delivers additional benefits to the community and operator. That cooking in Haiti coincides with mid-day solar availability enhances the potential economics.
  • Opportunity for smart incentives – Results-based financing and other smart incentives could specifically connect clean cooking to other sustainable development goals, especially food security, energy access, poverty alleviation, and health. This deliberate connection could help to catalyze and coordinate investments and service delivery to target communities.
Overall, the project is a first-step working to prove the viability, effectiveness, and attractiveness of electric cooking technologies powered by robust, reliable solar(+storage+smarts) energy systems supporting critical socioeconomic development outcomes in Haiti. The hope is that this will help to demonstrate key demand for the solution and create actionable evidence for how to effectively design business models, policy, and financing frameworks to better support future electric cooking roll outs.
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Revolution + Renewal

1/1/2021

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Today is Independence Day in Haiti, commemorating the Declaration of Independence in 1804 which concluded the first and only successful state-scale black slave rebellion of the colonial era.

To celebrate, many families in Haiti and around the world will be celebrating with a soup. The hearty squash-based soup joumou was profiled in the New York Times this week as a symbol of nourishment, generosity, family, pride, racial equality, history, and aspirations, all stewed together and eaten in community. In Les Anglais this year, Marie André will be cooking soup joumou in her electric kitchen with microgrid electricity powered by the sun. She came to the clean energy store today to top up her electricity account before the holiday and kindly agreed to pile up her soup ingredients for this photo.
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“Anyone who is against oppression and stands for justice and freedom for all people should be proud, and celebrate that first victory for enslaved Africans against their oppressors,” Manie Chery, creator of the popular “Love for Haitian Food” website and YouTube channel told the Times. We were thrilled to see Ms. Chery post her own electric cooking Soup Joumou recipe today : Instant Pot Soup Joumou (!)

How will the two electric cooking soups compare? We’ll need to wait for some comparative taste test results to find out! 


In the meantime, we are sending you warm wishes for good health, happiness, and great progress toward realizing shared dreams in 2021.


To continued revolution and renewal towards a better world for all,
The EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp teams


This post is an adaptation of an EarthSpark International newsletter. Sign up here to stay plugged in to EarthSpark's ongoing participatory clean energy work in Haiti.
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