Pre-Electrification in Casamance
An Energy-as-a-Service deployment serving off-grid communities in Casamance, where grid extension has stalled and few other energy services reach households.
A connected locality is not a connected household.
In rural Casamance, many households in remote villages have no grid access. Rent-to-own solar offers have progressively withdrawn from these areas, leaving communities without energy service or after-sales support. Seasonal incomes make fixed monthly repayments hard to sustain for many households.
- Programme
- Pre-electrification
- Technology
- Solar Home Systems, Moon ESIO™ system
Moon deployed its pre-electrification model in Casamance, combining the Moon ESIO™ durable hardware system with the Moon IO™ operational platform and long-term field maintenance teams. Moon teams stay present in villages over time.
The challenge
Few households in rural Casamance can access rent-to-own solar. The communities left behind face broken equipment, no recourse and a lasting distrust of solar providers. Seasonal agricultural incomes are incompatible with fixed monthly repayments, and high upfront costs are out of reach for the most vulnerable.
What Moon deployed
Moon deployed the Moon ESIO™ solar system as durable, repairable pre-grid infrastructure. Moon IO™ tracks adoption, payments, churn and usage in real time. In several villages, Moon also deployed solar street lights on an EaaS basis, maintained long-term by Moon teams.
Results
The system now serves off-grid communities across Casamance, with high adoption in several of them. Feedback from users points to a service that costs less than their previous energy spending, to improved household income, and to pupils using the system to study after dark.
What it takes to scale
Scaling depends on reaching a density of connections at which service revenue covers recurring maintenance. Financing and technical assistance are needed to structure a district and regional rollout.
