Solar Platform Cooperative
Climate change has imposed a great challenge on us to achieve sustainable economic development with social and economic opportunities for vulnerable families, deepening Energy Poverty.
This is generated when families cannot access modern energy services, making it difficult to adapt to this crisis and reducing their resilience.
The pandemic is bringing massive economic disruption, escalating job insecurity and unemployment.
Trough a Solar Crypto-Cooperative Platform, an "AirBnb for Solar" that connects local Solar SME/FreelanceTechnicians with families that wants a solar system.
The solar energy service is offered with a PAY AS YOU GO financial model, backed by a IoT controller that activate/deactivate the service and a software,families can pay in monthly small amounts.
As a Cooperative, families and SME/Technicians can be owners of the business sharing it's benefits. Blockchain technology allows decentralized and scalable ownership.
Solar generates savings, does not require initial investment.Reduces carbon footprint.Data generates data for credit scores.
In the world 1.3 billion people live in energy poverty, another 1 billion people have extremely unreliable access to energy services such as electricity, light, sanitary hot water or heating. Without energy, these families turn to dangerous, costly and unhealthy alternatives, such as candles for lighting, lead-acid batteries for torches, diesel for generators, charcoal for cooking or PLG for hot water.
For most people living in energy poverty, lack of access to financing options—loans, leasing, payment mechanisms, and so on—is a primary barrier to adopting modern solar solutions.
Solar can help to solve this problem but unfortunately off grid solar market is super-fragmented and Solar SME/Technicians/Freelancers are not well developed,do not have access to training,technology,supporting networks or updated skills.
They target some of the most underserved customers around the world, with almost 75% of member customers earning less than US$3.20 per person/day.Since they cannot finance their potential clients they can never reach full potential.
The majority of SMEs are informal enterprises, which provide livelihoods for 60% of the world’s workers. Informal employment is typically characterized by low pay, poor working conditions and a lack of social security.
On top, Covid is erasing 195 million jobs in just a few months.
Through a Blockchain-based “Solar Cooperative Platform”, Endurance enables an autonomous organization that engages the community, decentralized, joint and democratic, in tune with traditional cooperative guidelines.
This platform allows families to purchase solar technology, access to basic services, information, security, better education and better health. Offering a Leasing-type solar energy service, which includes solar equipment, an IoT controller, installation and after sales.
The client pays an initial amount to join the crypto cooperative, chooses the service and then makes monthly payments that allow solar energy to be supplied. With the controller, this service can be remotely activated or deactivated in case of payment / non-payment.
Information can be registered on the platform, generating a portfolio of clients whose data is processed through software, generating alternative credit rankings and other evaluation tools.
Thanks to Blockchain technology, customers, sales agents, installers and stakeholders can work in this company, own this company, sharing its benefits and cooperating to solve a multidimensional problem.
This solution is disruptive, taking into account culture and clean energy, adapting to the socioeconomic reality of families, by providing access to cutting-edge mobile payment and financing technology.
Clients are people and families who live mostly in rural, semi-rural or any areas of cities, who might be: either disconnected from the electricity grid or have intermittent access to it, do not have access to sanitary hot water and/or are experiencing 1 or more of the 3 dimension of Energy Poverty (Access, Quality, Equality).
They usually correspond to the base segments of the pyramid, their monthly income is the lowest among the population. Also, their incomes often have large fluctuations throughout the year, directly related to the economic activity they do. They are families in a state of vulnerability, which usually are not banked or have much difficulty accessing consumer loans, when they do the cost of credit is very high because they are classified as high credit risk. Solar SMEs and middle qualified Technicians that lack job opportunities, mostly from the same segments mentioned above.
Endurance engage with user trough a local sales agent network, this door to door local entrepreneurs act as ambassadors of solar energy,who advice families on the best alternatives of equipment and financial plans. But also as repositories of information back to the organization on needs and demands of users, creating network effects.
- Enable small and new businesses, especially in untapped communities, to prosper and create good jobs through access to capital, networks, and technology
Platform cooperatives offer an alternative to Airbnb or Uber-type platforms, but integrating cooperative principles such as ownership and democratic governance by introducing economic equity and training.
They offer higher quality jobs, productivity benefits, greater resilience, lower turnover, fair pay and opportunity to benefit from the cooperative ecosystem. Control over the direction of the business remains with owners.
The offer of solar energy services based on a PAYGO financial model with remote control,scales access to these solutions,especially for the most vulnerable by offering a comprehensive service with guarantee and post-sale, with better adherence in the community in the long term
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community