MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name

WakaGen

One-line solution summary.

WakaGen is a device that uses Kinetic energy from Pedestrian and Traffic to generate Clean Energy

Elevator pitch

What is your solution?

Wakagen is a device that uses the Kinetic energy from Pedestrian and Traffic to generate clean energy. It uses the technology called Piezoelectricity. We embedded Piezoelectric sensors in tiles, and these tiles are installed in buildings and Busy areas.
We have charging pads under the cross walk that collects energy from the vibrations of the piezoelectric tiles. This harvested energy is channeled to a Battery where it is being harvested for further and decentralized use

What specific problem are you trying to solve?

Currently, only 45% of Nigeria's population are connected to the energy grid whereas, Power supply difficulties are experienced around 85% of the time: and are almost nonexistent in certain regions. At best, the average daily power supply is estimated at four hours, although several days can go by without any power at all.

Growing up in the bubbly city of Lagos, Nigeria, we faced Numerous Power Blackouts, and it could last six months, and sometimes, we take a turn in sharing power. Even though the condition has gotten better, they are still regions in Nigeria that do not have access to electricity.

On Tuesday night, as I was returning from an evening lecture, I saw Dele, a 9-year old boy, using the light from an ATM to do his homework. I was scared for his safety, and it prompted us to come together to proffer ideas to try and improve the power generation capacity of Nigeria, which is sustainable, renewable, and clean energy.

The goal of Wakagen is to improve the power output, and hopefully, improve the lives of millions of Nigerians in both rural and urban areas.

The factors contributing to the problem are the centralization of the power grid and poor refinery capacity utilization.

Power outages are one of the leading causes of death in Hospital Surgery. It is the bane of development in Africa.

Who does your solution serve? In what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Our target population is the Nigeria Power Grid system. we would like to support the Power capacity of People as much as we can. This way, we create equal and global opportunities for the average Nigerian.

With our technology, power is being fed to the grid or fed directly to buildings in a decentralized manner. Hospitals won't have power blackouts as Power Blackout in the healthcare industry is expensive and risky. Children will have access to the Internet, as it is majorly dependent on Power, thereby unlocking the capabilities of these children to compete globally

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?

Yes we have

We started by doing competitive research on companies using Piezoelectric sensors to produce energy. Then, we wrote an academic proposal to the University of Ibadan to conduct the study, but it was declined. We then contributed money from our funds to do market analysis.

After our Market analysis, we joined Hult's Program to do market-product testing. We proceeded to Schneider Electric and participated in their Go-Green Energy challenge. This allowed us to build our team structure and business plan to deliver our product to the Market. We got help from NCIC to help our prototype, and they are connecting us with resources and People to make our project successful.

Which aspects of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Improving financial and economic opportunities for all (Economic Prosperity)

Our solution's stage of development:

Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution—in other words, what have you accomplished to date?

We are currently at the Prototype stage as we are receiving support and resources from NCIC to build the prototype

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Lagos, Nigeria

Team Lead:

Esther Mbabie