What is the name of your organization?
Feicheiel Technologies
What is the name of your solution?
BlackGreenit-HP6o7PAYG
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
A made in Ghana 5kW smart solar inverter using PAYG to make irrigation affordable and accessible for smallholder farmers.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Sunyani, Bono Region, Ghana
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Ghana
What type of organization is your solution team?
Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
In Ghana, over 95% of cropland is rainfed, exposing more than 40% of the population employed in agriculture to climate variability, food insecurity, and economic hardship. Extended dry spells caused by climate change force smallholder farmers—many earning less than $2.15/day—to abandon farming or resort to deforestation for charcoal production, worsening both poverty and environmental degradation. While solar-powered irrigation systems (SPIS) offer a clean, sustainable solution, they remain prohibitively expensive, with basic 3HP systems costing over GHS 84,000 (~$5,400)—far beyond the reach of the average farmer.
Even with financial aid, existing SPIS technologies rely on expensive imported DC pumps and inverters, ill-suited for Ghana’s hot climate, and lack flexible financing. Farmers spend up to GHS 10,000 per season on diesel fuel or manual irrigation, practices that are inefficient, costly, and polluting.
What is your solution?
Our solution is a locally designed 5kW smart solar inverter built to power affordable AC pumps for solar-powered irrigation systems (SPIS) in Ghana. Unlike expensive imported systems that rely on DC pumps, our inverter uses transformerless technology to efficiently convert solar DC power into AC—dramatically reducing costs while maintaining performance.
The inverter features a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) model, allowing farmers to pay in small monthly installments via token-based access, making irrigation financially accessible without upfront costs. It is built for Ghana’s hot climate, with protection against overheating, electromagnetic interference, and power surges.
It includes remote monitoring and control via Android app, SMS, or PC—enabling farmers to automate irrigation, track energy usage, and manage payments even in off-grid or low-network areas. The system uses technologies like Sinusoidal Pulse-Width Modulation (SPWM), Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), and IoT-enabled communication modules for optimal solar performance.
This inverter is also modular, easily repairable, and built with locally sourced components, promoting job creation and tech skill development.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution directly serves small and medium-scale farmers in Ghana, particularly in underserved, rural communities like those in the Bono Region, Sunyani, who rely on rainfed agriculture and costly diesel-powered irrigation. These farmers, often earning less than $2.15/day, are highly vulnerable to climate shocks and are largely excluded from current clean irrigation technologies due to their high costs and lack of financing options.
We also serve the youth in the Bono Region, many of whom are unskilled or underemployed, by providing training and upskilling opportunities in STEM and IoT through this project. By building and deploying the inverter locally, we create jobs in electronics assembly, maintenance, software development, and field support, helping to bridge the digital divide and equip the next generation of Ghanaian innovators.
Our locally designed 5kW inverter, combined with affordable AC pumps and a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) model, delivers climate-resilient, low-cost irrigation. It enables farmers to irrigate year-round, increase yields, and reduce poverty, while empowering youth with hands-on technical skills to thrive in a growing green-tech ecosystem—fueling both agricultural productivity and inclusive local development.
