Innovative Agricultural Cross-Subsidised Financing of Access to Clean Energy and Sustainable Cooling with Smart Agri-Centres in Uganda

Partners: Smart Villages Research Group

Country: Uganda

Technology: Next generation solar technologies and business models

Stage: Late

Stage: Round 10

Smart Villages Research Group (SVRG) is a UK-based company that developed the SmartAgri-Centre (SAC) – a solar-power plant with services for rural communities in Uganda. The SAC provides energy access, economic opportunities, and improves agricultural productivity for local farmers. The project has delivered positive social and environmental impact, including increased incomes, savings, yields, and gender equality. The Energy Catalyst funded project aims to extend the SAC model to more communities. It seeks to identify the best business model and community engagement strategy for the community to repay the SAC costs. To achieve this, SVRG and partners will build and operate six SACs in new communities, testing different models, to find the most effective way to scale the technology, with a view to measuring success, impact and return.