An orphanage in Haiti and a Covid response center in Myanmar will receive energy storage systems through a SimpliPhi Power donation program that aims to provide clean energy to communities in need. The donations are through “IDEA: a campaign to Deliver Energy Access,” an initiative SimpliPhi Power started in January with several partners.
The energy storage company in February issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking possible projects.
Orphanage, health facility gain support
The IDADEE Children’s Home in Haiti will receive 20 SimpliPhi 3.8-kWh batteries to pair with on-site solar power and to replace and upgrade the facility’s lead acid system, providing resilient clean energy for the community and saving money on electricity. The facility operates as a microgrid.
Partners on the project include JustEnergy, Justice & Mercy Energy Services, Pittsburgh Kids Foundation and Brace For Impact!
The Klo Yaw Lay Covid Response Center in southern Myanmar will receive a 76-kWh energy storage system. The facility includes a 40-bed hospital, a two-story laboratory that houses polymerase chain reaction-based COVID-19 testing equipment and a -20 C freezer for vaccine storage.
The Karen Department of Health & Welfare and the Border Green Energy Team are partners on the project.
The two projects show how the IDEA initiative can benefit communities, according to Jesse Gerstin, SimpliPhi Power’s director of sustainable business development.
“Working directly with community leaders and local nonprofit partners, we are able to deliver energy access to populations where reliable, sustainable energy can create social, health and economic benefits,” Gerstin said.
Initiative offers year-round support
Separate from the RFP, the IDEA initiative provides donations throughout the year to support communities with emergency relief needs.
In February, SimpliPhi and IDEA partners Footprint Project and Sol-Ark donated mobile renewable energy trailers equipped with SimpliPhi batteries and solar panels to communities in Texas affected by a winter storm that caused blackouts across the state.
The batteries and solar panels provided communication and internet access for first responders and residents during the extended blackouts.
Partners join IDEA initiative
Four entities joined the IDEA initiative, offering to provide funding, engineering expertise, equipment and/or services.
The new partners are Twende Solar, a nonprofit group; New Sun Road, a public benefit corporation developing technology for solar-based power systems; Footprint Project, which responds to disasters; and Sol-Ark, an engineering and manufacturing firm that makes inverter charge controllers.
“Through the IDEA, we are working to transform communities in need, and each new partner brings us closer to achieving our vision of universal access to safe, reliable and affordable energy for everyone,” said Catherine Von Burg, SimpliPhi Power CEO.
SimpliPhi Power contributes 1% of its revenue to the IDEA initiative.
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