At the pilot site, the first 40 kW biomass gasification power plant has been running continously and the first hurdles from sourcing suitable biomass has been overcome. Together with partners a suitable shredder has been sourced and the design has been modified in order to be able to make use of the corn cobs residue for electricity production. The residue needs to be of the right size to function well in the gasifier. To celebrate that the first electric lights were lit there was a big ceremony and party was arranged at site. Local dj’s were invited to play the funkiest music and the technology was showcased for the community members and the project partner Kananasi Youth Farmers Association.

The technical training seems to produce promising results. 4 technicans, 1 woman and 3 men have been trained and can now run the machince without external supervision. Since the first period of fairly successful piloting we have runned into unfortunate and long delays for connecting the micro grid to the first household customers. The first door-to-door registration of willing customers have been started. Finally, the appropriate wooden poles have reached site. The project team is only awaiting needed approval from local authorities to setup electricity distribution technologies and then we believe we can reach the commissioning stage of the project.

During the last days Pamoja team in Sweden has been participating in a startup accelerator SHIFT. The acccelerator program is designed to boost a new generation of startups with tools for shaping sustainable and resilient business operations. During the last days of intenvise workshping, pitching and feedback from assigned menthors from Stockholm Resilience Center our team has had the unique chance to futher ellaborate our system innovation and scrutinize the environmental challenges of our innovation. It has been an inspiring experience to meet with likeminded entrerpreneurs from all around the baltics and more.

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Our recent business study, financed by the SIDA Innovations Against Poverty – for validating our inclusive business model  has been finalized. This study has helped us substantiate the business opportunity in rural Uganda. In contact with local farmer cooperatives we have been able to confirm the ability to pay for electricity in these markets, necessary available biomass resources have been identified.  Some of the households are spending up to 7 €/month (20 000 UGX) on kerosene lamps and 4 €/month (12 000 UGX) on small paraffin lamps (Tadooba). We belive our renewable energy alternative can offer an economically  interesting alternative to these customers.  Read more

One week in the Big Apple makes magic happen. During a one week stay the team had the chance to arrange meetings with several interesting actors in the social impact investment scene. Our team was specially happy to meet with the Global Social Investment Funds team at Deutche Bank. Having the opportunity to present our business case for this team that is about to setup a groundbreaking new social impact investment fund was very inspiring. That Deutche Bank is operating in novel manners on Wall Street makes one even more excited. We’d be happy to collaborate in the future when our proof of concept is up and running.

Addtinionally, our team met with the excellent Willow Impact Investors. This meeting was likewise very motivating. I am very pleased to find investors out there that share our values and this make me very excited about the future. Read more

Let’s hope it is a good one. We’d like to thank all our friends and partners for an exciting and wonderful year with you. We are more passionate than ever to work for our dreams to come true and make this world a little bit more sustainable step by step. We are looking forward to work with you on new challenges and to learn from more adventures together.

New year greetings!

Pamoja Cleantech team