Digitising the mini-grid sector – 15 years of experience developing digital tools for DRE
Mini-grids and distributed renewable energy involve many small systems, customers and transactions: as their numbers grow, so does the complexity of managing them. For more than 15 years, INENSUS has developed digital tools that help operators, regulators, results-based financing (RBF) fund managers and financiers manage that complexity. INENSUS tailors its digital solutions to each client’s workflows, building on a shared foundation of proven components. This approach enables INENSUS to deliver customised solutions efficiently and affordably.
For operators, MicroPowerManager Open Source brings customer and asset information into one dashboard, integrates mobile money payments, supports call center teams through ticketing, and enables SMS communication with customers. INENSUS collaborates with EnAccess to make the open-source software easier to adopt and use.
Where customised deployment or third-party API integration is needed, INENSUS can bundle software engineering with transaction advisory services, with payment linked to a transaction success fee. This service is available for advanced projects backed by financially stable companies.
Digital tools can also put spare generating capacity to work. INENSUS’s edge-computer controllers turn surplus mini-grid electricity into computing revenue, opening up another route to better asset utilisation.
For regulators, the challenge is to keep pace with a rapidly growing market. INENSUS developed AFUR’s automated regulation drafting tool under GET.transform to help countries establish harmonised frameworks adapted to national circumstances. To handle large numbers of applications in parallel, regulators may utilise INENSUS’ licensing management software, which structures document submissions and evaluation workflows. Tariff tools complement these systems, drawing on experience with clients including Nigeria’s NERC, Sierra Leone’s SLEWRC and AFUR.
RBF fund managers face the challenge of needing to verify that projects have reached agreed milestones quickly and at low cost. INENSUS’s tender management platform incorporates AI-assisted evaluation of photographs with geographic and time references to help verify project milestones. This reduces reliance on telephone spot checks and site visits, improves the accuracy and timeliness of information, and accelerates payment processing. Applications of this work can be found under ECREEE’s and AfDB’s Desert to Power initiative.
For schools and health facilities, SunSavvy turns energy demand into actionable plans. Developed by INENSUS for use in a UNICEF context, it simplifies demand assessment, automatically designs solar-battery systems and generates draft tender documents, helping move projects more quickly from an identified need towards implementation.
The next frontier is connecting project knowledge with financing decisions. INENSUS has established an AI system that retrieves internal knowledge and is adapting it to support due diligence. A separate financing assistant, currently under development, will assess investment readiness using uploaded project documents, recommend improvements, and suggest capital stacks, funding instruments and potential financiers. The aim is to help companies understand what stands between their projects and financing – and how to close those gaps.
And those who do not dare to invest real money into minigrids yet can play ELECTR!FY – The Minigrid Business Game.
Have a digital challenge in distributed energy? Contact Vivian Nelima at INENSUS: v.nelima@inensus.com.