Decentralized Green Fertilizer
A breakthrough solution for Africa’s fertilizer shortage, powered by air, water and the sun.
Agricultural yields in Sub-Saharan Africa have lagged far behind the rest of the world.
Most fertilizer is imported into SSA with significant price markups compared to global prices. Because factories for producing nitrogen-based fertilizer cost are extraordinarily expensive (> US$350 million), Sub-Saharan African countries collectively produce less than 1% of the world’s fertilizer.
We are developing decentralized systems to produce carbon-free green fertilizer.
- The only inputs needed are water and air
- The systems are small and decentralized, and hence highly affordable for local fertilizer production
- The systems are currently manufactured in India, with manufacturing moved to Kenya and Nigeria over the next 3-4 years
The systems will be powered by prematurely decommissioned, used solar panels from the US and EU, dramatically reducing cost of electricity.
Millions of high-quality, fully usable solar panels are being prematurely decommissioned in the US and EU because of:
- Financial incentives from their governments to increase renewable power output
- The availability of new higher-wattage panels
- High cost of real estate
The decentralized nature of the systems has two major advantages.
- It reduces the required CapEx from one lumpsum of US$300 million, to increments of US$2.5 million
- It dramatically reduces the logistical complexity and cost of distribution around the country
The locally-produced fertilizer from this system will cost significantly less than conventional fertilizer currently available in Sub-Saharan Africa and significantly less than green fertilizer which is too expensive to even import.
