The Problem

1 billion people in the world still don’t have power. Although off-grid solutions have reached close to 360 million households across India and Sub-Saharan Africa, they can only service micro loads such as a single lightbulb or a phone charger. While light from a single bulb can only go so far, having the ability to plug in income-generating devices will significantly transform lives.

The Solution

On November 4, 2019, The Institute for Transformative Technologies (ITT) launched a historic partnership with Tata Power and the Rockefeller Foundation to provide power to 25 million people across 10,000 rural villages in India. The resulting enterprise, TP Renewable Microgrid (TPRM), will roll out clean, affordable, renewable, decentralized energy in the form of smart, preassembled solar mini-grid systems to nearly 5 million households and more than 100,000 small enterprises over the next five years. TPRM is built on ITT’s technology suite consisting of a “Utility-in-a-Box” of that could be dropped into place within two or three days.

ITT’s Utility-in-a-Box is a pre-assembled, modular mini-grid system that has achieved significant cost reduction compared to the next lowest-cost provider, while meeting the demands of larger and more numerous loads. Utility-in-a-Box delivers a full turnkey system for mini-grid operators, including the complete hardware, the end-to-end installation and a comprehensive after-sales service package. A key component of the UiB is a proprietary new smart-meter (LITT), which also achieves a significant cost reduction over the most affordable options currently on the market and can be used as a standalone product in both off-grid and grid-connected settings. These households are now able to affordably and efficiently power income-generating appliances such as groundwater pumps and commercial refrigerators.