- Posted 26-Apr-2022
EIT Climate-KIC supported SolarisKit empowers people to tackle climate change with their own two hands
Supported by EIT Climate-KIC, SolarisKit S400 is the first flat packable, self-assembled solar water heater. The innovation enables easy, affordable, healthy and eco-friendly water heating in Africa, Europe and beyond.
SolarisKit is a certified B Corp based in Dundee, Scotland, and was founded in early 2019 by CEO Faisal Ghani. In August of 2019, SolarisKit was part of EIT Climate-KIC’s Accelerator programme in Scotland in partnership with the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI).
With nearly 50 per cent of global energy consumed to generate heat, there is a large opportunity for renewable and energy efficient solutions such as solar hot water collectors to address demand. What makes SolarisKit uniquely positioned to respond to the needs of a global consumer base, however, is its compatibility with diverse climates and infrastructure.
The SolarisKit S400 was designed with these challenges in mind. It is a flat-pack and can therefore be easily transported, for example, via a cargo bike. Moreover, it comes with instructions and can be assembled in about 20 minutes without any tools and connects to a home’s hot water tank via a pump. Whereas in the UK, for example, a solar water heater installer might charge an extra GBP 1,000 to GBP 2,000.
The concept of empowerment has driven many of SolarisKit’s business decisions, from its affordability to its simple assembly to its repairability. Not to mention the solar hot water collector’s ability to contribute to mitigating climate change, enabling users to directly tackle the climate emergency with their own two hands.
The solar water heater was also engineered to be safe, heating water up to 70 degrees Celsius, which is hot enough to kill bacteria but not hot enough to damage piping.
While the SolarisKit team were installing solar water heaters in Rwanda, they estimated that about 70 per cent or more of the housing was incompatible with a solar hot water collector because they lack a hot water and a cold water pipe and/or they don’t have roofs that can withstand the weight of the device. The team also found that every single household they visited used charcoal to heat water.
SolarisKit is planning to launch this product in May 2022. So far, a B Corp housing developer in Kenya, BuildX, is purchasing 18 of these next generation solar water heaters for a housing project. A couple of systems will be sent to South Africa as well.
However, supply chain disruptions and increases in material and shipping costs due to the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have stymied SolarisKit’s efforts in the price-sensitive markets of the Global South. This has forced the company to pivot its market focus towards Europe and the UK for the time being, with hopes that these variables will stabilise again in the next 12 to 24 months.
Ghani has noticed an increasing demand for the kits in the UK in particular because of growing gas prices. And within this market, customers are also looking to use the solar hot water collector outside of the home such as while camping or glamping, or in stables to wash horses.
The activity in the UK might act as a bridge towards the Global South: SolarisKit has developed a partnership with an Edinburgh-based glamping company and are looking into price models so that, when one of their customers buys a kit, one can be donated to Africa. Another idea Ghani has to increase SolarKit’s activity in the Global South is licensing the solar water heater, enabling it to be manufactured and sold locally thereby also creating jobs. He is currently looking into this for South Africa and India. Licensing is also a step Ghani feels is inevitable and necessary for reaching SolarisKit’s ambitious vision, which is to deploy 500 million solar collectors, equating to potentially saving 100 megatonnes of carbon per year.
In the meantime, SolarisKit is planning to raise another investment round in the next six months to grow its team and expand its manufacturing capacity. It will also further invest in research and development to keep innovating on solar water heating.
Source: European Institute of Innovation & Technology (https://bit.ly/3LbInbX)