A game changer: The OpenPAYGO Token by Solaris Offgrid Artwork

Open Energy Access

All things Open Source in Energy Access. In an effort to make safe, affordable, and clean energy available for every person on the planet, we're going to need to remove some of the most common barriers. By open sourcing software, hardware, and knowledge, we can save very valuable time and money for the companies that are building mini grids in rural villages, setting up solar home systems on remote islands, building the technology to make appliances PAYGO compatible.

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Open Energy Access

A game changer: The OpenPAYGO Token by Solaris Offgrid

November 27, 2019 • The EnAccess Foundation with Benjamin David, CTO of Solaris Offgrid • Season 1 • Episode 3

Anyone that is selling a pay as you go device or service should know about the OpenPAYGO Token.

When PAYGO technology arrived in the energy access sector, it was a game-changer. By paying small amounts of money over a longer time period, families could afford better quality and safer lighting, phone charging, and much more.

But there was a frustrating problem that emerged - the integration of PAYGO into energy access products was being controlled by a handful of companies, and each company had their own closed system. Think about it like this - a distributor of solar home systems would have a box containing solar panels, a battery pack, wires, etc. This product would work exactly the same no matter who purchased it, but the distributor would have to have one supply of boxes with PAYGO technology A, one supply with PAYGO technology B, and another supply with PAYGO technology C. The frustration was felt by both the sellers and makers of energy access products all over the world, and was (and is) an industry-wide issue.

What we're talking about today with Benjamin David (CTO, Solaris Offgrid) is the big-picture solution that Solaris Offgrid designed. They took on the task of creating one free, open source, industry-standard solution called the OpenPAYGO Token. It can easily integrate with already-existing PAYGO platforms and is available for any manufacturer to implement in new devices as well.