Solar Cooperative Uganda

This project at the Baitambogwe Dairy Cooperative in Uganda will have a very positive impact on the environment and on the country’s population (on both the producers and the population served by the cooperative).

Environmental Impact

The switch to solar energy will reduce the Cooperative’s diesel consumption by 7.300 liters/year, thus avoiding the emission of 19,3 tons of CO2/year, the equivalent to planting 877 trees.

Social Impact

An estimated 37% of Uganda’s population lives under the poverty threshold of US$1.90 a day. Nevertheless, it is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa. This project will improve the living conditions of the population served by the cooperative.

• Better working conditions: by increasing the lighting around the plant with external safety lights, street vendors will manage to work longer hours.
• Improved children’s health: every year, more than 5.000 people living in Gomba and Mayuge, where the milk is supplied, will benefit from easily available milk with a high nutrition value. This will help tackle children's malnutrition.
• Greater financial autonomy: the current income earned by milk producers is not enough to give them financial autonomy. The improved energy supply and increased refrigeration capacity will increase the cooperative’s capacity to acquire milk, therefore resulting in an estimated 50 % increase in revenue for its 536 farmers, contributing to their sustainability.
• More gender equality: the cooperative training for the deployment and use of the solar system will prioritize the 268 women that are cooperative members, therefore supporting women to become decision-makers. Furthermore, 45% of the leadership positions at Baitambogwe Dairy Cooperative are filled by women. Finally, it will also ease the labor burden for the women who currently have to transport milk to distant milk cooling centers.
• Job generation: by building reliable and sustainable infrastructure, this project will motivate more farmers to take up lucrative dairy businesses in Uganda, hence creating direct and indirect jobs (estimates point to over 1.000). Technical jobs will also be created in the solar sector to trained technicians and local people who will be trained to operate and maintain the solar plants.

Founded in 2017, SolarPipo BV is a Dutch holding company, based in Amsterdam. Its shareholders are Ugandan nationals and two Dutch companies - Rockstart BV and Beehaeve. To better deal with all the funding aspects of the group, the holding company created SolarPipo Finance BV, which in turn owns 100% of SolarPipo Finance Limited in Uganda. The latter contracts directly with the dairy cooperatives.

SolarPipo’s main goal is to ease access to renewable energy for the country’s dairy sector. The company provides its customers, typically dairy cooperatives and farmers, access to a cost-effective and reliable alternative to the grid or diesel generators. Their services answer to the whole sector’s value chain: from the financing to the solar system design and installation; to the technical assistance and system maintenance.The SolarPipo team, currently composed of seven people, has a combined experience of over 8 years in the renewable energy sector, product development and management, sales and marketing, team-building skills. Its core has been at the helm of management of startups with a keen eye on innovation.

SolarPipo Finance BV was founded in April 2020. The majority of the shares belong to its Dutch shareholders, with a combined 60 years of experience with Rockstart having the most relevant experience in smart energy ventures and startups.

Dairy farmers’ cooperatives are a growing and very important business sector (10% of the economy) combined with the milk processing industries and transport needed to bring the cooled milk from the farms to the processors. Usually, the milk coolers use sizeable diesel generators for energy. SolarPipo has identified a list of 7 dairy farmers who cannot wait to stop using diesel generators consuming vast amounts of diesel (which can grow easily to significantly higher numbers). Also, there are at least 100 cooperatives on the list of potential customers but also numerous other parties in the dairy sector value chain.