Ekasi Energy

Clean and affordable cooking for off-grid households
e_sponsors
2017 SAG-SEED Awards; SWITCH-Africa Green
Sector
Clean Energy
e_city
Stellenbosch
e_country
South Africa

Ekasi Energy manufactures biomass pellets, a natural fuel from compressed wood waste. To make this clean alternative an attractive fuel for informal off-grid households, the FAABulous Cooking Stove was designed to eliminate household threats of smoke from burning paraffin or charcoal while reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the same time.

In addition, the FAABulous Clean Energy Appliances make use of the latest solar generation and battery storage technology to power low-voltage lighting, mobile devices and other household appliances.

Eco-Inclusive Impacts
Ekasi Energy's alternative clean energy solutions reduce health threats caused by burning wood, charcoal and paraffin fires usually used for cooking.
  • Providing income for biomass waste producers, pellet producers and fuel distributors.
  • Improving the health of off-grid households by reducing indoor pollution from traditional cookstoves.
  • Increasing safety by reducing the risk of fire associated with storing and using traditional cooking fuels.
  • Preventing carbon emissions by using Ekasi’s pellets instead of paraffin, wood or charcoal.
  • Combating deforestation by saving 400 tonnes of wood per year for every 1,000 stoves in use.
  • Reducing pollution caused by burning agricultural waste which cookstoves for pellets. 
  • Reducing monthly household spending on cooking fuel by ZAR 60, meaning a new cook stove pays itself back within nine months.
  • Creating a local market for agricultural waste used in pellet production.

 

 

Partners

Ekasi Energy produces biomass cooking fuel and clean cooking appliances for informal settlements with little or no grid power. The alternative clean energy solutions reduce health threats caused by burning wood, charcoal and paraffin fires usually used for cooking.

Ekasi Energy, a private company, produces the cook stoves and sources the pellets.

DR TLUD (Top-Lit UpDraft-technology), a research institute specialised in clean cookstoves and cooking fuels, assists Ekasi with research and development.

iShack, a producer of solar solutions, will test the cook stoves as a complementary product to their solar solutions.

iKhayalami will assist Ekasi in finding the communities that need the clean solution most and in identifying the right resellers within the communities.