Member - African Clean Energy

At African Clean Energy (ACE), we specialise in manufacturing and distributing the data-enabled ACE One Energy System, a high quality solar-biomass hybrid enabling users to cook using significantly less fuel and offering access to electricity for mobile charging and lighting. We distribute by employing in-house sales teams and building last-mile distribution channels in the developing world which can facilitate remote households to gain access not only to the ACE One, but also to maintenance services, financial support and clean fuels. ACE is headquartered in Amsterdam, our flagship factory is in Lesotho, and we have ground operations selling B2C in Lesotho, Cambodia and Uganda. The ACE One provides a solution that addresses the full spectrum of Base-of-Pyramid energy needs. The device symbiotically pairs thermal and electric generation by using a solar-charged LiFePO4 battery to not only give users access to electricity, but also to power the ventilator needed to create a truly clean biomass combustion. This enables the product to have the cross-sectoral positive impact of a cookstove, with the business model of a solar home system. The data that ACE is able to collect through a proprietary Android-mobile based integration allows real time insight into all usage, as well as highly robust underwriting of any impact claims, including those for carbon credits, which ACE sells at premium pricing. The ACE One is built with durable materials (8-12 years life cycle), uses 50-85% less fuel, burns any type of solid biomass (wood, charcoal, corn cobs, cow dung), and minimises smoke emissions to a negligible level to protect users' health. It is sold on a 12 month micro-loan and customers use the energy savings achieved with the product to pay back the investment. With this model, ACE is likely the only company that can give $2-a-day people access to a $100+ product.