NovoMoto plans to provide remote-controlled energy kiosks and micro-grids in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The student-led startup from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently won three awards and $90,000 during the Clean Energy Trust Challenge.
NovoMoto’s founders, Mehrdad Arjmand and Aaron Olson, said their goal is to empower communities in sub-Saharan Africa by providing renewable, sustainable electricity with their MicroPlant technology as an alternative to kerosene.
The company will begin with an energy kiosk and then add micro-grids to its offerings in DRC, Olson said.
It has developed a small energy kiosk prototype that will allow NovoMoto to work with local partners and control the kiosk remotely. Under the energy kiosk model, the company sets up a kiosk consisting of a few solar panels and a battery bank. The customers take a fully charged battery home, use it to charge lights and cell phones and other equipment, and return it for another when it’s fully discharged. Under the micro-grid model, the company will run wires from the kiosk to residential homes.