From Salt to Light in KwaZulu-Natal with the AquaBoost™ Power Station
The future of rural South African villages begins by overcoming the energy insecurity that has plagued them for years.
Written by Daniel Starosta
When electricity came to the rural villages of Nhlangwini in South Africa, quite predictably, things were supposed to get easier. From cooking to education to employment to medical treatment to public safety, the promise of easy, reliable energy access gave countless families hope for a different, more sustainable future. But inequitable access, instability, and lack of infrastructure have kept them from realizing that dream.
“They cut the power maybe 2 to 4 hours a day. The longest is 8 hours, unless it is broken.”
-Khambule Friday
When it comes to having power after sundown, most families are left in the dark, literally and figuratively. “Sometimes we don’t have power for 3 weeks,” villager Mamela Petros said. These communities are left to deal with the shortfalls of traditional practices and modern infrastructure.
More than just energy insecurity, this is about a legacy of broken promises and the resulting inability to continue building a sustainable community infrastructure simply because they cannot predict how much power they can count on from week to week.
In a recent pilot program with the GYFT Labs® team and the KZN community, the were able to identify their energy priorities: food spoilage, safety at night, student study at night, and energy budgeting. It cannot just work; it must work for them.
Solar certainly offers energy access alternatives, but it is not perfect, especially in areas like Nhlangwini. With no technical maintenance, battery infrastructure, or investment in either, energy access gaps during critical times continue and are especially concerning at night. Without batteries to hold the charge, communities like Nhlangwini are drenched in darkness, which means walking around is dangerous, studying is difficult, receiving medical care is impossible, and businesses have no choice except to close.
The beauty–and core principle–of how the AquaBoost Power Station works is that its ingredients are inexpensive and readily available, and activating it is not complicated—simply add salt and water. As one community member said, “The thing that I like the most is it uses the cheapest things that I can find: salt and water. If it was using sugar, it was going to be a big fight with our granddaughters.”
In addition to being incredibly easy to use in everyday life, the AquaBoost Power Station’s modular component design makes it simple to maintain, which helps grow local production and consumption economies. The GYFT Labs pilot program in South Africa served as a product-design thinking exercise, focusing on how to provide the community persistent energy security outside of emergencies overall, then understanding their personal fuel cell usage needs.
With energy insecurity an ongoing top priority for local leaders, concerned KZN members are focused on rural revitalization, and therefore, are extremely open to technological innovation. Realizing they have salt and water in abundance, they would have consistent access to replacement parts, and there is no environmental impact because it is perpetually reusable, the community quickly determined that the AquaBoost Power Station is a supremely affordable solution. Perhaps most importantly, it is a solution that feels locally ownable. The humanitarian innovation space often has solutions without problems and products without customers, but KZN community members immediately identified a myriad of ways the AquaBoost personal fuel cell could work on their own terms.
Energy insecurity is solvable, but only if the communities that need it participate in the solution. Helping people create and accomplish their own vision of energy security ultimately empowers them to thrive in the areas of equity, access, and safety. The AquaBoost Power Station provides those without access to clean, uncompromised power and light a way to meet their immediate needs and reimagine their future—from salt to light.
