Although Africa has abundant sunshine and solar power is getting cheaper all the time, it is increasingly dependent on fossil fuel. Quite simply, the electricity grid is not able to keep up with a growing population meaning fossil fuel generators are filling the gap. Unable to solve the root cause, governments spend billions every year subsidising petrol.

At the same time, the African transport sector is the fastest growing in the world. Globally, the number of vehicles will double by 2050 and the majority of these will be in Africa. The lack of adequate roads overwhelmed by growing traffic congestion has seen a boom in motorcycles. In fact, over 50% of vehicles sold in West Africa are motorcycles, compared to 3% in the US. Advances in electric vehicles offer affordable electric motorcycles. Yet, Africa doesn’t have the electricity infrastructure to support an e-mobility revolution.

The big problem is not the ability to build energy generation assets but appropriate energy distribution.  Petrol manages to make energy versatile, portable and pay-per-use. There is not yet a renewable energy distribution system that can compete with petrol in countries with limited infrastructure. Battery rental services can solve these problems by disconnecting generation from distribution, removing the need for customer debt finance.

In 2013, MOPO seized on this opportunity, patented a unique technology and began displacing fossil fuel with sunshine and building sustainable infrastructure for the long term. With solar-powered MOPO Hubs operating across several nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, MOPO provides energy via pay-per-swap MOPO Batteries for homes, businesses and transport.

Electricity grids in developed nations were designed long before the arrival of renewables and the technology to “do things better”. In Sub-Saharan Africa, MOPO is reimagining infrastructure from the ground up.