In September 2022, SunGate Solar and its partners, Humanitarian Grand Challenges, Village Help for South Sudan, Dunn Family Charitable Foundation, EarthSpark International, and PowerGen launched South Sudan’s first solar microgrid in the rural market town of Wanyjok combining a solar array (55 kWp), battery storage (84 kWh/36kVA), and a diesel genset (66 kVA) to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable electricity access to the downtown area.

The initial microgrid is serving 131 connections (over 500 people), the majority of which are small businesses and institutions including pharmacies, health clinics, computer/printing centers, retail stores, and restaurants. This life-changing access to electricity has improved the adaptive capacity and resilience of the community and particularly its business / institutional customers primarily by reducing baseline energy expenditures from unreliable and costly diesel generators and increasing opportunities for local enterprises.

More broadly, the lives of the entire community of Wanyjok (~20,000 people) have also been improved from the microgrid power, particularly through the street lighting for the downtown market area. Healthcare has improved due to access to reliable electricity, local entertainment businesses are opening later into the night and earlier in the day, and people are feeling more secure with a well-lit marketplace. All of this helps to bolster community resilience and socio-economic development.

Overall, the successful microgrid project in Wanyjok has created developed a highly replicable and scalable model for addressing energy poverty and South Sudan. This initial model also provides a key foundation to explore how strategic electricity access coupled with focused support for enterprise and community development can build resilience for communities, households, and businesses.