Startup turns to solar for cold chain storage
By Milliam.Murigi, March 9, 2022When Norah Magero, Drop Access C hief Executive Officer got her firstborn baby in 2018, she was very happy. However, she faced a lot of challenges getting her vaccinated.
When she visited the clinic, she would often be turned away because vaccines had spoiled due to constant power interruptions.
“Vaccine spoilage is a major problem not only in Kenya but globally. Most vaccines require a temperature-controlled supply chain.
However, this cannot be achieved everywhere because of different reasons including temperature fluctuations, poor transportation, and lack of cold chains,” she says.
After that experience, she decided to do something to salvage the situation. Since her organisation had ventured into promoting energy access and climate action in rural and off-grid communities through clean and climate-smart technologies, she decided to come up with a solution for hospitals with unreliable power supplies.
“After research I learned that the country doesn’t have the infrastructure, energy, and technology to deliver most vaccines safely,” she explains.
Together with her team, she has come up with VacciBox, a technology set to slash vaccine waste by 80 per cent. Early tests of the product have had encouraging results.
“VacciBox is a 100 per cent locally manufactured portable solar-powered fridge designed to transport and store vaccines, blood and blood products, and other medical items. It has a capacity of 40 litres and a temperature range of two to 10 degrees Celsius,” she says.
Norah adds that the fridge, which comes with a detachable battery, is portable and can be mounted on a motorbike or boat when deployed to healthcare facilities in rural, remote, and inaccessible areas. It also has a data management platform that healthcare workers can remotely monitor data collection in real-time.
“This vaccine waste management technology has the potential to massively reduce vaccine waste, all while saving institutes energy and money. We want to further develop our technology to ensure every child in Kenya has access to a vaccine regardless of their demographic,” she reveals.
Reliable option
So far, the company has piloted the product in two hospitals: Usungu Dispensary in Kibwezi West Sub-County, Makueni County, which is located 22km away from any electric grid, and Merrueshi Village Health Centre in Maasai Simba Camp and Conservancy, which focuses on maternity and newborn care.
Apart from VacciBox, Drop Access has also come up with solar fridges for small-scale farmers to curb post-harvest losses.
Dubbed KOYO, the 50-80 litre fridge that can achieve sub-zero temperatures is designed to assist small producers of dairy and poultry products who make a living out of riding their bikes around to sell their goods. It can also be used for food storage.
They have coupled the fridges with an online application also for remote monitoring and sensing, online troubleshooting, and data collection.
“We innovate cold storage solutions for institutions and farmers in rural environments. We also train rural communities on renewable energy technologies, create awareness of the existing solutions, use, costs, and financing models,” Norah says.
She adds that the business is committed to providing a practical and affordable cold chain to low-income communities coupled with a comprehensive and reliable after-sale battery storage support system.
Their work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Recently, they were among awardees of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, where Norah underwent an eight-month tailored training and mentoring.
They were also national winners of Climate Launchpad Competition, a green ideas competition by the European Institute of Technology, Climate-KIC, with the support of the European Commission. The win granted them the opportunity to represent Kenya at the Africa regional finals.
Their innovation was presented under the theme of Clean Energy. That theme accepted ideas revolving around storage, smart power grids, integrating wind, solar and bioenergy, carbon capture, carbon mitigation of chemical and industrial processes and efficient energy use in buildings.
In 2021, they emerged a winner in the Energy Camp East Africa, a programme held by Startup|Energy which helps start-ups in the field of decentralised, renewable energy supply in East Africa to grow and develop.
Offering access
To ensure that they reach as many people as possible, they also provide access to financed solar energy for pumping, cold storage, institution, and facility use in off-grid areas.
She reveals that though there are existing solutions for off-grid small- and medium-sized enterprises in Kenya that supply solar-powered containerised cold storage, the main disadvantage of these solutions is that they are unaffordable for rural women.
They are also bulky, and therefore not ideal for most micro-agri-preneurs, who are always on the move.
“Our innovation is light and simple to transport since it can be easily mounted on bicycles or motorbikes. The good thing is it can be used in the distribution of all refrigerated vaccines which require a temperature range of between 2 to 10 degrees Celsius. Additionally, it has the potential to works as a power bank and a home lighting station.”