A partnership has been developed with Prime stoves www.primestoves.org to promote access to prime natural draft biomass gasifier stoves to bottom of the pyramid households and small enterprises in Ghana through proven innovative business models that enhances access to modern affordable and reliable clean cooking solutions to rural and peri-urban communities. The program is aimed to catalyze the market for increasing access to gasifier stoves in Ghana using a save to own and rent to own business model to end-users with access to free fuels in rural communities. The objective is to reduce deforestation, reduce energy expenditure of poor women households, reduce air pollution, effectively utilize agricultural waste and thereby improve the health, cooking environment of women as well as reduce poverty in Ghana and West Africa.
The Technology Deployment and Marketing Unit of ISEES is in charge of developing innovative business models to market renewable energy solutions. Sales entrepreneurs are enrolled and trained in the marketing, financing and business skills as well as technical skills of maintaining and repairing the stoves.
End-users are also provided with innovative financing schemes, through a village savings and Loans scheme, women agro-processing groups especially involved in palm kernel oil processing are provided with stoves on a rent to own basis. End-users make contributions that can offer them ability to buy the gasifier stoves, which normally they would not have the disposable income to buy.
There are a large number of agro-processing women groups scattered all over the country whose waste streams can be used as fuels in gasifier stoves and burn without smoke. Palm Kernel shells, coconut husks, rice husks, sugarcane bagasse, shea waste briquettes, cocoa pod husk, cashew nut waste, saw dust briquettes, pellets and pulp briquettes among others are suitable clean burning fuels for household cooking.
However these waste streams are often thrown away causing a lot of environmental menace
Through the Prime – ISEES Partnership, about 100 gasifier stoves is planned to be distributed in Ghana during the pilot which will be scaled up to the importation of a 40 footer container in December 2016, then later on an assembling plant will be installed in Ghana to enhance the production of the Prime Gasifier stoves in Ghana.
ISEES looks out for innovative fi
nancing schemes including end-user loan financing that support end-users to be able to secure stoves on a credit basis and pay back within time.
ISEES looks forward to through this model become the leader in promoting gasifier stoves in Ghana and also looking into the development of the biomass fuels into commercial fuels that can replace fuelwood and charcoal in Ghana.