When Can 25-Watts of Base Power Be a Difference Maker? When Lighting Up and Connecting Remote Sites Around the World

September 27, 2018 – Two days ago I revisited Clear Blue Technologies to speak with John Tuerk, Chief Power Officer and co-founder of the company along with Miriam Tuerk, his wife, and the company’s CEO. I had dropped in on the company to talk to Miriam in December of last year and subsequently had written about the work being done. But this follow up was to find out how the company was progressing with its innovative off-grid power solutions in places like Africa and South America.

Most of the time when I write about a positive disruptive technology it is because I find them doing a Google Search. And most of the time the companies are far away from my Toronto home base. But in the case of Clear Blue, it is right in my backyard which gives me the opportunity to have some face time with what I consider to be a company that understands the paradigm shifts happening in this century around power and connectivity.

Clear Blue builds smart off-grid power systems designed to light up villages and streets, power wireless base stations, and provide a reliable energy source to security cameras, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors and devices anywhere in the world. The technology comes in different flavours beginning with installations capable of delivering 25-watt base power and growing to the low-kilowatt base load range. Clear Blue has technology solutions that work with solar, wind and battery, managing the power and load, with the company remotely monitoring every site in real time. Its installations can be found in 34 countries around the globe with many of the sites in remote locales where off-grid low-watt power systems can make a significant difference in the lives of people who have never had access to reliable, continuous power and connectivity.

Their latest project is just one example of just how much a difference off-the-grid can make. Located in Delta State, Nigeria, Clear Blue has been involved in the deployment of a power and remote management system for 280 lights over 20 kilometers of rural road. Where a traditional utility provider would have had to build a hard-wired transmission infrastructure to reach the location, Clear Blue’s solution was dropped in, deployed smoothly, and provided results in less than a month.

The company’s modus operandi is to work with local telecommunications and infrastructure development companies at most global sites. In the case of the Delta State project, the local partner is Raeanna Nigeria Limited. Jay Ogor, the CEO of Raeanna, describes the challenges to deliver reliable power where needed with more than 80 million of Nigeria’s 186 million who have no access to electricity. He states: “Many previous projects in Nigeria have struggled to deliver reliable, high-quality power solutions…The success of Clear Blue’s Smart Off-Grid power technology on…previous collaboration made it an easy decision to utilize it for…street lighting in Delta State. Our plans and focus are to expand our rollout across Delta State and other regions of Nigeria, as it is key to the long-term betterment of Nigeria by bringing back a vibrant street life.”

This is not a unique story. A lack of rural electrification is a symptom of an overall deficit throughout much of Sub-saharan Africa. Solving the continent’s perennial power shortage problem is critical with more than half the people of Africa living without electricity. In a recent World Energy Outlook, it reported that number to be 26% of rural Sub-saharan Africa. The lack of reliable continuous electricity holds back the continent, and the economies of every one of its nations impacting commerce, education, health and more. As a result, Africa cannot fully take advantage of other transformative technologies that would raise all boats including reliable and continuous Internet access, adoption of smartphone technologies on mass, development of a thriving fintech and micropayment system independent of and in cooperation with banks, and more. That’s why dropping off-grid power systems into rural Africa and other remote locales around the world makes so much sense.

Clear Blue’s unique ability to remotely manage every installed site means implementation can be put in place quickly with continuous 24 x 7 monitoring. The Illumience cloud management system is Clear Blue’s secret sauce turning power system solutions into a subscription service. From its Toronto headquarters, Clear Blue manages and monitors the performance of every street light, telecommunications base station, security camera, and IoT device and sensor at all installation sites around the world. Every node is visually mapped and seen in real time. Automatic alarms get triggered by any light or other device not performing to the criteria established at the time of installation.

Tuerk described to me a recent installation site which required bringing the hardware into a remote cross-Andes Amazonian area of Peru. That meant transporting the equipment over mountainous terrain where no roads existed and dropping it into the upper Amazon jungle. Once it arrived the installation was straightforward and the system was able to provide base power for lighting and telecommunications while back in Toronto operators more than 6,000 kilometers away remotely monitored the site the moment it went live.

Tuerk describes how the various hardware and software management solutions the company offers is, in fact, turning power delivery and the associated technologies the company supports into a subscription service. And although the company remains relatively small, through its Developing World partners, it is seeing rapid growth in its customer base with demand for its unique value proposition continuing to grow.

This summer the company went public and today trades on  Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV?CBLU), where it represents one of the first cleantech companies to be listed there. Clear Blue is truly representative of a rising number of positive disruptive technology companies bringing change to the 21st century, and helping to solve its many challenges. I promise to keep you informed about its progress in future postings.