Illu

Software for field teams deploying, operating, and maintaing distributed power assets.

Past and Current Partners

Westly Foundation, US Department of Energy, Belgian Vlaams Brabant Province (International Development Fund)

Active Countries
Myanmar, India, Nigeria
Thematic area(s)
Climate
Technology
SaaS, Whitelabel
Organisation Name
Illu Global Inc.
READ MORE ON THEIR WEBSITE

The Problem

Companies and organizations who are deploying new distributed renewable energy (DRE) solutions on the ground are struggling with the lack of local skills to construct and service these new systems adequately. DREs require extensive fieldwork at all project stages, from initial screening all the way through operations. But because systems are widely dispersed, field teams often have little support or supervision while on site. Poor fieldwork results in many systems falling into disrepair only after 1-2 years into their 15-year asset life and is a major bottleneck to scaling the deployment of DREs.One-off training and capacity-building interventions are helpful but not adequate to address this problem. They're too slow and expensive to bring up the new energy workforce needed, and also often don't provide the practical knowledge to make technicians immediately effective.

The Solution

illu helps accelerate the transition to distributed renewable energy by enabling local teams to confidently install, operate, maintain, and fix systems. Cofounders have deep, first-hand experience and have been working in energy access together for more than 10 years. illu uniquely serves as command center for field teams and helps organize preventative maintence, incident management, site survey and onboarding, as well as commissioning and QC.

How it works?

  • Step 1: Organizations that are starting to roll out distributed renewable energy systems engage illu to help build up their operational capacity and processes on the ground.These organizations can be companies, non-profits, cooperatives, or development institutions
  • Step 2: illu helps managers of that organization to build and digitise their Standard Operating Procedures using the illu platform's workflow functionality, or download relevant best-practice workflows available in the illu repository
  • Step 3: illu trains and onboards the managers via video call to set up their energy systems and team onto the platform, already delegating the scheduled preventative maintenance and inspection jobs to team members
  • Step 4: illu trains and onboards the full field team together via a video call session to walk through the first delegated jobs and customised workflows
  • Step 5: The organization (manager and field team), continue to use illu to manage their work on the ground and ensure technicians have the right work instructions at their fingertips

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Digital X Solution Illu

Bridging the digital divide

This digital solution has been built with inclusivity in mind, especially for areas with limited connectivity. It is focused on expanding its capabilities in low-connection environments and recently rolled out an update to support that. illu offers a user interface that is simple and intuitive in order to make the tool accessible to less digitally literate users.

Impact and highlights

  • Helped technicians complete 259 jobs on solar microgrid systems in Myanmar, India, and the Philippines.
  • Digitised 80 workflows a public knowledge repository.

Plans for expansion