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US Air Force Delivers Equipment To Haiti Police
MIAMI – The United States (US) Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said it had transported “vital” security equipment to Haiti in response to a request for international assistance from the Haitian government to deal with the security situation in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country.
SOUTHCOM said that a US Air Force C-17 aeroplane, based at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, transported the security equipment to Port-au-Prince.
“The delivery of the vital equipment was part of a joint operation involving US Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft,” said SOUTHCOM in a statement, stating that the equipment included tactical and armored vehicles, purchased by the Haitian National Police (HNP), from Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario, Canada.
“The delivered equipment will help the HNP ensure access to vital resources and infrastructure urgently needed in Haiti to respond to a public-health crisis following a recent rise of cholera cases in the country,” it added.
SOUTHCOM, which is a joint US command, comprising more than 1,200 military and civilian personnel representing the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and several other federal agencies, said the mission to Haiti comes three days after US Air Force Lieutenant General Andrew Croft, military deputy commander of SOUTHCOM, accompanied US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A Nichols, to Port-au-Prince.
Nichols led a US interagency delegation on a two-day visit to the country where they met with Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the Montana Group, private sector leaders, and broader civil society groups.
“They assessed how the US government can continue providing various forms of assistance aimed at helping the country improve security and respond to the growing humanitarian crisis,” SOUTHCOM said.
“Together with the Haitian government, the United States and Canada affirm the importance of working together to support the restoration of security in Haiti in partnership with the international community,” it added.
The United States and Canada also said in a joint statement on Saturday that the equipment will “assist the HNP in their fight against criminal actors, who are instigating violence and disrupting the flow of critically-needed humanitarian assistance, hindering efforts to halt the spread of cholera. The United States and Canada remain committed to supporting the HNP’s work of protecting and serving the Haitian people. In coordination with international partners, our governments are working with Haitian partners to strengthen Haiti’s capacity to train additional police officers and improve law enforcement operations.”
Noting that the United States and Canada commend the international community for mobilizing new commitments in support of Haiti’s most pressing needs, the statement went on to say that “we urge international partners to deliver on those commitments. We encourage partner nations to contribute to the UN Basket Fund to restore peace and citizen security for the Haitian people. Together with the Government of Haiti, the United States and Canada affirm the importance of working together to support the restoration of security in Haiti.”
Armed gangs have prevented fuel from being distributed in the country by commanding the primary fuel deports. Their actions, including inter-gang rivalry, have led to a state of insecurity in Haiti, where opposition forces have also been calling on Prime Minister Henry to demit office.
Henry came to office following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. The opposition has been calling for fresh presidential and legislative elections that are now overdue.
Last week, Henry urged the regional integration movement, of which his country is a member, to express solidarity and request assistance to alleviate what has been termed “the deepening humanitarian, security, political, and economic crises in Haiti”.
A statement issued by the Guyana-based Caricom Secretariat said Henry had written to the leaders of the 15-member grouping on the issue facing the French-speaking country.
“The actions of criminal gangs have resulted in the complete cessation of fuel distribution in several parts of the country forcing the closure of hospitals and schools and the shutting down of water pumps prohibiting the provision of clean water. The water shortage also has exacerbated the resurgence of a cholera epidemic particularly in poor neighborhoods,” Caricom said in the statement.
It said regional leaders “condemn the callous and inhumane actions of the armed gangs responsible for the roadblocks limiting movement of the Haitian people and of goods, the destruction of life and livelihoods and the deprivation of the basic needs of the people.
“Heads of Government call upon all stakeholders in Haiti to come together with urgency at this critical juncture in the country’s history to bring an end to the protracted political stalemate in the interest of the people of the country and choose a nation above self-interest.” CMC
Haitians Need Affordable Homes Now More Than Ever—And Here’s How You Can Really Help
In the span of a month, the news from Haiti has been as shocking as has been sobering. First, in the early-morning hours of July 7th, there was the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. In a matter of weeks, the country was then ravaged by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that, according to Haiti’s civil protection agency, wrought some 2,189 deaths and 12,000 injuries. As if the scene couldn’t get any more grim, heavy rainfall from the recent tropical storm Grace has added to the misery, where earthquake victims have already been sleeping outdoors. These unfathomable events (compounded by the coronavirus, in which just 0.17% of Haitians have received at least one dose of a vaccine) would challenge any nation, let alone the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Yet, as hospitals care for survivors and as rescuers comb through the ruins, local and international organizations (such as Florida-based Hope For Haiti) have been accepting donations—including New Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building affordable homes for disaster victims around the world. “Imagine spending night after night in a tent with no safety and no stability,” Brett Hagler, cofounder of New Story, told AD in 2017. Some four years later, the country is in need of affordable housing now more than ever.
Since launching in 2015, New Story has completed more 2,000 homes across Haiti (1,050), El Salvador (400), Bolivia (66), and Mexico (650). The homes feature two bedrooms, a communal area, a shower and latrine, and, in some areas, land on which to grow food. Solar panels generate electricity, and—for the newest houses—a water system collects and purifies rain. Amazingly, the cost per home on average comes to just about $6,500. In Haiti, each roughly 500-square-foot residence is designed according to Miami-Dade County earthquake and hurricane codes. It’s because of this fact that, thankfully, the homes built by New Story survived the most recent salvo of natural disasters.
Funded through donations, New Story uses all the money it raises to acquire land and fund construction. “Many people we hire are members of the local communities,” cofounder Alexandria Lafci says. Maintaining those communities, she explains, is ultimately the goal. Rather than putting up one-off houses that might upset social networks, New Story plans clusters of homes and gives families full ownership to ensure roots that will last for generations. New Story has been collaborating with AD since 2017 to fund and build its newest Haitian development, preventing further disruptions to family routines. “If you’re a single mother who relies on a friend to watch your child, you don’t want to lose that when you move,” Lafci says. “We’re not asking families to completely restart their lives.” What they do offer, however, are new beginnings. “It’s amazing to see kids move in,” Hagler says. “They’re so happy and proud to have a house because many of them have never had one.”
According to UNICEF, the latest earthquake has affected some 1.2 million Haitians (almost 11% of the country’s population). The child-welfare organization estimates that 84,000 homes were damaged or destroyed—a dilemma that they say will require at least $15 million to respond to urgent needs. This is all happening in a country ravaged by turf wars, murders, rapes, and kidnappings at the hands of active gangs. With no other alternatives, displaced Haitians are seeking refuge anywhere they can find it; some sleep in public parks and squares while others crowd into churches and gymnasiums. “As Americans, the pandemic has forced us to confront the importance of home more than ever,” says Sarah Lee, Chief Operating Officer at New Story. “Families in Haiti haven’t had the option to stay safe at home because they don’t have a safe home to begin with. Together we can help families rebuild and unlock their safety, security, and opportunities to thrive.”
Zev, une marque de véhicules électriques fondée par un Haïtien
Un Haïtien fonde la première marque de véhicule électrique rwandaise au Rwanda
Cette année Zazzi Electric Vehicles, établie au Rwanda, devient officiellement une entreprise (LDT), gérante de la marque rwandaise de véhicules électriques ZEV, tirée du siglé de l’entreprise.
Démarré depuis 2017 par l’haïtien résidant en République voisine Wood Wedson Pierre, le projet ZEV est aujourd’hui en phase de production et de lancement au niveau mondial avec 100 véhicules déjà fabriqués, selon le Fondateur.
Si tout se passe bien, les clients pourront se procurer des véhicules ZEV dès la fin de l’année ou le début de 2021. Ils pourront payer une réservation et recevront le véhicule dans leur pays, en particulier en Afrique, dans les Caraïbes et l’Amérique latine. Un showroom sera ouvert dans la capitale Rwandaise, Kigali, annonce Wood Wedson Pierre.
Trois modèles seront disponibles en premier : la ” SUC Electric ” appelée ZEV EC500, le ” Micro Car ” dénommé ZEV M20 et la moto électrique ” ZEV e-moto “. Mais ZEV développera aussi des bus électriques, des tricycles électriques, des vélos à asssistance électrique, entre autres, précise Wood Wedson Pierre.
Zazzi Electric Vehicles Co. offre aussi un service de réparation et vend des stations de recharge électrique à partir du soleil pour les véhicules ZEV, nous informe le Président de Zazzy Electric Vehicles Wood Wedson Pierre.
À l’image de leur slogan ” embrace the future “, le CEO de ZEV envisage un futur rayonnant pour son entreprise. ” Dans les prochaines années, avec le chiffre d’affaires dépassant un billion de dollars américains que nous aurons, ZEV n’aura rien à envier aux autres marques de véhicule électrique. Nos véhicules seront parmi les meilleurs au monde. Nous poursuivons l’objectif d’avoir dans moins de deux ans une usine de production de tous nos modèles existants et de nouveaux à paraître. Ce qui nous permettra d’atteindre 300 mille comme capacité de production “, prévoit le CEO Wood Wedson Pierre.
Par ailleurs, Wood Wedson Pierre promet que son entreprise offrira l’opportunité aux jeunes de suivre sa voie, en fabriquant des véhicules pour eux et même en investissant dans leur entreprise si l’idée est assez convaincante et innovante.
How HP is funneling plastic from Haiti into laptops and printer supplies
The company is one of several working together to reduce plastic waste.
- Every year, some 8 million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans.
- HP is working to help collect some of that plastic and use it to make a range of products, from ink cartridges to laptops.
- HP is part of a consortium of companies working with the nonprofit Lonely Whale to reduce and recycle plastic.
The next ink cartridge or computer gear you buy might have an invisible but noteworthy history: Some part of it may once have been an empty soda bottle plucked from a distant shoreline.
Last fall, HP unveiled a laptop line made partly from recycled plastic, and at this year's CES technology show, it introduced all-recycled accessories such as totes and backpacks. Most of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's ink cartridges are already 45 percent or more recycled plastic, and it aims to use 30 percent recycled plastic in all of its printing and personal computing products within the next five years. Such initiatives contributed to the company's No. 1 spot on the America's Most Responsible Companies ranking Newsweek recently published.
Every year, some 8 million tons of plastic end up in the world's oceans, harming marine life and contaminating food supplies. As the problem becomes painfully visible in pictures of floating debris and ensnared animals, some companies are recognizing the imperative to act. In 2016, HP announced it would use plastic collected in Haiti to make ink cartridges, and since then it has diverted more than 35 million polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles — the kind often used for water and sodas — into its products.
Ellen Jackowski, HP's head of sustainability strategy and innovation, says she often gets asked about whether the company is using renewable energy. The answer is yes, but only 1 percent of the company's carbon footprint is its own operations. The majority, she says, is in the energy people use when they plug in the products and in the materials used to make those products.
A multi-tiered approach
The company takes a multi-pronged approach to managing plastic. First, it tries to reduce its plastic use by making products lighter and slimmer or by using alternative materials such as molded pulp for protective packaging. But sometimes plastic is unavoidable, and that's where recycling comes in.
Some of the recycled material comes from its own devices and ink cartridges, which customers can bring to stores or, in some cases, ship directly to the company. But HP is trying to build a bigger supply chain that begins with waste plastic processed in Haiti and elsewhere.
As an island nation with no municipal garbage collection and uneven access to clean water, leading to reliance on bottles, Haiti has abundant waste plastic.
"If we don't create a collection community for that plastic, the plastic ends up on the beaches and flowing into the ocean," Jackowski says. "Instead of those plastic bottles being waste, they can be a job or an income opportunity."
Individual collectors harvest plastic and sell it to HP's recycling partner in Haiti. Currently, the plastic is shipped to a washing facility in South Carolina then processed further in Montreal. A new $2 million washing line is in the works.
"By investing in that recycling infrastructure in Haiti, it takes costs out of the supply chain, Jackowski says, "but it also elevates the capabilities of what we're building."
Working together
Other companies are moving in a similar direction. A consortium called NextWave, which includes HP, Dell, IKEA, GM, Herman Miller and five other companies, fosters collaboration on how to integrate more recycled plastic in supply chains. Dune Ives, executive director of the environmental campaign group Lonely Whale, launched NextWave to engage corporations on the issue.
"There are a lot of recycled plastics for which there are no buyers. We can send them to recycling centers, but it doesn't mean they're going to get recycled," Ives says.
NextWave members share ideas and lessons learned on sourcing and reusing plastic. Ives shares the story of one unnamed company, for example, that had to shut down a processing plant because the plastic it was recycling smelled bad. The material wasn't being dried properly, they learned from another NextWave member that was already using the same type. The group helped the company solve the problem, and now its recycling facility is back online with plans to scale up.
NextWave began with HP rival Dell's effort to integrate plastic material into packaging. But a driving idea behind the consortium is to have even competitors working together.
"Having HP join was really important to us, because they have so much experience in this area and we all really needed to benefit from that," Ives says. The company's progress in rolling out new products featuring recycled plastic, she adds, "absolutely exceeds all expectations that we had for them at this stage."
Other examples of recycled products from NextWave members include bike company Trek's mountable water bottle cage made from fishing nets recovered off the coast of Chile and carpet tiles from Interface made out of dumped fishing gear. Of course, these efforts are capturing only a tiny fraction of the waste plastic heading into the world's waters, but the hope is that they can provide a model for others to follow.
"These companies, by themselves, might not have continued to move forward if they didn't have their peers supporting them," Ives says. "They push and drive each other to go further than they thought they could."
EXPERT SAYS TECHNOLOGY HELPS FUEL ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS IN HAITI
LAWRENCE – Inspired in part by global uprisings and empowered by technology, the youth-led protesters who have taken to Haiti’s streets in the past month to demand change from a corrupt and entrenched system seem like the troubled island nation’s only hope.
This is the analysis of the current situation by Cécile Accilien, associate professor and interim chair of the University of Kansas’ Department of African & African-American Studies and director of KU’s Institute of Haitian Studies. A Haitian native, she is available to the press to comment on the ongoing unrest in her native land.
Haitians in their 30s and younger have not known any type of stability, Accilien said. Corruption, injustice and impunity have been institutionalized, and people are fed up, she added.
The social movement touched off by the hashtag campaign #Petrocaribechallenge is filled with youths inspired by other movements such as the French yellow vests, Y’en a Marre in Senegal, Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, Accilien said. The fact that these nonpartisan groups and other subgroups, such as #KotKòbPetwoKaribea” (Haitian Creole for “Where is the Petro Caribe money?”) remain active in the fight for transparency and accountability regarding the embezzlement scandal is crucial.
While this is not the first time public funds have “disappeared” in Haitian history, this is the first time that technology has made it difficult, if not impossible, for the government to hide information about money laundering and corruption.
Even as she endorses the anti-corruption protesters, Accilien urges observers to look behind the headlines and be aware that Haiti’s elites have probably played an important role behind the scenes in fomenting this latest outburst, as they have Haiti’s ongoing instability.
To explain, Accilien read from a sardonic text a relative recently sent to her via social media:
“It says when a Haitian becomes rich, his bank accounts are in Switzerland. He goes to France to get medical treatment. He invests in the Dominican Republic. He buys things from the United States and China. He goes to Rome or to Mecca. His children study in Europe. He goes to Canada, the U.S. and France on vacation. And when he dies, he wants to be buried in his native country, in Haiti.”
It’s a bitter joke, Accilien said, about the “1 or 2 percent” of the nation’s most wealthy and powerful who are often the silent power behind the throne of Haiti’s democratic government.
Accilien said Haitians have a term for these hidden string-pullers.
“In French, it is 'politique de doublure,' which literally means a politics of the double, whereby the elite usually controls the country’s economy and yet ... won’t appear openly to be meddling in its governance. But behind the scenes, they do want (to control) who's controlling the country,” Accilien said. “I'm not saying people shouldn't protest, but the protests are not as simple as they often seem. That's what people have to keep in mind.”
Accilien said there was a moment of hope for the world’s first black republic after protesters brought down the 29-year-old Duvalier family regime in 1986 and a few years later democratically elected their first president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
“The average person wanted things to change,” Accilien said. “But now, more and more, a lot of what is happening, I'm skeptical. How much of it is generated by the people, and how much of it comes from the powers that try to keep their political, social and economic power? This is by no means to say that the government itself is not corrupted. In fact, even before President Jovenel Moïse was elected, the elections were contested, and there were rumors of money laundering. Since the Duvaliers, there are probably two presidents who have finished their term. This is ridiculous. It's absurd.”
By constantly supporting the political opposition to whoever holds power in Haiti, Accilien said, the country’s elites foment chaos and maintain their own behind-the-scenes control.
Today’s protesters are asking for a more equitable and socially just society. But in order to achieve that, Accilien said, the elites must share that sense of justice, seeing Haiti not just as a country from which they can take, but one to which they should also give. Haitians need government and elite leadership to build sorely needed infrastructure — health care, education and roads — leading to greater economic and social stability, Accilien said. And to be sustainable, this progress must be shared by all, no matter their economic class, language or whether they live in urban or rural areas.
Accilien called for a new order based on the Haitian proverb “Tout moun se moun, tout moun pa menm" — "Everyone is an individual, but everyone is not the same.”
The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. The university's mission is to lift students and society by educating leaders, building healthy communities and making discoveries that change the world. The KU News Service is the central public relations office for the Lawrence campus.
Sigora Solar powers homes in Haiti with give-back program
Sigora Solar is proud to announce the launch of their “Sigora Gives Back” program which will provide clean, renewable electricity to underserved families in Haiti that have never had electricity before.Through this program, Sigora is promising that with every U.S. home that receives the Produce and Reduce package, a whole home solar and energy efficiency solution, the company will provide 24/7 electricity to a family in Haiti. The Sigora Gives Back program utilizes a partnership between Sigora, Sigora Haiti and a non-profit, HADPRE.Sigora Haiti was founded in 2016 and serves over 20,000 people with clean, reliable, and fairly-priced energy. The company was founded by Andy Bindea, the founder of Sigora Solar, with a mission to sustainably electrify underserved communities in Haiti and give access to the 87 percent of the population in Haiti that does not have access to electricity. It has been recognized by Forbes, Fast Company, and Renewable Energy World Magazine. Sigora Haiti is currently the only privately held utility company in the country, providing 24/7 grid-tied electricity to homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses sourced from renewable and clean energy.Sigora Haiti partners with HADPRE (Hummingbird Academy for Disaster Preparedness & Renewable Energies) a non-profit, to provide energy access for all and answer persisting social problems that many rural Haitian communities face in terms of education, access to healthcare and natural disasters. HADPRE aims to guarantee inclusive access to electricity and to foster gender-equal, sustainable economic and social development in rural Haiti.The positive impact that these partnerships have had on Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, is immense. Hospitals that are now able to power life-saving medical equipment, students can now read and study in the evenings, and business are opening due to the ability to sell refrigerated and frozen goods.Logan Landry, CEO of Sigora Solar said about the program, “We are dedicated to ensuring our impact on the community and the world is an embodiment of our values of integrity, diversity, respect, and support”.After the hurricanes in 2016, relief efforts in Virginia initiated by Sigora Solar supported emergency relief and the grid repairs in Haiti. These efforts restored power to Sigora Haiti customers within six hours of the hurricane passing and provided relief for over 15,000 people. These efforts included repairing homes, reconstructing a local orphanage, and providing clean drinking water.Sigora Solar continues relief efforts in North and South Carolina after the flooding of Hurricane Florence, drawing from the long history and company values of disaster relief, community outreach, and philanthropy.By: Billy Ludt | October 16, 2018
Fire of the power plant of Digicel Data Center
Early Sunday morning a fire broke out in the power plant that feeds the Data Center of the Digicel, which affected some customer services (Internet services and phone calls).Sunday on his Twitter account, Maarten Boutes President and CEO of Digicel in Haiti indicates that the fire could be controlled thanks to the intervention of the firefighters of Pétion-Ville and that a backup generator had been installed in order to the resumption of the services affected.On its Facebook page, the Digicel indicates that technicians are working to restore 100% service.By: HaitiLibre | 08/27/2018
In Haiti, solar panels key part of plan to bring electric power to remote areas
In a small home in Chansolme, a municipality in northwestern Haiti, Frantzy Monfilston’s three children are finishing their homework before they head to bed.
Monfilston, a primary-school teacher at École Mixte Jérusalem d’Andreau, says that his home had no electricity for years, so his children were forced to finish their homework before sunset.Many in Chansolme and other remote, rural areas in Haiti have limited or no electricity, Monfilston says. Students are only one segment of those hard-hit by the lack of electricity; residents struggle to complete daily chores, start and run businesses, and access information during natural disasters.But some remote communities in the country will soon have a reliable electrical supply.
Frantzy Monfilston, a teacher who lives with his family of four in Chansolme, helps his children finish their homework. Before Monfilston became a beneficiary of “Ma Maison Eclairée” in May 2017, he says, his home had no electricity.
Frantzy Monfilston, a teacher who lives with his family of four in Chansolme, helpshis children finish their homework. Before Monfilston became a beneficiary of“Ma Maison Eclairée” in May 2017, he says, his home had no electricity.Credit: Marie Michelle Felicien/GPJ
“Ma Maison Eclairée,” or Electricity in My Home, a government initiative introduced in May 2017, is bringing electricity to an estimated 10,000 families in Haiti. “I can safely say that the electrification program will result in remote-area dwellers feeling less left out,” says Monfilston, whose family is one of 850 living in Chansolme who have benefited from the initiative, according to government officials.Cost and infrastructure challenges have long prevented Haitian people from getting regular access to electricity, hindering key national developments in health, education and the economy. Officials and beneficiaries say the initiative is improving safety, communications and the quality of life in remote communities across the country.Globally, more than 1.1 billion people have no access to electricity. In Haiti, only 25 percent of the population has access to electricity, according to a 2014 report from the Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization. Many rely on nonrenewable sources of energy, including charcoal, wood fuel and traditional lamps.The government’s goal of bringing renewable sources of energy to remote communities includes the use of solar panels, says Evenson Calixte, government special adviser on energy and director general of Autorité Nationale de Régulation du Secteur de l’Énergie, the nation’s energy-sector regulatory agency.Les Irois, a municipality in western Haiti with an estimated 23,374 residents, was one of the first communities to receive electricity through the government initiative. A total of 380 solar panels, 36 wind turbines and a standby generator have been installed in the municipality, Calixte says.Ma Maison Eclairée also supplies inverters equipped with solar-panel-powered bulbs, which can charge phones and which double as radio receivers, to people living in communities without electricity, Calixte says.The device is rechargeable but can be used for up to three days without recharging. The device, when used as a radio receiver, will allow families to access information instantly, instead of having to travel long distances to urban centers to charge their phones in order to contact relatives and friends in emergencies.During the 2010 earthquake, the most devastating in the country’s history, Haitians without electricity were among those most affected, Calixte says.The initiative, which costs 52.6 million Haitian gourdes ($820,000), requires beneficiaries to pay 125 gourdes ($1.94) each month over a two-year period to help cover the expense, Calixte says.For some, this is a cheaper way to power homes. Before receiving the solar-powered device, residents would pay up to 15 gourdes (23 cents) to buy 6 ounces of gas to use in traditional lamps.Though beneficiaries are required to pay, the devices are sustainable and free to maintain.“In case any equipment breaks down, there’s always a technician ready to provide a repair solution that works free of charge, and people don’t have to pay a single penny for the service,” Calixte says.To become a beneficiary, families in the communities where Ma Maison Eclairée is being implemented must register with their local government. Currently, 3,000 families either have received the solar-powered device or have access to electricity through the installment of solar panels, wind turbines and the standby generator in Les Irois, Calixte says.For Rasita Mesi, electricity in Chansolme has improved the way her children are learning. The mother of three says her household has been a beneficiary of Ma Maison Eclairée since November. Before that, her three sons were forced to do their homework with a wick-fed lamp in the evenings.But other remote communities across the country remain without electricity.St Anne Estil, who resides in Bassin Bleu, a municipality in northwestern Haiti, says she and her neighbors have lived without electricity for decades.But bringing electricity to the country’s remote communities takes time, Calixte says. Ma Maison Eclairée is in its first year of what will be years’ worth of improving Haiti’s electrical networks, he says.By: PRI | Marie Michelle Felicien | Global Press Journal | July 2, 2018
Haiti Tech Summit is Back for its Second Go Round
Haiti Tech Summit, founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, mother, and wife, Christine Souffrant Ntim, is back and will be even bigger than last year. The 13-year initiative of the Global Startup Ecosystem (GSE), which brought together hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, digital marketers, and creatives, will be taking place June 21–23 and like last year, Black Enterprise will be in the building.
In case you missed the first annual tech summit, Haiti hosted 100 global speakers from around the world including Silicon Valley tech titan Ben Horowitz. Additionally, the summit welcomed over 500 guests for two historic days—turning it into the region’s largest tech gathering and Haiti’s first major international global summit ever.
“Hosting an event of this magnitude in Haiti not only aimed to revitalize economic activity in the country but to also provide a new narrative for Haiti and emerging markets,” stated founder, Souffrant Ntim. “Haiti is not open for business. Haiti is open for disruption.”
Founder, Christine Ntim (Image: Haiti Tech Summit)
Companies present last year included Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, PayPal, Mastercard, LinkedIn, Github, Dropbox, Sendgrid, YouTube, and Adobe and in addition to Horowitz, spotlight speakers included, the President of Haiti, his excellency Jovenel Moïse and celebrity influencer, Vicky Jeudy from Netflix series, Orange is the New Black.
The conference also provided resources and tools for entrepreneurs, like access and information to high-end ecosystems like Steve Blank’s Launchpad, Galvanize, Puerto Rico’s Parallel 18, Pivotal Labs, Angel Hack Accelerator, WIN Lab, Startup Grind, Forbes 30 Under 30 listmakers, Brazil’s Laiob-Latin America Institute of Business, and Alter Ventures.
So what resulted from all of this? Airbnb was able to close a 5-year agreement with the Ministry of Tourism; Facebook launched the country’s first internationally recognized developer community, and Google Launchpad launched an accelerator program to source and support the country’s leading startups. Furthermore, the president of Haiti announced the country’s first national incubator for entrepreneurs to be located in the nation’s capital—Port-au-Prince. The incubator launches the first week of June.
With all of that said, what can we expect this year? Well, the summit will return to the luxurious Royal Decameron and will kick off the event, none other than Twitter’s own co-founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey. Dorsey will be discussing his experiences launching and scaling two globally recognized tech startups that both aim to “simplify complexity’—Twitter via communication and Square via financial inclusion.
By: Sequoia Blodgett for Blackenterprise.com | June 1, 2018
Solar Startup Brings Renewable Energy To Haitian Households
One of the most exposed countries in the world to natural disasters, Haiti, an independent island state in the Caribbean with a population of close to 11 million, has been hit by hurricanes, floods and earthquakes with increasing ferocity and frequency. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew wiped out agricultural farms in South Haiti, which prior that year brought 74% of the country’s new jobs.
Although sharing the island with neighboring Dominican Republic where everyone has access to electricity, Haiti has limited access to electricity - where only 38% of Haitians in 2016 have a connection to the electrical grid, a small improvement from 28% of Haitians in 1990. Even those with access to the grid today still experience frequent blackouts and unreliable power quality.Despite dealing with natural disasters and energy poverty, Haiti has optimistically made hard commitments to create a renewable energy economy.
10PowerHaitian Solar Installers
In September 2017, the Haitian Parliament eliminated import tariffs and duties on solar equipment (the US, moving in the opposite direction, imposed a 30% import tariff on Chinese solar panels only a few months later in January 2018). Economy and Finance Minister Jude Alix Patrick Salomon stated in an interview with Haiti newspaper Le Nouvelliste, "we wanted to encourage, as part of this budget, the acquisition of equipment from alternative sources of energy."Haiti is also positioned well for solar. A study by Worldwatch calculated that Haiti receives a comparable amount of average annual sunlight (calculated in global horizontal radiance) to sunny Phoenix, Arizona, making Haiti ideal for solar power. With the high cost of imported diesel, solar is cost competitive and with financing is immediately cost advantageous in Haiti.How will large-scale solar be implemented in Haiti?Leading the charge, millennial female social entrepreneur, Sandra Kwak, and founder of social venture 10Power, is pioneering the way in Haiti by fostering the collaborative support of the public and private sectors. Working in frontier markets, 10Power partners with local installers, providing and financing project developments for commercial-scale solar and energy storage solutions. In turn, this builds market ecosystems. “Our goal is to provide affordable, reliable renewable energy that will save businesses money and create jobs,” says Kwak.10Power estimates the addressable market for commercial-scale solar in Haiti is currently over $500 million . The company has a current sales pipeline of over $100 million. “Haiti has the potential to quickly become a renewable energy powerhouse,” says Kwak. “The steps that are being taken in this direction are encouraging.”
10PowerFounder & CEO of 10Power, Sandra Kwak (on the far right) at Solar Project
Launched in 2016, the company has financed and installed solar power for two water purification centers, providing clean drinking water to surrounding schools and communities and supporting over 600 micro-enterprises, majority women-led. 10Power is continuing its work with plans to implement a large-scale solar energy project with an undisclosed international NGO in the coming months.Kwak’s efforts to date have been recognized, from being awarded an Echoing Green Fellowship to most recently receiving investments from LIFT Economy Force for Good Fund and SheEO.10Power's enthusiasm for solar in Haiti is shared and supported by the local government. The Haitian Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Communications (MTPTC) is working with the World Bank to develop a framework to deploy sustainable mini-grids. “It is exciting to see private sector and international development partnerships taking off,” says Nicolas Allien, Senior Energy Specialist and SREP-CTF Projects Coordinator at MTPTC. “We are implementing well-targeted financial instruments and policy measures in order to attract private sector investments in both on-grid and off-grid renewable energy solutions.”
10PowerHaitian Solar Installers
Haitian President, Jovenel Moïse has set a goal of 24-hour electricity, which he announced in June 2017. His government has formed a National Regulatory Authority for the Energy Sector (ANARSE) led by Evenson Calixte, who is tasked with “facilitating the transition [of the energy sector] from a quasi-monopoly to unprecedented openness to the participation of other state actors…from the private sector."So what?Haiti, despite dealing with natural disasters and energy poverty, is committed and positioned to achieve a renewable energy future. Emerging nations, such as Haiti, should not be underestimated in their potential to shift rapidly to a green future, leapfrogging the fossil fuels industry , with long-term investment and support from the public and private sectors. “Distributed renewable energy has the potential to increase resiliency, prosperity and power sustainable development,” says Kwak, and to achieve this at scale social ventures, such as 10Power, are critical.By: Neil Yeoh for Forbes.com| April 30, 2018
Solving the sanitation situation in Haiti
Haiti (MNN) — Few things are easier to take for granted than toilet paper, but what about people who don’t have bathrooms in the first place?According to Eva DeHart of For Haiti With Love, sanitation is virtually unheard of in the streets of Haiti.“If, in the capital of Port-au-Prince, they have a flushing toilet, you can know that they’re catching water on the roof, and anything that goes into those toilets is going straight out onto the streets,” she says.And that’s a best-case scenario. “If you’re lucky, it goes into canals or rivers and ends up in the ocean,” DeHart says. Everyone else defecates somewhere outside. Sometimes, but not always, they’ll go into bags, but even that only goes so far when they simply throw the bags as far as they’ll fly.“When you have entire communities who have no sanitary system at all, and most of them have no outside latrine, they’re defecating on the ground,” DeHart says. “This is a very unhealthy situation.”That’s why For Haiti With Love is building latrines.
Photo Courtesy For Haiti With Love
For $3,500, they can help set up a community latrine to help provide sanitation needs for indigenous people. So far, their projects have been met with great success, and interest is quickly growing.“The people were so excited about the last one we built that they wanted to know if they could have a three-hole rather than just a two-hole community latrine, and they were willing to forfeit what we would pay them in labor to help build it.”As more latrines go up, more villages are asking for help.“We’ve got a long list of communities now who are willing to set aside enough land to make this happen because they really, really want these projects,” DeHart says. ”We’ve got the land, the workers, the time- all we need is money, materials, and expertise.”And it’s not just about sanitation. These latrine projects give missions workers a chance to share the hope of Christ during construction.“They understand who they work for,” DeHart says. “Jesus will get the glory.”Want to help? Consider giving your time, resources, and prayer to one of the latrine projects.“Jesus uses his people. We need his people to listen to the problem, come forth, and be touched.”By: Alex Anhalt | Mission Network News | March 30, 2018
Haiti tablet company continues to defy odds
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - In our final report on Haiti tonight, we take you back to a factory in Port-au-Prince that's providing high-tech hope and changing so many lives in the process.Four years ago, Local 10 was the first to feature the Surtab company. The small tech firm opened Haiti's first tablet computer factory.We visited Surtab’s factory four years after the country's catastrophic earthquake devastated the island nation’s economy. Many people couldn't believe that Surtab was making computers in Haiti."In many cases, we would advertise online,” said Maartan Boute, the founder of Surtab. “They would say this place doesn't really exist."However, years later, the words on the back of the tablet - -- "Made in Haiti" -- are still making so many, so proud.On social media, our feature story went viral, thousands watched with pride and optimism while others still remained skeptical."What was good about your piece is that it gave us international visibility, and people believed it," Boute said. "Every single delegation from the U.S. and other countries and places wanted to come here and see that it was real."The tablet company has made real progress. More workers have been hired, and the office space has doubled from one long table of android tablet producers since our last visit.Some workers have moved on from the job like Farah Tilus, an earthquake survivor.Tilus used her Surtab salary to become an English teacher.“Things happen. I am very, very lucky,” Tilus said.Surtab sales are mostly in Haiti. The company offers three models with the least expensive tablet selling at just under $100, and the most expensive is $250.But to survive in the tough world of tablet production, the company is going back to the basics."We have more than 25,000 students using our tablets in various grades for education," Boute said.So their team has created an app that serves as a virtual classroom called Sakado, French for backpack. With one of these tablets in hand, students will no longer need backpacks.The goal is to revolutionize Haiti's education system and help more students pass the Baccalaureate, the country's national exam."For this December, we had a 14 percent success rate so an 86 percent failure rate," Boute said. "The reason we developed this app is that we want to get from the 14 percent to 50 to hopefully 80 percent. It improves their ability to get into the workspace, but also improves their ability to get into professional school or maybe win a scholarship to go aboard."By: Calvin Hughes | Local 10 News | February 7, 2018
PSU Enactus team develops hydroponics system for Haitian orphanage
PITTSBURG, Kan. — A group of Pittsburg State University students is trying to leave its mark in the world by developing a hydroponics system for an orphanage in Haiti."Overall, in one word, it has been amazing," said Dodge Mattingly, a freshman from Bluff City, Kansas. "Getting to work with different kinds of people on the same project with one goal — I've had a lot of fun."The group, 20 to 25 students, makes up the university's team for Enactus, a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to create a better world. Enactus students at PSU, who come from majors across the campus, apply business concepts to develop community outreach projects.Enactus has long been associated in Pittsburg with Krimson Kultuur, the fair-trade store it opened in 2013. The store, now only in an online format, sells the work of local artists and artisans in developing countries.Last year, Enactus set its sights on someplace different: Haiti, an impoverished country that in recent years has struggled with the aftermath of a deadly earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak. The students' initial idea was to find a way to encourage business among the Haitians and bring back some items they could sell at Krimson Kultuur."Based upon success with other projects, they decided that if the local citizens were taught business skills, they could open their own businesses and create income for their families," said their adviser, Suzanne Hurt.Three students traveled to Haiti in April 2017 with a partner organization. But after a short time there, and after visiting an orphanage filled with children who had lost their parents in the 2010 earthquake, they discovered the locals didn't need business — they needed food.
Enactus member Emily Vue, a Pittsburg State University senior in international business and international studies, was the project manager for the hydroponics system she and her fellow students built for an orphanage in Haiti. She said she made many young friends on a recent trip to the country. COURTESY | PITTSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY "We came up with hydroponics as an answer," said Emily Vue, a senior from Gravette, Arkansas, who is majoring in international business and international studies. "Building (a hydroponics system) would mean the orphanages could grow their own fresh vegetables and then sell the extra."Developing the systemMattingly, a mathematics and physics major, served as the project's chief engineer and designer. He researched existing hydroponics systems and tried to morph design aspects from each of them into one that would serve the Haitian orphanage.The system for the orphanage, he said, needed to be lightweight and inexpensive. Because of an unreliable power network in Haiti, the system also needed to be independent of an electric pump system, he said.He and the team settled on a nutrient film technique system that would be tailored specifically for use at the orphanage.
"It allows the water to be in a continuous loop and flow, and it will allow the roots of the plants to be covered at the bottom by a thin film of water," he said. "We decided that was the best system for what would be easiest for us to make."
Once the design was in place, the team created a list of needed materials and emailed it to Haiti so partners there could gather what was necessary. Five team members traveled to Haiti during their winter break to build the system at the orphanage.For Mattingly, the trip marked his first flight on an airplane and his first time out of the United States."It was a really unique, really special experience," he said. "I was really impacted by the kids at the orphanage. They imprint on your heart."Vue said it was all hands on deck, and the local Haitians were invested in the project.
"Not only did I gain a valuable experience (as the project manager), but I also feel like I received more than I gave in going to Haiti and meeting the children there," she said. "We were just a bunch of college students with an idea, and everyone there believed in us, and we were able to get it done." The team left the orphanage director with a complete manual for the system. Several of the students plan to return to Haiti sometime this spring to make sure the system is working properly and, hopefully, to find that the seeds they planted are growing."It's hard to capture in one sentence the passion and sacrifice made by a group of college students from a small town in Kansas," Hurt said in a statement from the university. In fact, I'm unsure if their accomplishments can be described in words. As said by one student, it's knowing that one more person, one more child has a full stomach when they go to bed that makes the effort worthwhile.By: Emily Younker | January 30, 2018
Improving postal service in Haiti
In order to boost the various services of the Office des Postes d'Haiti (OPH), a training session on the installation of the new computer system "IPS POST" was given to several employees of the DPO, by Carlos Carballada the Representative of the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (UPAEP).It is important to note that the new "IPS POST" system, which replaces the previous "IPS LIGHT" version, will not only allow the development of e-commerce in Haiti for the year 2018, the tracking of parcels nationally and internationally and will also offer the possibility of carrying out all types of postal transactions such as: sending, receiving and dispatching.Following this training session, Carel Alexandre, the Director General of the OPH recalled that this installation, carried out shortly after the installation of the EMS service at the SONAPI sorting center at the inauguration of a standardized reception structure will allow the optimization of the capacities of the Public Administration.Mr Alexander welcomed the cooperation of its partners, in particular with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the UPAEP, and took the opportunity to reiterate its commitment to redouble efforts at the head of the Office for a national post defying all competitiveness.By: HL/ HaitiLibre - 09/10/2017
Fraud forces EDH to ration the power in Delmas
In a note dated Wednesday, Electricity of Haiti (EDH) recalls and regrets that since September 25, 2017 the power rationing has intensified in some areas of the commune of Delmas, including Delmas 33 until 75 and Delmas 32 until 50 explaining "This unfortunate situation that penalizes regular customers is due mainly to the bad behavior of certain residents conservatives and fraudsters who prevent the completion of the company's plan to repair all the grids in the area for setting up meters in order to better serve the population.The EDH appeals to the entire population and especially to the former committees responsible for theseneighborhoods to remedy this worrying situation which only worsens the already precarious conditions of distribution and marketing of electricity in the country. This will undoubtedly lead to a break with the old practices benefiting only a small group of the zone and hindering at the same time the evolution of the whole commune."By: HL/ HaitiLibre | September 28, 2017
CODEVI: Unwavering Vision
Haiti-based CODEVI industrial park has moved from a vision to the largest employer in the country’s northern region.
Fernando Capellan had a vision that he might be able to build a unique industrial park in Haiti. His vision became a reality and the Compagnie de Développement Industriel S.A. (CODEVI) industrial park in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, on the Dominican Republic border now encompasses 17 buildings, with more in the works.CODEVI is owned by Capellan’s Grupo M, a private apparel manufacturer founded in 1986. The Dominican Republic-based company is vertically integrated and produces knits and woven products for the U.S. market. Capellan opened CODEVI in August 2003. It remains the biggest socioeconomic project in the area and the largest employer in the country’s northern region.But it wasn’t easy for Capellan to realize his vision. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are different countries and cultures with almost no history of industrial collaboration. Each nation has a population of approximately 10 million people. Haiti itself is among the low cost countries of the world. The industry added to that competitive advantage with trade laws and Free Trade Agreement’s such as the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act and the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act that granted use of foreign fabric and duty-free access to the United States, Europe and Canada and of course proximity. Port-au-Prince became the epicenter of factories in Haiti until CODEVI.The construction project ran into standard issues encountered when starting a business in a foreign country including legal framework, identifying a location for the installation, financing, infrastructure, construction, training and much more. Still, what drove the project was Capellan’s unwavering vision — one of a park that consolidated cost-competitive Haitian labor in quantity, was on the border, met Haitian law, combined Dominican expertise and was supported by modern infrastructure. It could export from a more modern and closer Dominican port such as Manzanillo, which is only 20 minutes away, and help to further reduce lead-times and logistics.CODEVI started with 4-million-square-feet of land. In 2008, there were five buildings and 3,000 employees. As of 2017, the park has grown to feature 17 buildings and employs 10,000 people. Brands manufacturing at the park include Levi’s, GAP Inc., Under Armour, Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, Carhartt, and Jockey among other brands; and the owners of factories located in the park are global players based in the United States, Sri Lanka, and China, to name a few countries. These companies do not invest lightly. They commit for years by building a factory from scratch, from the ground up and for the long haul. That’s the vision part of this report.
“The starting point of the park was high,” said Joseph Blumberg, partner and senior vice president, marketing and new business, Grupo M. “We applied the proven formula of Grupo M, which is that compliance is in the DNA of everything we do.” Every detail of energy, training, social responsibility, environment, basic health, cooking, child education, transportation, safety and financial responsibility was considered 10,000 times — for every employee.Take each employee. To be considered for hiring they must be able to read, write and perform basic math. In a country with more than 50 percent unemployment — and often much higher — competition for these jobs is high. When hired, each person receives three months of training at half pay and with full benefits. When hired, they can exceed 40-percent minimum wage with incentives.When ground broke on the park in 2003, the area was extremely basic — hand-to-mouth with no formal economy. Today, the community is served by CODEVI’s radio and TV station that shows entertainment, educates and alerts the community to disease outbreaks. Additionally, back in 2003 none of the employees saved money. Today, more than 90 percent of CODEVI’s 10,000 employees participate in the park’s Savings and Loan Club.Walking through the town of Ouanaminthe wearing a CODEVI badge is a sign of status. Capellan does not take full credit for the company’s success. “We believe that this success is due to the fact that the 10,000 employees identify with the work they do,” he said.“Everyone has the opportunity to receive training and to improve his family’s quality of life.”“We pick the companies who invest here carefully,” Blumberg said. However, it is clear the companies investing in the park see the potential. CODEVI is the only Dominican project in Haiti, and illustrates the value of the synergy each nation and its people bring to the table — motivated workers in a structured, highly efficient production center.Finally, make no mistake, this is not just Dominicans and Haitians either. There may be more than a dozen nationalities working in multiple levels of management throughout the park. As a result, there is a collocated campus of apartments and even a hotel to support the traffic into the park. As for the park itself, it may soon grow from its current 4 million square foot size to nearly 10 million square feet in the future.The expansion will include a MicroPark right across the bridge built to connect the park to the town. It will be a 600,000-square-foot town center featuring a vocational school, fully equipped clinic, food court, housing and recreational facilities. All of this is a part of a bigger picture being developed by the Quisqueya Economic Binational Council (CEBQ) with private sectors of both countries working side-by-side on a range of projects along the whole border to impact the economies and progress of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.Vision? Visions are pictures from the ends of albums of photos of other visions that hit the wall. As they say, it’s a dream until its put into writing, then it’s a plan. CODEVI was put into writing and Grupo M never changed a word of the plan because the plan was to “do it right from the start.”
Solar Energy Storage Resilience: On the Ground in Haiti
Online, television, radio and print news services are awash with reports of Hurricane Harvey and Irma’s devastating effects in Texas, Florida and neighboring southeastern U.S. states, and justifiably so. Attaining record-setting proportions and sustained wind speeds, Hurricane Irma swept across the Caribbean’s Greater and Lesser Antilles from the Leeward Islands of Antigua and Barbuda to Cuba this past week, leaving a path of destruction in its wake before proceeding to batter and inundate Florida and parts of neighboring Georgia and Alabama.An executive from NextEra Energy-owned Florida Power & Light, the third largest rate-regulated utility in the U.S., said that more than half the state had lost grid power during the hurricane. That would amount to more than 10 million people. Furthermore, he added that the subsequent rebuilding effort may amount to the largest, most complex undertaking of its kind in U.S. power industry history.Hope springs eternal, however; and the devastation left in Harvey and Irma’s wake also presents golden opportunities to design and build more resilient, reliable, efficient and environmentally ways to produce, store and distribute energy and power. Rather than pitting strength against strength and using force against force, distributed solar and renewable energy services providers and their customers are designing, engineering, rolling out, operating and maintaining on-site and local power and energy systems and microgrids that promise to be more sustainable – economically and in terms of reliability, as well as when it comes to human and environmental health and integrity.That includes pioneering climate-smart solar PV-energy storage and distributed energy services providers in the Caribbean, as well as in the U.S. and worldwide. Micro-utility Sigora Haiti, for example, went to great lengths to ensure that its solar PV-battery energy storage microgrids withstood Irma’s onslaught, as well as re-energized and soon after began delivering emissions-free electricity services to some 8,000 customers in rural towns in northwestern Haiti. Their efforts have paid off.
Following a Path of Destruction
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were the latest of nature’s extreme weather phenomena to reveal the weaknesses and faults in even the most modern, high-tech and disaster-hardened communications, water, power and energy grids and infrastructure. Whether living in a small Caribbean island nation or overseas territory, such as the Dominican Republic, Haiti or Puerto Rico, or in a modern city in a thoroughly industrialized country, such as Houston or Miami Beach, power grids, as well as water distribution systems and telecommunications networks, were shut down or knocked out if not completely leveled, leaving residents without critical public services.
Harvey and Irma should lend yet more urgency to current U.S. and international initiatives aimed at developing and deploying a new generation of more resilient, more efficient, socioeconomically equitable and environmentally friendly emissions-free power and energy technologies and network systems.
Occupying the western one-third or so of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola just east of Cuba, Haiti has borne more than its fair share of natural disasters and strife. Hurricane Irma strafed the Caribbean island nation, knocking down and flooding buildings, homes and roads and leaving residents along the north coast largely in the dark.Non-profit, public and private sector organizations flocked to Haiti to lend assistance in the wake of the 2010 earthquake that left large portions of the population homeless and devastated much of what existed in the way of public infrastructure. Keen to make a lasting, positive difference, some have stayed on while others have arrived and are pitching in to help Haitians with ongoing recovery efforts, as well as take on a host of persistent issues and challenges, such as population growth, unemployment, lack of education and training, deforestation, freshwater, land and natural resources degradation, agricultural production and access to safe, reliable and affordable electricity.Sigora Haiti numbers among a small but fast growing crop of sustainable energy development-minded social enterprises that have taken root in developing countries worldwide. They have found fertile ground for growth amid global efforts to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and address longstanding issues that have been serving as barriers to sustainable socioeconomic development.
From Electrifying a Single Health Clinic to Becoming a Pioneering Sustainable Micro-Utility
Founded with the intention of bringing safe, sustainable electricity to a single health clinic, Sigora Haiti now finds itself managing just over 1-MW of solar power generation capacity and having earned a place at the leading edge of the shift to building out sustainable power and energy infrastructure and fostering equitable socioeconomic development.Sigora Haiti connected its first solar-storage microgrid customer, the Môle-St. Nicolas Public Health Clinic in the rural northwest Haitian town it was named after, in December 2015. The ambitious founders then went on to build and commission their first community solar-storage microgrid less than a year later, and then gained a concession from the Haitian government to build out microgrid infrastructure and connections to some 100,000 residents, VP of Operations Drew Lebowitz explained in an interview.Sigora is making use of solar PV, supplementing that with diesel-based power generation as needed, and integrating that with intelligent battery energy storage and smart metering communications technology. The microgrids are managed via its own micro-utility management systems platform.
The sustainable energy and development start-up is in the midst of expanding from a current level of around 8,000 microgrid connections, an estimated 40,000 people. That encompasses three community microgrids – Sigora’s first in Môle-St. Nicolas, a larger system in the larger, nearby town of Jean Rabel, and a smaller, recently commissioned hybrid solar-diesel and battery energy storage “pico-grid” in the neighboring, yet remote, fishing village of Presqu’île.Management aims to increase the number of microgrid connections and residents served substantially over the course of the next six months, to around 1,500 (4,500 people) in Môle-St. Nicolas and from about 450 in Jean Rabel to around 3,000 (an estimated 15,000 people). Sigora also intends to build a new community microgrid and connect its first customers in the town of Bombardopolis over the next six months.
Building a Green, Hurricane-Proof Micro-Utility for Sustainable Development
All told, Sigora is well on its way towards achieving its phase one goal of increasing microgrid connections from 1,500 to 5,000, an estimated 15,000 people. Part B of its phase one plan entails boosting that all the way up to 27,000, or an estimated 135,000 individuals across Haiti’s northwest coastal area, Lebowitz told Solar Magazine.Sigora management is looking out over an even longer term horizon. “Our 10-year plan is to electrify 2 million people by 2025,” the company states on its website.Sigora Haiti on Sept. 6 announced that it was “taking pre-emptive action to minimize potential damage to its microgrids and protect the health and safety of its people and the wider community ahead of the anticipated landfall of Hurricane Irma.” With wind speeds exceeding 75 miles (121 kms) per hour, Irma was a rated a Category 5 hurricane at the time, the maximum on the Saffir-Simpson index scale.Forecasts called for Irma to land and make its way across Haiti’s northern coast, some 65 miles (105 kms) north of the three solar-storage microgrids the company built and operates in Môle-St. Nicolas, Jean Rabel and Presqu’île over the course of the succeeding two days.“We are expecting severe winds, flying debris, storm surge, and flooding. Any waterway, including those that are normally dry, may jump their banks and become dangerous” Lebowitz explained. “The most dangerous aspect of the storm in these towns is debris. In a high-wind scenario, everything that’s not bolted down becomes a missile.”“Our priority is providing reliable electricity to our customers and if a temporary interruption in service is necessary, we want to ensure that it is as short as possible” added Sigora Haiti’s Deputy Director of Operations Tyler Welsh.
Taking Preemptive Measures
The preventive measures Sigora Haiti enacted included pruning trees at risk of falling on power line, and reinforcing potentially unstable structures in both towns. Employees in Môle-St. Nicolas removed all the solar panels from the company’s recently completed 200-kW (kilowatt) solar array so as to prevent flying debris from damaging them, which could have caused problems bringing PV electricity production back online once the hurricane passed.Sigora Haiti management stood ready to shut down power generation and distribution preemptively when wind speeds and rainfall were at their highest, and then restore it once repairs had been made and safety and security had been assured. They also advised customers of planned grid shutdowns in advance via radio and via megaphone announcements as employees made their way through the towns, a common means of doing business and delivering products and services to customers’ homes through the Caribbean and Latin America.The company was also stockpiling water purification materials, medical kits and food at its offices in Jean Rabel and Môle-St. Nicolas. The latter is a nine-hour drive from Haiti’s capital Port au Prince and road conditions aren’t really all that good even at the best of times, management pointed out. Furthermore, In preparation for post-hurricane operations, Sigora pledged to the mayors of both towns that its work crews and equipment could be called upon to support any relief and reconstruction efforts that might have been required in the wake of Irma’s passing.Commenting on the progress Sigora Haiti was making as it carried out its hurricane preparedness plans, Lebowitz said: “It’s the community and capacity we have built locally that makes the difference. We have an incredibly capable team that is trained in technical matters and safety concerns for preparing the population, taking precautions, and being ready to put things back together whatever happens.”
Well Trained, Well Prepared, On Location and On Call
Last October, Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 hurricane, left parts of Haiti without power for more than three weeks. Sigora Haiti was able to restore power to its Môle-St-Nicolas grid in just 55 hours, management noted. The company bested that mark, and by a wide margin, in responding to Category 5 Hurricane Irma.“Sigora Haiti has restored power to all of its 8,000 customers in Môle-St-Nicolas and Jean Rabel, in northwest Haiti following Hurricane Irma, which traversed Haiti’s northern coast in the early hours of Friday, September 8th. Sigora customers experienced less than 10 hours of down time as the Category 5 Hurricane raged offshore and tropical storm winds pummeled the coast,” management announced in a Sept. 8 press release.Management shut down all power generation around 2:30 AM local time on Friday, Sept. 8. Work crews began carrying out field inspections and grid walks to verify that grid infrastructure had not sustained any damages as soon as the hurricane passed and it was deemed safe to do so. The micro-utility’s grid systems were cleared to re-energize at around 7:40 AM and full power was restored to both towns by 11:55 that morning, local time, according to Sigora.Irma made a slight, but somewhat fortuitous change in course as it passed across Puerto Rico, sparing the towns and communities dotting the north coasts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti from taking direct hits from the hurricane’s core “eyewall,” where wind speeds are updrafts of water and water vapor are highest.That said, one Môle-St. Nicolas resident described the thoughts and feelings that ensued: “We were scared. We didn’t know if today was going to come.”
Setting a New Mark for Power Restoration
On Friday morning, Sigora work crews also began deploying equipment to support clean-up, reconstruction and general recovery efforts in the two towns. A team also was sent to Presqu’île, a remote fishing village that lies across the bay from Môle-St. Nicolas to inspect the solar PV-battery energy storage “pico grid” Sigora operates and carry out any repairs to prepare to re-energize it.
The 2.7-kWh sustainable energy system provides each of 51 households with 120-volt electricity, which enables families to light their dwellings and charge their mobile phones. Family members previously had to trek three hours to the closest town, some 5 miles (8 kms) away, and pay much more to charge their phones, Sigora pointed out.“We take hurricane preparedness very seriously – given where we are located, we have to,” Lebowitz commented. “There is a lot of talk about resilience, but this is what it looks like in practice.“It’s thanks to the preemptive action of our local teams that the grid didn’t sustain more extensive damage, and that’s what enabled us to get power back to our customers so quickly today.”By: Andrew Burger | September 20, 2017
Natcom, 2017 fastest mobile network in the country
As part of its 6th anniversary of existence (11 September 2017) the National Telecommunications SA. (Natcom) is proud to announce that the company has won the "The Speedest Award" of the fastest mobile network in Haiti in 2017 with a speed score of 9.64, with average speeds of 10.51 Mbps for downloads and 4.24 Mbps for additions.This speed is calculated from the results of the world leader of tests and analyzes on Internet Ookla through its Internet analysis tool "speedtest". The speed score includes a measure of download and addition to classify the performance of the network speed (90% of the score is attributed to the download speed and the remaining 10% to the upload speed).Download and upload speeds are calculated using a modified "trimean". Ookla takes speeds of the 10th percentile, 50th percentile (also known as median) and 90th percentile and combines them on a weighted average using 1: 2: 1 reactively. The emphasis is put on the median because this is what most of the network provider's clients will experience on a day-to-day basis."This award is an honor," said Duong Ha The, Natcom's Chief Executive Officer. "By receiving this award, the company confirms one of its slogans 'Nou se data'"HL/ HaitiLibre - 11/09/2017
Digicel gives free minutes and SMS
With the passage of Hurricane IRMA on several islands in the Caribbean, Digicel today announced that it will provide customers in affected markets with free calls so they can communicate with their relatives.Digicel Haiti will accompany its customers in the affected areas by providing them with a special allowance of 10 minutes and 50 SMSs after the passage of RMA to communicate with Digicel subscribers."We understand the need to be able to quickly contact our relatives to ensure that they are safe and sound after an emergency and we are happy to offer our customers the means to do so," said Maarten Boute, the President of Digicel Haiti "The safety of our customers is always our highest priority. Thus, we encourage everyone to stay tuned to weather messages and to follow the safety instructions."In anticipation of Hurricane Irma, as of Monday, Digicel has activated its emergency plan.With respect to the reopening of its offices in the affected areas, Digicel will keep its subscribers informed as the situation evolves.By: HL/ HaitiLibre | September 8, 2017
Haitian Airline Sunrise New Routes to Orlando and Miami
A community that works together and invests in each other grows togetherA few month ago I met Pascal and Samuel at Sunrise office to discuss collaborating on a few projects between our respective Company. It was the first time I heard about Sunrise initiative to explore new routes, but this time, it will be in the states; specifically in Orlando and Miami. The news was confirmed by their head of Marketing during an event at NH Haiti El Rancho hosted by Haitian-Benelux Chamber of Commerce.On August 25, 2017, the official Facebook page of the company announced the date of the inaugural flight, as well as the price of their round trips. A critical step and an amazing accomplishment for the Haitian Airline, which started with two small planes that are still serving Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince route. While this is a huge success for the Haitian company, we need to support them for them to stay in business.A community that works together and invests in each other grows together; and the company promises to remain competitive on the market. They make it their mission to continue to provide excellent customer service and competitive prices. This moment reminds me of the first AA flight in my hometown (Cap-Haitien), I was excited that I did not sleep in fear of missing out on history. History is once again happening, and we hope you will be part of it.According to the CEO, the mission of the company is to become the premier regional airline operator in the Caribbean by developing a cohesive route network in an efficient, cost-effective, and safe environment. They want to leverage success and profitability through a streamlined and innovative approach to growing the footprint of Sunrise Airways. On top of the Miami and Orlando routes, the company is looking forward to adding Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, Curacao and more.By Davidson Toussaint | August 25, 2017