The easy-to-use IBM Research Empower Solar app designs a solar photovoltaic (PV) system for homes or businesses based on the sunlight at the location, the direction of the roof, and a list of electrical appliances that need to be powered.

The design includes specification of the solar panels, storage batteries, controller, inverter, and the estimated cost, currently available in South African Rand. Once the user chooses their appliances and the frequency of use, the app recommends the solar system needed to meet the demand.

With more than 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa living away from the energy grid, and 80 per cent of Africa un-electrified, the aim of the new IBM platform is to help leapfrog and avoid building costly energy grids, and pivot instead to solar energy.

“Grid instability and rolling blackouts have increased the popularity of battery-based solar systems in African cities. However, homeowners embarking on this journey have quickly discovered that they are ill equipped to navigate the many options presented by solar suppliers,” said Dr Ashley Gritzman, a research scientist at IBM Research. “With our app, we eliminate these barriers to entry by enabling users to design a system for themselves.”

Fellow IBM researcher Toby Kurien developed the app’s usability and interface.

“Under the covers of the app is a sophisticated algorithm we developed, which takes the solar radiation data for locations to recommend the type of solar system needed based on the average needs over the year,” he said.

The app runs within the browser of any PC or smartphone and is hosted in the IBM Cloud. For the launch, it is targeted at users in South Africa, but the team expects to add more countries in the near future.

“The app can be used by anyone in Africa, we just need to find more suppliers outside of South Africa who are interested in sharing their product and services pricing data so we can calculate the estimates,” said Gritzman.