Community Details
▾| System Component | Value |
|---|---|
| Solar Array | — |
| Battery Storage | — |
| Peak Demand | — |
| Monthly Generation | — |
| Financial Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total CAPEX (USD) | — |
| CAPEX per Connection | — |
| Monthly Revenue | — |
| Annual Revenue | — |
| Payback Period | — |
| Fixed Revenue Tariff | $0.40/kWh |
| Annual OPEX Assumption | 5% of CAPEX |
| Illustrative 40% Grant Cap | — |
Screening result vs evidence readiness
Calculate the screening result, then mark only the evidence your project has actually confirmed.
0 of 4 evidence gates confirmed. A screening label is not yet project readiness.
Checklist marks are local notes, not verification by AfroTools. Financing, tax, replacements, downtime, collection loss, and detailed engineering remain outside the model.
No screening result calculated yet.
Solar Mini-Grid Feasibility in Africa — Key Considerations
This calculator provides a first-pass demand, system-size, CAPEX, revenue, and simple-payback screen. Its result uses a fixed USD 0.40/kWh sales tariff and 5% of CAPEX as annual operating cost; it does not establish demand, collections, permits, grant eligibility, or project finance.
Disclaimer: Treat VIABLE, MARGINAL, or CHALLENGING as a model label only. Pre-feasibility still requires seasonal load and willingness-to-pay surveys, anchor-customer checks, site and solar assessment, regulatory review, and detailed engineering.
Keep model output separate from field evidence
The protected engine sizes a concept and labels simple payback. The readiness gate records whether the minimum demand, payment, anchor, site, and regulatory evidence exists to justify deeper work.
- Model assumption: sales revenue is fixed at USD 0.40/kWh and annual OPEX at 5% of CAPEX.
- Field evidence: measured loads and willingness to pay must replace household and business-count proxies.
- Approval path: an illustrative grant cap is not grant eligibility, funding availability, or a DFI decision.
Private by default. Community inputs and checklist marks stay in this browser unless you choose to copy the screening brief.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the mini-grid screening result mean?
VIABLE, MARGINAL, or CHALLENGING is a protected-model label based on simple payback thresholds. It is not a feasibility study, bankability opinion, permit, grant decision, or investment recommendation.
Which tariff and operating-cost assumptions drive payback?
The protected model fixes sales revenue at USD 0.40 per kWh converted to local currency and subtracts annual operating cost equal to 5% of modeled CAPEX. Collection loss, downtime, financing, tax, and replacements are not modeled.
Which evidence should be checked before pre-feasibility?
Confirm a seasonal load survey, willingness and ability to pay at the model tariff, anchor-customer offtake, and the site, land, regulatory, environmental, and interconnection route.