Techno-Hill Engineering

PFAN
Techno-Hill Engineering

Country: Myanmar

Back when Techno–Hill Engineering, Ltd. was founded in 2016, the power needs of some 70% of Myanmar’s rural areas were still not being covered reliably by the country’s national grid. Such massive blind spots leave hundreds of villages on islands and remote areas, not to mention thousands upon thousands of Myanma with intermittent and overpriced power – or even no power at all. Perhaps nobody is more affected by these rural energy deficits than Myanmar’s female population.

Key Highlights

Technology Rural electrification and energy access
Technology Solar
Country Myanmar
Business type Brownfield

400K Investment Amount (USD)
22% Project IRR
82 GHG mitigation impact (tonnes of CO2e/year)
.21 Installed capacity (MW)

Regional Coordinator

Peter du Pont
Southeast Asia
About Peter
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Techno-Hill Engineering

’When we look at the village women, their daily lives are quite hard. They have to wake up early, they have to use firewood to cook, they have to do all the house chores’

Barani Aung, Founder, Techno-Hill Engineering, Ltd

Today however, Techno-Hill’s mini grids are providing power to over 6,600 such households, not to mention, all previously out of reach from the national grid in Myanmar. For many of these women, it’s life-changing. Electricity provides women with an easier means for cooking and washing and creates opportunities for home industries and rural productive use enterprises will create women employment opportunities. With sufficient lighting at night, it creates a safer environment for movement and studying opportunities for women.

Now that we provide 24-hour electricity, they can use electric cookers… they can save their time! Some households use a washing machine now, or an iron.’’ The mini grids also have trickle down effects through contributing to productive use of energy by their customers. ‘’One lady even started a bakery at her house,’’ says Aung. ‘’Some women [have] opened up shops now.”

With guidance from PFAN, Techno-Hill has been able to leverage what were initially unforeseen benefits, and attracted support from a variety of sources. In addition to connecting previously off-grid sites, Techno-Hill is making greener energy more affordable and reliable for thousands of homes and SMEs. Their centralised and hybrid mini grid systems sell more reliable power for less than previously paid for utterly unreliable and more carbon-costly services.

With a growth model built upon first targeting the villages with the highest potential revenue, Techno-Hill is shooting for the moon, and is aiming to provide electricity to 50,000 households by 2025.

The project goes far beyond growing a customer base though. Well aware of the benefits her company’s mini grids provide to Myanma women, Aung sets aside several kilowatt hours of energy free for public services, providing light to thousands in the form of street lamps, or free lighting for schools and hospitals. These developments benefit the region’s women in particular, improving access to health and education, providing the opportunity to walk home safely at night on lit streets and literally providing power to fuel those enterprising new ideas. Aung also works to share her learnings and insights with other, for example, her participation on the PFAN panel “Lessons from the Trenches: How Can We Scale Up Investment into SME Clean Energy Projects?” at the Asia Clean Energy Forum 2022.

Nexus for Development, a non-profit which provides access to finance for clean energy in Asia, has been working with Techno Hill since 2019 and saw the potential for expansion. They manage the Pioneer Facility fund which provides scale-up capital to enterprises that offer sustainable energy and clean water solutions to underserved populations in Southeast Asia. The fund’s USD 400,000 loan is the first international investment into the company, which will finance the CAPEX for a new 209 kW solar mini grid project at Thae Chaung village in Southern Myanmar. It will provide reliable 24-hour electricity supply for 700 households or 3000people, 90 streetlights, 5 public facilities and 23 productive use of energy (PUE) businesses.

This financial closure is a huge boon for Aung, but she’s not content to sit back and rest on her laurels. She plans to continue to scale-up and is seeking further equity or debt financing for Techno-Hill. Together with her PFAN Advisor, Min Chan Win, Aung is working on new financing targets up to $1M in debt financing.

’The coaching gave her better sense of the overall value proposition and an enhanced perspective on the critical work she does for vulnerable rural women and communities,’’ says Chan Win. ‘’Based on this, she’s working towards sharpening her investment pitch, so that the newly attracted capital could not only benefit Techno-Hill, but also be meaningful for the rural beneficiaries across the country.’’