British Virgin Islands Receives First OffGridBox for Hurricane Relief and Grid Backup
Boston, Mass., Feb 18th - OffGridBox was able to install the first box in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) for disaster relief purposes through the purchase of All Hands and Hearts, an international non-profit profoundly involved in the disaster relief recovery of the islands. Funded by the BVI Ministry of Education and Culture, the box gives hope to Ivan Dawson Primary School in Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, as they continue to not only rebuild but to be resilient after the hurricane.
Jennifer Welsh, finance manager at Tortola Smart Response Project, was on site and she expressed: “Our team undertook the rebuilding of the school in May of 2018, the Box was the final stage to ensure the school had electricity and water in the event of an emergency. Thank you to OffGridBox for the support to ensure the children are in school and safe.”
The OffGridBox will enable Ivan Dawson Primary School to become a “Smart School,” an initiative led by the Ministry, equipped with grid backup and a disaster relief hub with shelter, renewable electricity and purified water! In fact, the commercial grid in the BVI is not always reliable: it is not uncommon for the island to experience blackouts for a couple of hours. Acting as a grid backup, the OffGridBox will enable the school to still power computers and lights and conduct class as usual during blackout situations. On the other hand, in a disaster prone country like the BVI, the box will also act as a disaster relief hub for the community in case of an emergency.
Essentially, more than one year after two back-to-back hurricanes - Category 5 Hurricane Irma and Category 4 Hurricane Maria - made landfall in the BVI, the people and country are still continuing to rebuild. Ultimately, the OffGridBox, as a sustainable turnkey energy solution, will directly aid the rebuilding efforts and make the country more resilient and more prepared in case of another natural disaster, while also serving as a grid backup for the commercial grid.
About OffGridBox
OffGridBox is an all-in-one sustainable solution providing clean water and solar power to people in remote areas. OffGridBox is the brainchild of founders Emiliano Cecchini and Davide Bonsignore from 2014. They became inspired to create more efficient technical solutions after working on several OXFAM clean energy projects in South Africa that took more than 3 weeks to install. Since then, more than 36 boxes have been deployed in 9 countries, serving thousands of people in difficult circumstances. Projects range from disaster relief, cooperatively with NGOs, to rural electrification. OffGridBox is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, at Greentown Labs and the company’s mission is to provide affordable clean water and electricity in remote areas. For more information about OffGridBox, please visit https://www.offgridbox.com
OffGridBox installation at the Ivan Dawson Primary School, in collaboration with All Hands and Hearts and the BVI Ministry of Education.