The Project at a Glance
Lateral Electrification – A Scalable Model for Rural Energy Access
Delivering affordable, reliable and scalable electricity to underserved rural communities through a bottom-up, modular electrification model enabling progressive grid development.
🏢 Start-up / Organization
Nanoé
👤 Project Leader
Nolwenn LE SAUX & Nicolas SAINCy – Co-founders
🌍 Country
Madagascar, with a model designed for replication across Sub-Saharan Africa
⚡ Energy Sector Segment
Rural electrification, distributed solar nanogrids, decentralized energy systems, mesh-grids
🧠 Key Technology(ies)
- Modular solar nanogrids connecting small clusters of households
- Smart Nanogrid Controller (proprietary DC smart metering and energy management system)
- Nanogrid interconnection modules enabling the progressive formation of village-scale mesh-grids
- Integrated software platform for technical monitoring, PAYG and operations management
- Ongoing innovation in IoT-enabled energy systems and system optimization
📊 Status
Scale-up stage
Hero
Company Overview
Nanoé is a social enterprise pioneering a new approach to rural electrification, known as Lateral Electrification, designed to deliver affordable, scalable and adaptive energy access in underserved areas.
Since 2017, Nanoé has deployed over 3,200 solar nanogrids, connecting more than 13,000 households and serving approximately 65,000 people across rural regions of Northern Madagascar.
Rather than relying on large, capital-intensive infrastructure, Nanoé builds electrification systems progressively from the ground up. The model starts with small, modular solar nanogrids serving clusters of 4 to 6 households, which can then be interconnected over time to form village-scale microgrids.
This approach enables a progressive electrification pathway, aligned with local demand and economic development. As access expands, the system supports the emergence of productive uses — such as refrigeration, small businesses or agro-processing — which in turn drive further demand and justify infrastructure upgrades.
Nanoé’s model is designed to evolve with communities, creating a virtuous cycle between electrification and local economic growth, while reducing upfront investment risks through modular deployment.
By combining adaptive infrastructure, local entrepreneurship and a service-based approach, Nanoé offers a cost-efficient and scalable alternative to traditional electrification models, with strong potential for replication across Sub-Saharan Africa.
“We do not electrify villages in one step — we enable them to grow into their own energy systems, at their own pace, in line with their economic development.”
Challenge
Despite progress in recent years, rural electrification in Madagascar remains constrained by the limits of existing models.
A large share of the rural population lives in small and dispersed villages that are not suitable for conventional mini-grid deployment, due to insufficient population density and demand to justify the required upfront investments.
As a result, these communities are often left aside by traditional electrification approaches.
Standalone solar home systems can provide basic access, but remain limited in capacity and do not enable the development of shared infrastructure at the village level, nor the emergence of productive uses of energy.
This creates a structural gap: millions of rural households live in settlements that are too small for mini-grids, yet require more than individual solar solutions to unlock local economic development.
Addressing this challenge requires electrification models that can deploy efficiently in small, dispersed communities, while supporting shared infrastructure and productive uses at the local level.
The Solution
Nanoé has developed an approach to rural electrification, Lateral Electrification, enabling deployment in any type of rural settlement, from the smallest villages to larger communities.
It relies on modular solar nanogrids connecting small groups of households, which can be progressively interconnected to form village-scale microgrids.
This allows incremental deployment, aligned with local needs, while supporting productive uses of electricity such as small businesses or agro-processing.
Combined with a service-based model and local entrepreneurs, this approach provides a scalable and cost-efficient solution for rural electrification.
How It Works
Nanoé identifies rural villages and assesses local energy needs to define an initial deployment of solar nanogrids.
Each nanogrid connects a small group of households and is equipped with a smart controller enabling energy management and pay-as-you-go access.
As demand grows, additional nanogrids are deployed and progressively interconnected to increase available power and extend the network at village level.
Deployment and operations are carried out by trained local entrepreneurs, while Nanoé provides technology, supervision and system management through its digital platform.
Impact on the Ground
Nanoé’s model delivers immediate access to reliable electricity for rural households, improving living conditions and reducing reliance on costly and polluting energy sources.
Beyond basic access, it enables the development of productive uses of energy, supporting income-generating activities such as refrigeration, small businesses and agro-processing.
This contributes to local economic development, job creation and increased resilience of rural communities.
The model also reduces carbon emissions by replacing diesel-based solutions and kerosene lighting with solar-based systems.
By combining local entrepreneurship and decentralized infrastructure, Nanoé strengthens local capacity while ensuring long-term sustainability of electrification systems
Results So Far
Since 2017, Nanoé has deployed over 3,200 solar nanogrids, connecting more than 13,000 households and serving approximately 65,000 people across Northern Madagascar.
The model has been successfully implemented across a wide range of rural contexts, demonstrating its ability to deploy efficiently in both small and larger villages.
Nanoé has also built a network of local entrepreneurs responsible for deployment and operations, supporting the scalability and sustainability of the approach.
These results confirm both the technical reliability and the operational viability of the model, as well as strong demand for decentralized and adaptable electrification solutions.
What’s Next
Nanoé’s priority is to scale its model across Madagascar, reaching new regions through partnerships with local operators, while continuing to innovate and strengthen its technologies and operational model to better serve rural electrification.
Building on this foundation, the company will initiate pilot projects in other Sub-Saharan African countries to validate the replicability of its approach in new contexts.
