"Since we implemented the standardised OpenPAYGO™ Metrics, the transfer of PAYGO tokens to our devices has been very reliable and efficient. It simplifies the work with different partners using this same data structure"
Thomas G., Access to Energy Institute ( A2EI )
Our vision
The SolarisLab team is committed to setting standards which facilitate the adoption of PAYGO products that help accelerate rural or low-income community access to life-changing amenities such as energy, water supply, health, or digital services. As part of this ongoing mission, SolarisLab has been at the head of open-source technology development.
OpenPAYGO™ Suite is an evolving stack of open-source technologies developed as part of a collaborative effort between our engineers and key figures funding innovative development in the PAYGO sector. SolarisLab’s suite of technologies is fully open source, interoperable and scalable to the needs of any manufacturer or distributing organisation.
How does it work?
OpenPAYGO™ Suite allows players within the solar energy industry to collaborate with one another and ensure that solutions meet the needs of the industry as a whole, while also ensuring interoperability, reliability and affordability for PAYGO technology. OpenPAYGO™ Link, Metrics, and Token, can be implemented individually, or integrated together as a seamless stack, to facilitate the transition to a PAYGO commercial model. SolarisLab engineers designed this suite to be intuitive and simple to manage; if your organisation requires assistance for the testing or implementation, SolarisLab can provide it on a consulting basis.
What the OpenPAYGO™ Suite includes:
An innovative suite of open-source firmware technology revolutionising PAYGO. These standards aim to drive industry-wide adoption and enhance affordability, accessibility, and scalability for energy access solutions.
A token-generating protocol developed with Solaris Offgrid in collaboration with The EnAcces Foundation. This technology securely transmits PAYGO credit encoded on a token, allowing PAYGO software to securely activate a PAYGO device.
A data-structuring protocol that allows connected devices to send usage data to a server on an operations management platform which can then retrieve information about its activation status and modify it accordingly.
A communication protocol for a wired connection between PAYGO devices and their accessories. It can also mediate the activation of PAYGO accessories using OpenPAYGO™ Token. It has a LIN-based electrical layer and an OCF-based application layer.
Why open-source?
Open-source technology is an important driver for interoperability. Creating standards to facilitate the adoption of PAYGO products helps accelerate rural or low-income community access to life-changing amenities such as energy, water supply, health, or digital services.
In addition, it fosters cost reductions across the industry by facilitating the integration of standardised communication protocols across multiple PAYGO systems and eliminating the need for new PAYGO mechanisms.
Security
The security of the algorithm and the implementation has been reviewed by several industry specialists and got a thorough formal audit from a cryptography expert.
Like most systems used to secure online banking nowadays, the fact that the software is open source does not reduce its security. Even if everybody knows how it works, it is perfectly secure for each distributor or manufacturer as long as they keep their key secret.
About PAYGO Technology
With digital finance innovations such as Mobile Money and "Pay-as-you-go" (PAYGO) technologies in the fields of energy, water supply, or even agriculture, millions of people at the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid are now able to access essential services through affordable financial transactions.
Paygo-enabled products and solutions allow end users to digitally pay for energy in small instalments through a pre-paid "rent-to-own" model, thus unlocking affordability for low-income customers and greater commercial viability for distributors.
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