Green Village Electric Shines Bright: Improving Lives in Nigeria With Aid From IEEE Smart Village

One of the IEEE Smart Village (ISV) initiative's model success stories is Green Village Electric (GVE) Projects in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. As college students, Ifeanyi Orajaka (Figure 1) and his GVE cofounders, Chuka Eze and Ikechukwu Onyekwelu, had a dream. They envisioned using their electrical engineering background to improve lives in their home state of Anambra, Nigeria. Early in 2012, their efforts received sponsorship from what was, at the time, the IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES) Community Solutions Initiative. From that initial seed funding, Orajaka and his team have grown their business to serve more than 14 villages, employ 54 people, create more than 975 indirect jobs, and provide power to more than 7,320 households. As of April 2019, GVE has installed 650.45 kW of solar power systems for rural energy access.