Team About the Library History of the Library The Library started when NFE was a company of just 3 people to make sharing information efficient and easy. We knew that future NFE team-members wouldn’t be able to see emails about process changes that were being sent before they joined and that most of the people who would eventually join NFE likely hadn’t even heard of us yet. This Library was our way of ensuring that all of our company information was accessible to everyone regardless of when they became part of the team. Advantages At NFE our Library is extensive and keeping it relevant is an important part of everyone’s job. It is a vital part of who we are and how we communicate. We established these processes because we saw these benefits: Reading is much faster than listening. Reading is async, you don’t have to interrupt someone or wait for them to become available. Talent Acquisition is easier if people can see what we stand for and how we operate. Retention is better if people know what they are getting into before they join. On-boarding is easier if you can find all relevant information spelled out. Teamwork is easier if you can read how other parts of the company work. Discussing changes is easier if you can read what the current process is. Communicating change is easier if you can just point to the page history. Everyone can contribute to it by directly editing a page. One common concern newcomers to the Library express is that the strict documentation makes the company more rigid. In fact, writing down our current process in the handbook has the effect of empowering contributors to propose change. As a result, this Library is far from rigid. You only need to look at the Library home page to see the evidence. Every attempt is made to document guidelines and processes in the Library. However, it is not possible to document every possible situation or scenario that could potentially occur. Just because something is not yet in the Library does not mean that it is allowed. Aaron Tushabe is the primary custodian of the Library, please talk to him in the #general channel on Matrix if you're unsure about something concerning this Library.  Library Interpretation The Library is subject to interpretation. We do our best to be as clear as possible to minimize confusion and/or misinterpretation. We also recognize that we have a global audience and that may bring different interpretations. If you have any questions or need further clarification please check with the content owner of any given page. When in doubt please reach out and ask. Remember that everything is in draft at NFE and subject to change, this includes our Library.  We rarely mark any content or proposals as drafts. Everything is always in draft and subject to change. When everything is in draft, contributions from team members as well as the wider community are welcomed. By having everything in draft and assuming others have low context, confusion can be reduced as people have shared access to information. Community Checkins Agendas, Meeting notes and recordings for all our meetings Previous Meetings Recorded   NFE Checkin 10/04/2025 NFE Checkin 17/04/2025 NFE Checkin 25/04/2025 NFE Checkin 02/05/2025 Meeting with Uzuzi Meter Supplier 07/05/2025     NFE Checkin - 16/05/2025 Agenda  Metering Evaluation review  Pearl Marina Proposal Review  Company tools Demos  Element (Matrix)  Kimai (Time tracking)  NextCloud (Calendar and Email)  Bookstack (Team Documentation)  Action items  Prepare Fundraising update for next meeting - Aaron Ordering meters from Top 3 providers - Aaron  Need to locate manual for China Brandless meter - Dansturn  Nansana Site inspection Open questions for next meeting - Dansturn  Find out process for requesting/applying for bulk/sub meter from Umeme  NFE Checkin - 23/05/2025 Payment System Evaluation Design of Sezibwa Rentals Microgrid  Need to a separate switch to turn Umeme on/off May need bypass on the inverter too for maintainance  How much last gasp mechanism does the Lora Gateway come with How about meters? What happens before and after power goes off Materials Meters + Lora Gateway  Wiring  Cabinet  Umeme switch on/off - circuit breaker  Civil works - cement  No demos of company tools, keeping it short because Hillary has a hard stop (1.5 hours) Action items  Set up payment page - Aaron Follow up on shopping for materials - Dansturn  Update micro design from notes above - Aaron  Inventory management - How do we keep track of hardware we have - Aaron to propose something  NFE Checkin - 30/05/2025 Agenda  Payment Processor demo AMI demo CalinAMI  MicroPowerManager  Other collaboration tools dashboard  calcom Kimia  BOQ for locally sourced items  Physical layout for Sezibwa Rentals Microgrid  Action items  Pesapal - How to process refunds - Aaron  Check on when money is received on the bank account  - Aaron  What is the process of becoming a 3 phase (bulk metering) customer - Dansturn Include how payments are made  What does UMEME reclaim/own? Meters?  Circuit breakers? Wiring? BOQ feedback - Dansturn Confirm that meter is for Code 10.2 not Code 20  Resize PDU (we need one for 10 meters)  Compare both suppliers instead combining and present both  NFE Checkin - 06/06/2025 Agenda  AMI demo CalinAMI   MicroPowerManager   Other collaboration tools dashboard  calcom Kimai Company Board and Structure updates  Fundraising Updates  Action items  Ownership model - Aaron to present this next week Upload documents to Element/Bookstack - Dansturn Layout of Sezibwa rentals  BOQ excel  6/13/2025 Updates and Action items - Dansturn Purchase the PDU in which to put the meters in the course of next week complete the BOQ Excel with new revisions Receive the meters that arrived from China Application for 3 phase commercial from uedcl Aaron fundraising update to be discussed next week. Collaboration tools to be discussed next week. Expectations for next week MicroPowerManager   NFE Checkin - 20/06/2025 Agenda  Operation Updates  How to apply for Three Phase connection BOQ updates for Sezibwa Rentals  Fundraising updates  We are tracking our finances on open collective. Phase 1: Sezibwa Rentals - funding status  Fundraising efforts - Tracker Other collaboration tools  dashboard  calcom MicroPower Manager -  Toggling Calinmeter on/off  in progress Adding Calinmeters via LoraWAN gateway - In analysis Action Items  Documentation that shows the relationship between the client (Sezibwa Rentals) and NFE. - Aaron can provide MOU  Examples of Postpaid Bills - Hillary + Dansturn Code 10.2 to Code 50 Load Schedule for Sezibwa Rentals - Aaron + Hillary Confirm that the 10.2 meter come with in built phase selector or if we need a phase selector - Dansturn  Meeting early next week    NFE Checkin - June 24th 2025 Action items  Power bank for Gateway - Aaron  Padlocks for gateway - Aaron  Set up Calinmeters and Gateway - Dansturn Conference list needs compiling - Aaron  NFE <> EnAccess Checkin Attendees  Aaron Tushabe - NFE Vivien - EnAccess  Daniel - EnAccess  Meeting link:  https://meet.google.com/rpg-vpmw-zzh Agenda  Introductions Expectations for NFE using EnAccess provided MPM instance for  Sezibwa Rentals Pilot  Daniel: For transparency: We haven't yet had the time to fully clarify and conceptionalise our ToS for MPM, w.r.t SLA/SLO/Uptime promises/Data security, but also pricing to cover the infrastructure costs etc... As a result we currently provide the MPM cloud service this "as-is". Aaron: This is understood and when we are successful with the pilot, we'd like to collaborate on the posibility of agreeing on some Terms of Service or setting up NFE's self hosted instance. I think the community needs an instance to quickly evaluate MPM cheaply and quickly so I'd prefer we collaborate on improving the cloud.mpm.io experience more production ready for new joiners.  Support with Regular Community Calls on MPM/EnAccess projects/materials Let's talk about how I can help, I have ideas but I some questions first Who do you recommend I pair with on this one. I am of the view that initiatives are more resilient if we have more than one human co-owning it so I'd like to have someone I pair with to get this going. I can reach out to Thulie add see if she's up for it  Anything that has been tried in the past that I should consider before proposing something?  NFE overview I have a pitch deck I keep refining  and our bylaws  share more about our ownership model Notes  Quick summary During this meeting, Aaron, Vivien, and Daniel discussed the Nearly Free Energy mini-grid project, the history and current status of the Microgrid Power Manager (MPM) software, challenges related to community adoption and technical implementation, and potential collaboration on pilot deployment and funding sustainability. Action items for Aaron Test and finalize the connection of the newly arrived smart meters with the existing LoRa gateway and the MPM system by the end of the week. Reach out to Truly (community manager at EnAccess) to plan the first collaborative call focusing on MPM pilot. Share detailed documentation of Nearly Free Energy’s funding model and business plans with Vivien and Daniel. Investigate and propose any feature improvements or integration needed for MPM to support Nearly Free Energy’s pilot. Continue applying for grants to sustain Nearly Free Energy operations and explore co-application opportunities with EnAccess. Action items for Vivien Provide continued onboarding and support for Aaron on the MPM platform and relevant documentation. Facilitate coordination between Aaron and Truly for community engagement and calls. Share more detailed information about EnAccess’s current funding, support structure, and pricing policy as it develops. Invite relevant stakeholders from REA Nigeria and Cameroon to join the community discussions and pilot support. Assist in documenting prospective features and integrations for MPM in the public GitHub repository. Action items for Daniel Support Aaron with technical guidance on MPM setup, infrastructure reliability, and data backup processes. Monitor and assist with troubleshooting any compatibility issues between smart meters and MPM, especially regarding Colleen meters. Ensure automated database backups are working effectively on the cloud infrastructure used for the pilot. Help Aaron with understanding MPM functionalities, feature limitations, and contribute to the software documentation. Participate in community management activities and support onboarding efforts for new users like Aaron.   NFE Checkin - July 4th 2025 Agenda  Sezibwa rentals BOQ review Open Questions  How we are funding it NFE will fund it  Kimbowas will contribute 1k to NFE  Arinda will contribute 1k to NFE  Open Collective NFE account Calinmeter AMI Testing results review Outstanding issues  Code 10 application Code 10 bills  Github issues on Micropower Manager  Meeting with Vivien  Action items  Submit Contributions by tomorrow: Dansturn + Arinda  Find remaining balance for Sezibwa rentals: Aaron  Submit expenses for Sezibwa Rentals to Open Collective: Dansturn + Aaron  Follow up with Scott on Last month meter reading feature: Arinda Needed to retry commands a couple of times, why?: Arinda  Build PDU and deploy next week: Dansturn  Code 10 Application: Aaron NFE Checkin - July 9th 2025 Agenda  -  NFE Checkin 11/7/2025 Agenda  Review of Last week's Action items Review of progress on PDU setup  Discuss next steps concerning the power application. Review of Last week's Action items  Submit Contributions by tomorrow: Dansturn + Arinda == Done Find remaining balance for Sezibwa rentals: Aaron === Aaron to update Submit expenses for Sezibwa Rentals to Open Collective: Dansturn + Aaron ==  Pending, Dansturn will submit receipts by Monday  Follow up with Scott on Last month meter reading feature: Arinda == Scott hasnt been responsive. Follow up more Needed to retry commands a couple of times, why?: Arinda == Has dependency on Scott, pending Build PDU and deploy next week: Dansturn == work in progress. to be done by Monday Code 10 Application: Aaron ==. Aaron to update when he wakes up Action items for this week Complete meter assembly in the PDU by Monday 14th July == Dansturn Add stands and secure lock on the PDU and deliver to site by Monday 14th July == Dansturn Pull ABC (1 span) to the proposed service point. By Next meeting == Dansturn Push connection application in tandem with the pending PDU works == Dansturn Follow up Scott again === Hillary NFE Checkin 18/7/2025 Agenda  Sezibwa Homes Phase 1 - Deployment Blockers New CODE 10 application - I tried applying here but I need a Cert Number PDU Deployment Pictures  Communication with Scott: Still unresponsive?  Funding Updates Sezibwa Homes Phase 2 - 5k grant pledged by Energy IoT open source Expense submissions  Action items  Submit all outstanding expenses for Phase 1 - Dansturn Provide Cert Number for Code 10 application (6890377606518) - Dansturn  Share deployment photography on Bookstack Customer contact information collected - Aaron  Complete service cable installations - Dansturn  Share Recoverable grant funding agreement with Team on - Aaron  Checkin with Scott - Hillary NFE checkin 26/07/2025 Agenda  Previous action items  Provide Cert Number for Code 10 application (6890377606518) - Dansturn  Share deployment photography on  Bookstack Customer contact information collected - Aaron  Complete service cable installations - Dansturn  Share Recoverable grant funding agreement with Team on - Aaron  Checkin with Scott - Hillary New items to discuss Demo Self serve portal for UEDCL  Application approved notice  Recoverable grant agreement Template Pictorial Phase 1 Dansturn meeting with Vivien follow ups  Issues for Sezibwa Homes Umeme Meter box installed outside fence - is this an issue  Calin AMI bugs - can we launch with them Next steps Capture customer names and contacts - assign meters  Umeme billing portal - How will be get our monthly bill and how are we expected to pay Action items  Submit all outstanding expenses for Phase 1 - Dansturn Customer contact information collected - Aaron  Complete service cable installations - Dansturn  Schedule follow-up call with Vivien - Aaron  Autarky (Titiana) Follow-up call - Aaron  How to collect data from Chint three phase meter - Aaron/Dansturn NFE <> Power for All - July 31st 2025 Had a meet and great with Joel , Alba and Sumaya from power for all.  They shared plenty of questions and feedback on our model. Here's some resources they shared that I am following up on.  https://www.ze-gen.org/about-ze-gen/ - TBD https://a2ei.org/   Working on an open smart meter we could use. Downloaded their data here and will reach out to Thomas about an open smart meter Oddessy - Battery vendor who may be able to help us with phase 2  Band I invited them to join our advisory team .  NFE checkin 02/08/2025 Agenda  Action items from last week Submit all outstanding expenses for Phase 1 - Dansturn Customer contact information collected - Aaron Done. Entered here and in Calin AMI Complete service cable installations - Dansturn We have an extra home instead of the boys quoter  Schedule follow-up call with Vivien - Aaron  Autarky (Titiana) Follow-up call - Aaron  How to collect data from Chint three phase meter - Aaron/Dansturn Made some progress, it's seeming too costly to get a calin meter that will measure this load, they want to sell us more than just the meter  New items  Fundraising updates, check the tracker Energy IoT and battery + inverter donations They have a battery (20kwh) for us but we need to ship it in from USA  She has an inverter for us, it's an 8kw inverter though  She will be drafting an MOU to communicate what EIoT needs out of this engagement Applying for an EU grant (100k to 250k Euros) with EnAccess + Another company  Business development Published a tracker for potential customers , I will be following up on those next week.  Setting up MicroPower Manager Still running into some issues that I am sharing with EnAccess on Discord . We will launch without it and enable it later Updates from Location in Nansana Meter should have been installed  We are using UEDCL downstream breakers  We will not use the customer's solido  Safety risk if the solido is live - we need to terminate it - how? Calin AMI open issues  New Action items  Submit all outstanding expenses for Phase 1 - Dansturn Collect National IDs for all customers  Complete service cable installations - Dansturn Follow up on shipping battery and inverter to Uganda by October - Aaron  NFE Mid week 08/06/2025 Agenda  Site layout review Action items  Review cost pf phase selectors and see if we can add them to phase 1.1- Dansturn  Provide meter reference - Dansturn  Reach out to our UEDCL connections - Hillary | Dansturn | Aaron  NFE Checkin 8/8/2025 Agenda  Action items  from Last Week Review cost of phase selectors and see if we can add them to phase 1.1- Dansturn to be shared. Provide meter reference - Dansturn This was provided Reach out to our UEDCL connections - Hillary | Dansturn | Aaron  Meter paid for by Aaron. No meters currently. check meter proposed. Action item still active New updates Hopetelle meters arrived yesterday 7/8/2025 - 10 meters plus their DCU New Actions items Reach out to our UEDCL connections - Hillary | Dansturn | Aaron Review cost of phase selectors and see if we can add them to phase 1.1- Dansturn   Suggestion to power the PDU with one of the existing power sources.- Aaron Get in touch with Hopetelle team about connecting meters to AMI, etc - Aaron Set up around 5 meters with a DCU as we await AMI communication - Dansturn Accountability for the money used for 3 phase extension and installation Umeme meter box, meter - Dansturn | Aaron NFE / SLS Energy / Energy IoT -intro meeting Quick summary During this meeting, Arila, Merci, Léandre, and Aaron discussed a collaboration on an open-source microgrid project in Uganda, focusing on battery storage solutions, battery-as-a-service models, and integration with open-source energy management systems. They explored technical specifications, cost models, and operational challenges related to battery backup, grid outages, and energy trading platforms. The participants also considered opportunities for mentorship programs and local community involvement to support sustainable energy solutions. Action items for Arila Facilitate the sharing of open-source hardware and software specifications (e.g., open BMS, hi-fi APIS) with Aaron and Léandre for integration and testing. Share a diagram of the submetring panel and energy management setup with Léandre and Aaron. Coordinate engagement with local universities and mentorship programs to involve students in the energy projects. Support defining the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will outline the pilot project's scope and transition to commercial stages. Monitor progress and provide sponsorship funding for battery storage for the pilot project starting by October. Action items for Léandre Provide detailed battery data sheets and specifications for the 48V 2.5 kWh and 5 kWh systems to Aaron and Arila via email. Clarify and confirm the service pricing structure and cost model with Aaron for the pilot microgrid project in Uganda. Share information about current battery monitoring systems and explore integration with open-source BMS and EMS solutions. Assist in logistics and regulatory requirements for shipping batteries within East Africa, especially Uganda and Rwanda. Engage in discussions to define the terms of collaboration and commercial agreements related to battery-as-a-service. Consider sharing technology and expertise for the semi-mobile irrigation battery systems as a potential learning case. Action items for Aaron Share detailed data on current microgrid capacity, battery needs, and outage patterns for community planning. Provide feedback on battery service pricing and integration from Nearly Free Energy's perspective. Collaborate with Léandre and Arila to develop a pilot project plan aiming to start battery deployment by October. Facilitate contact with local community partners and potentially local universities for mentorship and project support. Share research and documentation on grid outage causes and tariff structures with Léandre and Arila. Maintain communications with Léandre and Arila to define the Memorandum of Understanding and commercial framework. NFE Checkin 03/08/2025 Agenda Reach out to our UEDCL connections -  Hillary | Dansturn | Aaron Review cost of phase selectors and see if we can add them to phase 1.1-  Dansturn   Suggestion to power the PDU with one of the existing power sources.-  Aaron Get in touch with Hopetelle team about connecting meters to AMI, etc -  Aaron Set up around 5 meters with a DCU as we await AMI communication -  Dansturn Accountability for the money used for 3 phase extension and installation Umeme meter box, meter -  Dansturn | Aaron Fundraising updates  Battery research updates  Lisencing updates, working with Sam Kizito  Notes Action items  Have a mid week checkin on Wednesday to confirm whether we can connect direcrtly - Aaron Review Hopetele documents to prepare for test connection next Saturday - Hillary  Update Potential customer tracker with new leads - Hillary Apply Certificate of Registration - Aaron NFE checkin August 30th 2025 Attendees  Dansturn Dismas - Green Volta Engineer  Aaron  Agenda  Going live in Sezibwa Microgrid CIUs - do we need them Notes  Dismas: Cables were laid to the Main house, R2 and R3. Connection to R3 was attempted and Meter input voltage was ~220V but output voltage was ~ zero.  Dansturn: Aaron are the relays on Aaron: No, looks like they are off, I did not realize that their default state was off  Dansturn: Dismas can you share photos of how you connected R3 for review  Dismas: I did not take photos, I can go back and take photos today  Dansturn: We need to always take photos, Dismas please make a check list so that you don't forget again  Aaron: I can be available all morning to turn on meters  Dansturn: CIUs, do we need to connect them  Aaron: I don't think so, the CUIs seem to have no use in a postpaid billing world but Hillary thinks customers can use them to check monthly usage but not sure how yet. We may need them later for regulatory purposes but for now, we don't need to install them.  Communication with Customers is in Progress: We shared this overview with them 2 days ago and NFE whatsapp account joined the whatsapp group of the neighborhood to help answer any questions. https://app.simplenote.com/p/tdKJBq VAT registration (and PAYE) was completed this week.  Action Items  Dismas to return on site today and turn on at least 3 houses, Aaron will be available for remote access. Dansturn will be available to confirm physical connection design Hillary to investigate how we can use CUIs  NFE Checkin - Sept 6th 2025 Going live - any blockers and questions  How can we tell if UEDCL power is off? Check the gateway?  Let's ask Calimeter  Action items  Get in touch with Dismas on going live today -Aaron  Find out from Scott about how to change the low voltage cut off - Hillary      NFE Weekly Checkin September 13th 2025 Agenda  Fundraising Updates and requests for review We are live: What next? Operation strategy  Data analytics and reports: how do we take advantage of this  How can we tell if UEDCL power is off? Gateway status will tell us Yaka units Retrospective on deployment What went well What did not go so well  Things we can approve  Phase 1.1: Do we need a new AMI Low voltage on some phases  3 phase meter smart meter for UEDCL connection Game plan for Phase 2  New team members: Nickson  Updates from LF Energy in Conference  How do optimize our costs of materials eg cabling, meters, etc Actions  Schedule retro during next week's mid week checkin - Aaron  Communicating with the Chint Meter - Hillary + Dansturn  Recruiting an Resident Microgrid Manager (5k per hour) - Aaron  Analytics and reports from Calinmeter - What else can we get from Calin AMI - Hillary  URA monthly filling - We need to engage a person - Aaron  Do we need a power backup for the Lora Gateway - Hillary  Compliance and Safety inspection letter from Certified Engineer - Dansturn  Submit expenses from Greenvolta - Aaron  NFE Weekly Checkin September 19th 2025 Agenda  Fundraising Updates and requests for review Game plan for Phase 2  New team members: Nickson  Phase 1.1: How do we resolve phase 1 current issues Phase selector  Reviewing Data from the meters/gateway  Actions from previous meeting Schedule retro during next week's mid week checkin - Aaron  Communicating with the Chint Meter - Hillary + Dansturn  Recruiting an Resident Microgrid Manager (5k per hour) - Aaron  Analytics and reports from Calinmeter - What else can we get from Calin AMI - Hillary  URA monthly filling - We need to engage a person - Aaron  Do we need a power backup for the Lora Gateway - Hillary  Compliance and Safety inspection letter from Certified Engineer - Dansturn  Submit expenses from Greenvolta - Aaron  Retro was conducted: https://ideaboardz.com/for/Sezibwa%20Phase%201%20Retro/5640560 NFE Mid week Checkin September 25th 2025 Sezibwa Phase 1.1 Progress updates  Calinmeter Gateway issues  Billing readiness  Battery / Inverter evaluations updates    Notes  Actions  Collect data for phase issues in Sezibwa - Aaron + Hillary  Manage Calinmeter issues and refocus on new solutions -  Follow up on FenCon battery/inverter pricing - Aaron  Follow up on Gonahasa's Solar/Battery and inverter system - Aaron  NFE weekly checkin October 11th 2025 General Updates  Usage and billing for September : Battery evaluations: we have some local suppliers: See SRNE We have a URA person to help with monthly filling  Engaged a lawyer on Certificate of registration from ERA -  Agenda  Discuss usage and billing issues Postpaid - how is that going  Meter accuracy? UEDCL meter seemed to come up with less than our meters  Lora gateway issues relapsed  Waiting to configure daily report issues when China team is back from national holiday next week  Work involved in invoicing  Phase 2 Budget: We are at about 20m right now - should we begin the fundraising? Tushabe family contributed another ~1800 USD  Tondo and Greenvolta wanted to contribute  Data on usage: still pending Calin AMI issues but we should be able to get it from Daily usage report  Suppliers: SRNE currently looking like the best option  Pending Action items  Compliance and Safety inspection letter from Certified Engineer - Dansturn Visit Nakulabye to complain about bill rates - Aaron  Run last month reports for calinmeter - Aaron  Collect data on phase variance - Hillary Phase 2 next steps - Meter 2.0 testing  Battery + Inverter testing  Budget and fundraising  NFE Weekly - October 18th 2025 Previous actions  Compliance and Safety inspection letter from Certified Engineer - Dansturn Visit Nakulabye to complain about bill rates - Aaron  Run last month reports for calinmeter - Aaron  Collect data on phase variance - Hillary Phase 2 next steps - Meter 2.0 testing  Battery + Inverter testing  Budget and fundraising  Agenda  Fundraising updates and next steps Metering bottle necks  Scope for Meter 2.0 testing Communication with AMI  Test with at least 5 meters  Need a rig with multiple sockets  Action  Check with Calinmeter on status of pattern approval with UNBS - Aaron  Check chint meter + calinmeter readings again for variance in October reading - Hillary  Move gateway outside for a day or two, move it to main house - Aaron  Collect data on phase variance for half week to inform phase selection - Hillary Mount Meters on a rig and deliver test rid to buwate, Hillary's garage - Dansturn / Hillary  Running OpenEMS in a test environment - Hillary + Aaron  NFE Weekly Checkin - October 25th 2025 Agenda  Battery evaluation updates Fundraising Updates  100% paid up for September  We have a mailing list manager (new app)  Action items  Relocate new meters to Buwate Lab @ Arindas - Dansturn Onboard Sevo to help with Data modeling and analysis for battery sizing - Aaron  Evaluate Zembo and other local suppliers for batteries - Dansturn  NFE Weekly Checkin - Nov 1st 2025 Agenda  Fundraising Continues Praxis not successful  Submitted D-Prize (20K)  Up Next Tondo Akampa Tom  Sevo  Energy IoT (fiscal sponsorship at 10% fees)  Kickstarter  Metering 2.0 Working with Energy IoT to set up OpenEMS  Initial ROI Projections for Phase 2 Registering US entity to aid fundraising  Action items  Export Daily usage data from CalinAMI to determine maximum demand - Aaron Possible Pilot for NFE USA - Aaron  NFE Weekly Checkin - Nov 15th 2025 Previous meeting action items Export Daily usage data from CalinAMI to determine maximum demand - Aaron See initial results here, Sevo also committed to doing similar analysis, waiting for his feedback  Possible Pilot for NFE USA - Aaron  Actions Items 10 Hopetele meters with a board today 15th Nov 2025 to be delivered to Arinda's Buwate residence - Dansturn OpenEMS edge on raspberry pi running - Hillary  Confirm installation guidelines from SRNE - Aaron  Detailed breakdown of the Kyanja installation by midweek- Dansturn November invoices breakdown Midweek weekly check-in Thursday 6-7 am Ugandan time NFE Checkin - Jan 7th 2026 Agenda  Roadmap review  Action Items  What will postpaid using Metering 2.0 look like? Will the regulator approve? - Aaron  Can we sell the product we currently have running at Sezibwa? - Dansturn and Aaron  NFE weekly checkin - Jan 22nd 2026 Agenda  Product at Sezibwa readiness Update on Metering 2.0  Funding Updates  Action Items  What will postpaid using Metering 2.0 look like? Will the regulator approve? - Aaron  Can we sell the product we currently have running at Sezibwa? - Dansturn and Aaron  Ask Chint what UNBS approval this smart meter have? - Aaron  Engage Hillary and Abdul for a session to guide on current blockers - Arinda    Modbus security risks report - Arinda  NFE weekly checkin - Jan 29th 2026 Notes    Metering 2.0 Updates: We are ready to test openEMS edge during this Friday's working session Grant applications: we need an Estonian partner for ESTDEV and we need to continue pace of 1 funding application per week  Whole House backup Pricing seems higher but maybe worth the value prop of 24 7 power  Demo Open Solar CRM  Action items  Prepare open solar demo for next week - Aaron  Pitch for Submetering to Lofty Skies customer - Aaron + Dansturn  Review investor readiness checklist - Dansturn  Time tracking reminders - Aaron    NFE Checkin - Feb 6th 2026 Agenda  OpenEMS Fundrasing Update   NFE checkin - Feb 12 2026 Deployment Checklist  Internet connectivity - orange Meter Modbus conversion - orange  BOQ - green  deployment pipeline - orange  Action Items  Prepare hardware for gateway deployment to Nansana - Aaron Sourcing the right internet connectivity device  AI workflow integration in Design/Quotation/BOQs - Dansturn  Deploy gateway and 3 phase meter to Nansana - Dansturn  Get meter unlock script from Hillary Zembo - Hillary NFE Weekly Checkin - March 21 2026 Agenda  Demo for Metering 2.0 Changes Review of NFE business models: https://bookstack.nearlyfreeenergy.com/books/business/page/draft-business-models-for-the-nfe-microgrid-os Action items  Data analysis from most recent dump from about 2 days of Grid meter data - Aaron  Set up local environment (meter + pi ) for testing changes before deploying to production - Hillary  Procedure for commissioning a new meter and setting up to log data - Hillary / Aaron  Serial numbers from Nansana - Dansturn / Dismas  NFE Tech Huddle - April 3rd 2026 Quick summary During this meeting, Aaron, Hillary discussed, the current meter-logging system, data buffering and aggregation approach, deployment pipeline, backup and metadata storage, and commissioning/precommissioning of meters. Action items for Aaron Wrap up gateway deployment repo and onboard Hillary so he can use it going forward NFE Web app integration with real (CSV) data via nextcloud once Hillary has populated sample meter data; coordinate timing for verification. Action items for Hillary Implement and enable the 15-minute buffering and averaging approach (already in place) and ensure exported log entries represent averages for each 15-minute window; document the buffering logic. Adjust the backup/upload timer to start with hourly uploads and monitor cost/performance; report recommended cadence after initial test period. Deploy the meter services to the other production Pi and validate that the metadata folder is populated with meter folders (start tonight where possible). Add a commissioning/precommissioning script that converts meters from the Chinese protocol to Modbus, assigns temporary address 1 for precommissioning, then writes the production address and serial number; document the commissioning procedure and constraints (e.g., stopping services may lock serial port). Onboard Dansturn to execute on this Share the correct metadata/metadata folder link and confirm access is granted to Aaron; reorganize folder structure as discussed (metadata -> customer -> meter folders). Test image building and deployment flow (VM build -> push to main -> CI build image -> manual deploy) and document the exact deployment commands. Test upgrading the client version in a staging environment and report any compatibility/security concerns before upgrading production. Notes: Hillary already demonstrated the buffering (10s sampling, 15-min average) and the backup/upload service; team agreed to start with hourly uploads and scale as needed. Commissioning constraints and Modbus address conflicts were discussed; precommissioning workflow will be created to avoid on-site conflicts. Nfe Weekly checkin - 4th April 2026 Agenda  Review of last week's action items Way forward based on feedback Discuss a little bit about the pre-commissioning process Backup battery updates Chint meter deployment plan Action items feedback Data analysis from the most recent dump from about 2 days of Grid meter data - Aaron - This was done. Preliminary 2-day feedback returned, with concern about the 45kw spikes. needs to be reviewed. Set up local environment (meter + pi ) for testing changes before deploying to production - Hillary- Done, testing would be better with a three-phase meter. Aaron also has a dev PI set up. Procedure for commissioning a new meter and setting up to log data - Hillary / Aaron - draft presented, to be optimized for Nansana Serial numbers from Nansana - Dansturn / Dismas - provided Action items  Procurement of meters - Dansturn  Installation and commissioning - All Battery backup updates - Aaron Tech Huddle - Behind the Meter Connection for each customer How each customer is metered and controlled behind the bulk connection, in the Street-EMS design. Companion to the authoritative page "NFE metering strategy + Glen Street-EMS". The question Behind NFE's single bulk utility connection sit many single-phase tenants. "Behind the meter connection for each customer" is how we meter, bill, and control each of them individually without a separate utility meter per tenant. Today (CHINT + Pi) Each tenant has a CHINT DDSU666 postpaid meter on a DIN rail. A Raspberry Pi gateway polls them over Modbus RTU / RS485 and feeds OpenEMS. Billing is postpaid off the meter reads. Control (disconnect) is manual at the breaker. Street-EMS (next generation) One cabinet meters and controls up to 9 tenants (3 per phase) with no per-tenant meter: Metering: 3 stacked CircuitSetup 6-channel CT boards on the EMS controller give 18 CT channels: one per tenant (9), one per phase mains (3), and 6 spare. Each tenant's usage is a dedicated CT (no separate meter box). Control: each tenant runs through a contactor (K1..K9) whose coil is driven by an opto-isolated SSR from the EMS. That is the per-customer remote connect/disconnect used for prepaid enforcement and protection trips. Safety: three Ivy residual-current monitors (one per phase) give continuous leakage and neutral-imbalance insight across all tenants on that phase. Per-tenant policy: the EMS holds a JSON "mode" per tenant (prepaid expiry, over V/I/kW/kWh, over-generation/storage), and can warn (RGBW LED or e-paper, flash cadence) before a graceful cutoff, optionally leaving a small post-sunset lighting allowance from battery. Ratified: 1P (do not switch neutral except for EV), 80A rating for future EV. See the authoritative page for the full line diagram, firmware vision, and workshop context. NFE Checkin - 11th April 2026 Agenda  Financial Model game plan: https://bookstack.nearlyfreeenergy.com/books/team/page/financial-model-game-plan-q2 Sezibwa Site plan changes for phase 2: https://bookstack.nearlyfreeenergy.com/books/business/page/sezibwa-site-plan-for-phase-2 Demos Pi deployment  Customer App v1 Action items  Complete Kyanja energy/power audit inspection - recommendations - @Dansturn Get specsheets and dimensions for batteries and inverter - Aaron  Decision on physical location of batteries and inverter - Hillary and Dansturn  Data from NFE microgrids - How can we productize this (target for Q2) - Aaron  NFE Checkin - May 16th 2026 Agenda  Metering 2.0 Updates Customer App  OpenEMS Support for DDSU and DTSU  Deployment Automation for the gateway  MBE - Metering and Billing Engine New invoices  New customers Pearl Marina  Kyanja  Kyaliwajala  Phase 2 in Nansana Civil work  Managing Customer Data  Funding / Women Owned Green Business  LF Energy Summit 2026 Metering 3.0 Working with Glenn Action items  Update Customer App to show usage using billing markers  - Aaron NFE Checkin - May 23rd 2026 Last week's Agenda  Metering 2.0 Updates Customer App - successfully demoed OpenEMS Support for DDSU and DTSU - both changes merged. release expected first june 2026.  Deployment Automation for the gateway - Not discussed MBE - Metering and Billing Engine New invoices - Demoed New customers Pearl Marina  Kyanja  Kyaliwajala  Phase 2 in Nansana Civil work  Managing Customer Data - I want the link  Funding / Women Owned Green Business - Green volta totally in (week 2 of 10) LF Energy Summit 2026 - submission underway Metering 3.0 Working with Glenn - prepare for Nairobi workshop Action items  Update Customer App to show usage using billing markers  - Aaron Agenda Metering 2.0 Updates OpenEMS Deployment Automation for the gateway MBE - Metering and Billing Engine New customers Pearl Marina Kyanja Kyaliwajala Phase 2 in Nansana Discussion happening today - happening now Architectural design of the connection Action items  Submit the LF energy paper - Aaron remove dependency of local pc for uploading customer data to superbase for free - Hillary Put  demo together and do some testing on test pi for single phase next week - Aaron Set Dansturn's account up - Aaron BOQ with 1 variable line for the cheaper and more expensive location - Dansturn EnAccess <> NFE Checkin - June 2nd 2026 Attendees Aaron T.  Vivien B. Obinna I. Daniel M. Overview The call focused on whether MPM should evolve to better support grid-connected mini-grids, especially postpaid billing, meter integrations, and monitoring of batteries/solar assets. The team agreed the current direction is promising for the Nigerian mini-grid use case, but emphasized that new capabilities should be integrated carefully so the platform remains technically coherent and maintainable. Why the conversation happened Aaron raised a strategic question: whether the current MPM product is being pushed beyond its original design by supporting grid-connected mini-grids, or whether a new system should be built instead. Vivien and Daniel clarified that MPM was historically built as a mini-grid CRM and later adapted by solar home system companies by the newest work in Mozambique. However, new conversations with REI in Nigeria is increasingly steering it toward mini-grid needs again. Product positioning and strategic direction Vivien explained that MPM’s roots are in mini-grid operations and CRM workflows, not solar home systems, even though solar home system companies adopted it over time. He noted that recent demand from Mozambique and a larger contract in Nigeria are driving more mini-grid-specific work, including OEM integrations, dashboard hardening, and other adaptations. The team also discussed the upcoming PayGo Ops community edition, which may better serve some solar home system users. Vivien’s view was that this does not undermine MPM’s mini-grid identity; rather, it highlights that MPM should keep focusing on the mini-grid segment while remaining open to adjacent use cases where appropriate. Postpaid vs. prepaid metering A major topic was Aaron’s observation that the pilot became easier when the team moved away from a proprietary prepaid meter setup and adopted postpaid billing. Aaron had originally feared that MPM might be too biased toward prepaid workflows, and wondered whether postpaid mini-grid support would require an entirely new system. Daniel responded that prepaid metering is easier to support technically because the abstraction is straightforward: a customer pays, a tariff applies, and energy is delivered. Postpaid introduces more complexity because it requires tracking usage over a billing period, calculating debt/amount owed, and handling billing logic in a less linear way. Daniel said MPM already has some related concepts, but postpaid still requires careful design so the abstractions remain coherent. Metering and data acquisition lessons from the pilot Aaron described the operational problems they faced with a Chinese vendor, Kalin: the meters claimed to support both prepaid and postpaid, but the vendor did not expose meter data directly. Instead, the team had to use proprietary middleware APIs hosted by the vendor, which caused reliability issues, token-lockout problems, slow support response times, and pressure to place larger orders before the pilot was stable. To solve this, the team switched in March 2026 to locally sourced meters that are postpaid-only and expose data via RS-45/Modbus into a Raspberry Pi, which is then connected to the internet through a modem. This setup gave them direct access to meter data, reduced dependency on the vendor, and eliminated the operational risk of needing tokens from overseas just to unlock a customer meter. Aaron also noted that the meters are physically clustered in a single PDU, which makes wired connectivity practical in this pilot. Vivien pointed out that this works for dense apartment-complex style deployments, but would not translate well to rural, dispersed mini-grids where wireless communication is usually more appropriate. Open-source monitoring and OpenEMS integration Aaron said the pilot team had already contributed a plugin to OpenEMS so that usage data from the new meters can be read in real time. He suggested a future model where OpenEMS handles monitoring of meters, batteries, and solar assets, while MPM handles business functions such as billing, invoicing, and customer communication. Daniel and Vivien were receptive to this division of labor. Vivien emphasized that the goal should be integration rather than rebuilding existing open-source tools. He referenced the existing Prospect integration as a model: ideally, MPM should connect with external monitoring systems in a way that lets users move seamlessly between tools rather than duplicating functionality. Battery and solar support Aaron asked whether MPM was originally intended to handle batteries and solar generation data as part of mini-grid operations. Daniel clarified that this was not part of the original core focus. MPM’s main scope has been customer transaction management and business workflows, not system monitoring. That said, Daniel acknowledged that there is a gray area where battery or solar data affects billing, and therefore may need to be integrated into MPM workflows. He stressed that system monitoring should not simply be bolted on as a disconnected feature. Instead, the team should think carefully about where such data belongs, how it is modeled, and how it can be integrated without making the product overly complicated. Billing, customer visibility, and invoicing features Aaron demonstrated the pilot’s customer-facing web app, which lets customers see their usage, estimated bill, and end-of-month projection. The app refreshes automatically every six hours, with manual refresh available. This was intended to reduce uncertainty for customers and let them see charges before the monthly billing cycle closes. He also showed the microgrid manager billing interface, where customer data is imported, billing cycles are created monthly, invoices are generated, and payment links are attached through a payment service. Aaron highlighted this as one of the strongest parts of the pilot and argued that MPM should gain similar invoicing capability, alongside an integrated payment-provider flow and an OpenEMS data source. The group agreed that these were the most concrete candidate features to pursue. Aaron said his team could likely push the payment integration and invoicing work, while also helping define the OpenEMS plugin approach and continuing conversations with Nigerian partners. Nigeria and regulatory relevance Vivien stressed that Nigeria is especially relevant because it has an active mini-grid market, including grid-connected mini-grids, structured regulation, and tariff systems that resemble the use case Aaron is working on. Aaron agreed, noting that Uganda’s regulator is increasingly looking to Nigeria as an example for policy development, and that his team is preparing a paper to make the case for adopting elements of Nigeria’s regulatory framework. The discussion made clear that Nigeria is both a strong market for the problem and a promising source of practical solutions. Vivien also suggested Aaron could observe some conversations EnAccess has with other community members who are focussing on Mini-grids.  Managing codebase complexity and simplification Later in the call, Aaron asked whether there should be a roadmap for removing or disabling legacy features from MPM, since long-running applications tend to accumulate unused functionality. Daniel said the team had spent much of 2025 removing things, but had recently shifted toward adding new capabilities. He agreed that managing complexity is an ongoing concern. Daniel distinguished between two kinds of simplification: user-facing simplification, such as hiding advanced options by default or using more sensible defaults; backend simplification, which is harder because core abstractions like “mini-grid” are deeply embedded in the codebase. Obinna added that from his experience, the team usually receives feature requests rather than removal requests. He suggested that if the roadmap included clearer visibility into unused functionality, he could help identify features that no one appears to use and also warn when something that looks unused is actually used by someone else. Key takeaways MPM is still seen by the team as a mini-grid CRM, not just a solar home system platform. Postpaid support is viable, but it needs deliberate abstraction design. Direct meter integration and open data access are critical for reliable mini-grid operations. OpenEMS is a strong candidate for handling monitoring, while MPM should focus on billing, customer/account management, and payment workflows. The strongest near-term product opportunities are invoicing, payment-link generation, and an OpenEMS data-source integration. The team should continue exploring simplification opportunities, but removal of legacy code or features needs a more explicit process and roadmap. NFE checkin - June 6th 2026 Agenda   Nansana phase 2 - budget review Metering 2.0 - what next  Kyanja phase 1 - updates  Notes and action items  Review phase 2 budget with contractor after the team made adjustments - Aaron/Dansturn Kick-off Pearl Marina and Kyaliwajala - Phase 1 - Aaron  Metering 2.0 - blog post - Aaron  Automated Billing with MBE and Customer App - Hillary  NFE Mid week checkin - June 11th Attendees Hillary Aaron  Agenda  Deploying OpenEMs Recording is here Hillary / Aaron - Tech Huddle - June 29th 2026   Meeting Transcription.txt Recording here NFE Checkin - July 4th 2026 Agenda  Storage 1.0 Nansana Battery Deployment: Ready to go live, waiting for review by Dansturn  Metering 2.0 OpenEMS - what is pending?  Billing 2.0 MBE monthly invoices automated  Ifris invoices still manual but API available: needs work  New customers Kyaliwajala - Not started Kyanja Quoted, pending meter payment  Client also troubleshooting 3 phase connection  Garuga Survey completed, pending quotation  Initial civil work pending: not yet quoted  Funding for next phases not available  May need to get backup locations to help us get to 100 customers.. Right now we only have Kyanja and  NFE annual tax returns Getting accounting help from Esther to file this. May need to switch to a better accounting system  Fundraising and publicity Digital Energy Challenge Submitted - No feedback yet  ERA Symposium postponed to Feb 2027  Power Africa - Need to apply for sponsorship: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSefYPSRGp7ur9f2-FIIYXo56T9WlCswwrue7_1_h6uc34TsDw/viewform IEEE Meet the Entreprenuer: https://ieee-powerafrica.org/meet-the-enterpreneur-competition/ EnAccess OSEA symposium in Rwanda: https://www.oseas.org/attend LF Energy Berlin: pending sponsorship application  Stanbic Bank Women's something?  NFE Checkin - July 25th 2026 Agenda  Demos for work from this week Nansana Deployment  OpenEMS development and deployment workflow  Storage 2.0 changes for OpenEMS edge Fundraising efforts OSEA  LF Energy  Power Africa 2026 : Feedback on Glenn's line diagram Stanbic Regenerate Africa  Meeting title: Meeting Transcription Date/time started: 2026-07-25T03:21:56.000Z Participants: Hillary Arinda, Aaron Tushabe, Dansturn Kimbowa Summary (up to three sentences) The team reviewed a one-line electrical diagram and system design for multi-channel metering, residual current monitoring, relays/contactors and an EV charging element, clarifying components, labeling and communication paths. They discussed participation and logistics for the Power Africa workshop (possible sponsorship, travel, equipment shipping) and follow-up workshop options (including Kigali), plus field issues at the Nantana site including cable heating, inverter behaviour and monitoring. Operational updates included Nascent system performance, inventory/cable returns, and fundraising/partnering progress for Regenerate Africa / GreenVoter pitches. Action items by person Aaron Tushabe Follow up with the Power Africa organizer on sponsorship details, ticket coverage and logistics (equipment shipping / customs), and explore moving the workshop to Kigali as an alternative. (No fixed deadline given; follow up ASAP) Resubmit feedback/questions on the one-line diagram to the designer, requesting clarifications on labels, arrows, RS485 routing, power sources, and contactor/relay sizing (63A vs 80A). (ASAP) Arrange a call or workshop pre-meeting with the diagram author to hammer out unresolved technical details and confirm components to be supplied at the workshop. (ASAP) Return leftover cables to Greenwater and coordinate inventory/accounting of site investments and invoices. (ASAP) Follow up on Nascent site testing: schedule/perform additional on-site tests for inverter and EV charging scenarios to reproduce reported cable heating and collect temperature data (consider ordering a temperature gun). (No fixed deadline; prioritize before next site visit) Hillary Arinda Complete investigation into the Kenyan smart-meter provider (confirm pricing, product details, and contact) and bring back data for the team. (ASAP) Review and comment on the one-line diagram legend and component labels (e.g., clarify RCM/RCB, feeder labels, meter channel assignments) and send consolidated clarifying questions to Aaron for designer follow-up. (ASAP) Check LF Energy/sponsorship application status and report any updates to the team. (ASAP) Assist with planning/testing for Nascent site monitoring (confirm what telemetry/BMS can report and advise on temperature monitoring approach). (Prior to next sprint completion) Dansturn Kimbowa Continue follow-up with grant/loan panels (GreenVoter / Regenerate Africa) and provide any additional financials or a revised pitch emphasizing social impact as requested; complete company ownership changes (legal paperwork) required for Women-in-Business grant eligibility. (Legal change/attorney steps planned for this week; follow up on grant outcome when notified) Confirm whether he can attend Power Africa (or be listed as a speaker/participant) and coordinate accommodation/transport logistics if attending; report back on admission/fee status (possible free speaker pass). (ASAP) Provide any specific technical questions or clarifications on the one-line diagram (nomenclature, contactor labels, relay/channels, RS485 routing) to include in the resubmission. (ASAP) No other participants were assigned tasks. NFE Checkin - August 8th 2026 Date: 8 August 2026 Attendees: Aaron Tushabe, Dansturn Kimbowa, Hillary Arinda Duration: ~2 hours 5 minutes 1. Nansana Pilot & Battery Backup The Nansana battery backup system is now live and billing has proceeded without major issues. Initial operation indicates a significant reliability improvement, particularly during the daytime. During outages, the batteries have generally supported the site for approximately 1–1.5 hours under heavier evening loads, and substantially longer when customers reduce high-consumption appliances. A useful behavior has also emerged organically: residents notify each other when the site has switched to battery and encourage reduced consumption. The team agreed this should eventually be automated so customers are notified when they switch to backup power. This would both help extend battery runtime and make the reliability value of the NFE service more visible to customers. The telemetry stack is not yet sufficiently stable to accurately measure and report outage duration, battery behavior and reliability over time. The immediate priority is therefore to stabilize telemetry and establish a reliable baseline before experimenting extensively with battery operating strategies. Battery Optimization The current battery configuration primarily preserves stored energy for outages. The team discussed experimenting with time-of-use arbitrage , where batteries charge during cheaper off-peak periods and discharge during peak tariff periods while maintaining a minimum reserve for outages. One possible configuration discussed was allowing discharge to approximately 50% during peak periods before reverting to grid supply. These experiments should only begin once telemetry is stable enough to compare their impact on both reliability and margins. 2. OpenEMS Migration & Q3 Technical Priorities The Q3 development objective remains to consolidate both metering and battery monitoring onto OpenEMS , creating a common technology stack for future deployments. Once the OpenEMS metering integration and automated billing flow are stable, NFE should have a more commercially scalable sub-metering platform. Progress has been made integrating the inverter, although discrepancies between available documentation and the installed inverter firmware have required experimentation. The target is to resolve the outstanding inverter integration issues during the coming week. The team also discussed configuration management within OpenEMS. For Q3, the current configuration-file/Felix UI approach will continue rather than building a new management interface. Building a separate interface was considered outside the current Q3 scope. Some technical questions remain around: How OpenEMS writes configuration changes through to inverter registers. Whether charging windows can be changed through the currently exposed registers. How future automated optimization software would dynamically modify inverter settings. Whether some historical meter data needs to be backfilled into the new stack. Historical backfilling was considered secondary to getting current data flowing correctly into OpenEMS. 3. Billing, Service Charge & Economics The team reviewed the economics of the Nansana site. It is still too early to determine whether battery installation has materially improved margins because: there has not yet been a full operating month; the initial battery charging introduced additional consumption; electricity tariffs changed during the period; and the NFE service charge was also adjusted. The reliability improvement is already more apparent than the profitability impact. The discussion highlighted the need for a more rigorous model for determining the appropriate monthly service charge. Future pricing should reflect both: the value of improved reliability delivered to customers; and NFE's actual operating and maintenance costs. The existing service-charge adjustment was acknowledged as a reasonable pilot decision rather than a fully cost-derived commercial price. 4. Battery Funder / Data Sharing The battery funder is aware that the backup system has been installed and has indicated willingness to potentially contribute an additional small amount toward installation costs. Aaron has a follow-up meeting scheduled for Monday to provide an update and review the roadmap. The original arrangement requires NFE to share operational data. The team agreed there is no need to make historical data migration a blocker. Existing spreadsheet records can be shared for earlier periods, while newer telemetry can be exported from the current database/OpenEMS stack. 5. Analytics Layer / AI-native Operations The current system collects telemetry into InfluxDB, but NFE does not yet have a defined analytics layer. The team revisited the broader Microgrid OS architecture and discussed potentially avoiding a dashboard-heavy analytics approach. One promising direction is an LLM-powered operational analytics interface sitting over the telemetry data, potentially using MCP or a similar interface to allow users to ask questions such as: Which outages lasted longer than three hours this week? What is the site's reliability trend? How has a particular battery configuration affected consumption or uptime? The analytics architecture should be revisited as part of future/Q4 Microgrid OS planning. 6. Nairobi Workshop — Generation 3 Hardware The Nairobi workshop is proceeding, with three sponsored participation slots currently available. The team clarified that the objective should not simply be to attend or observe the workshop. The explicit goal is to leave Nairobi with a pathway toward Generation 3 of the NFE microgrid/sub-metering stack . The generations were framed as: Generation 1 Proprietary hardware. Proprietary software. Imported equipment. Higher equipment and licensing costs. Generation 2 Locally available but still proprietary meters/hardware. Open-source software through OpenEMS. Lower hardware cost and reduced software lock-in. Generation 3 Open hardware that NFE can assemble locally. Open-source firmware/software. Components that can be repaired or replaced individually. Greater control of the full stack. Significantly lower per-customer hardware costs. A preliminary BOQ discussed during the meeting suggested an equipment cost of roughly US$64 per customer for the workshop hardware configuration, although this still needs validation. The team acknowledged that moving the workshop prototype into a production-grade NFE system will require additional engineering, testing, enclosure/assembly work and software integration. 7. UNBS Certification A key open issue for Generation 3 hardware is regulatory approval. Once NFE begins assembling its own metering hardware and using it for customer billing, UNBS certification/calibration requirements will become important. The team needs clarity on: the applicable certification process; costs; testing/calibration requirements; documentation required; and whether certification applies to the complete assembled PDU, individual meters, or both. This will determine whether the open-hardware approach remains economically attractive relative to using already-certified commercial meters. 8. Customer Pipeline Chanjala / Three-phase Connection The outstanding issue remains the three-phase supply/meter installation. UMEME appears ready to install once the required meter payment and outstanding site-side issues are addressed. The team discussed proceeding with the meter installation while treating any problems with the customer's internal/network infrastructure separately. Dansturn Home Installation Dansturn would like NFE monitoring installed at his home so that he can better understand his electricity consumption. This is also considered a useful test environment because it provides the engineering team with a site that is easier to access than Nansana. The same installation can help refine the product before installing for Edward and other individual customers. Target discussed: Monday/Tuesday during the coming week , subject to technician availability. 9. Target Customer Strategy The team revisited whether NFE should prioritize new construction or existing sites. The conclusion was that existing developments with: active electricity consumption; meaningful numbers of customers; and an immediate reliability problem remain the more attractive near-term market. New developments can still be considered where the developer bears the upfront metering/infrastructure cost, but NFE should avoid tying up its own capital for years waiting for occupancy and consumption to ramp up. 10. Conferences & Industry Engagement Nairobi NFE currently has three sponsored passes and expects to send the founders/team, subject to individual availability. Kigali The team is also exploring participation in a Kigali event. Aaron will investigate whether NFE can obtain passes and potentially participate as workshop facilitators or presenters. The team agreed to resume a physical working session on Friday , with Nairobi preparation being one of the main priorities. 11. Fundraising & Corporate Readiness NFE is awaiting outcomes from current grant opportunities and needs to identify additional fundraising avenues, particularly to support further deployment work at Pearl Marina and other sites. The team also briefly discussed ensuring NFE's equity/shareholding documentation is properly organized ahead of future grant, investment or corporate due-diligence processes. Action Items Action Owner Timing Stabilize OpenEMS telemetry so outage, battery and reliability metrics can be reliably collected Aaron / Hillary August priority Complete outstanding inverter/OpenEMS integration work Aaron / Hillary Target: next week Move remaining Nansana meters onto the common OpenEMS monitoring/dashboard stack Technical team During August Design automated customer notification when the site switches to battery backup Hillary / Technical team After telemetry stabilization Establish a reliability baseline before testing new battery dispatch configurations Technical team After telemetry stabilization Test peak/off-peak battery dispatch strategies and measure effect on reliability and margins Technical team After baseline is established Develop a more rigorous cost/service-charge pricing model for future commercial sites Aaron / Team Before next larger commercial deployment Meet battery funder, provide deployment update and discuss roadmap/data-sharing expectations Aaron Monday Clarify how OpenEMS writes settings to inverter registers and how automated control could modify those settings Aaron / Hillary Technical investigation Revisit Microgrid OS analytics-layer architecture, including LLM/MCP-based querying over telemetry Aaron / Hillary Q4 planning Review Nairobi workshop BOQ/components and ensure the team understands the proposed hardware architecture Aaron, Hillary & Dansturn Before Nairobi Define a concrete Generation 3 deliverable/plan for the Nairobi workshop All Before Nairobi Investigate UNBS certification/calibration requirements and likely costs for NFE-assembled meters/PDU Team — owner to be confirmed Before Generation 3 production deployment Follow up on Chanjala three-phase meter installation Aaron Ongoing Arrange monitoring installation at Dansturn's home Aaron / Technician; Dansturn to coordinate availability Target Monday/Tuesday Use Dansturn installation as a nearby development/test environment before rolling out to Edward and similar customers Technical team After installation Investigate Kigali conference/workshop passes and participation Aaron Follow-up Hold physical NFE working session focused on Nairobi preparation All Friday Identify additional fundraising opportunities for upcoming deployments All Ongoing Ensure NFE shareholding/equity documentation is organized for future grants/investment processes Founders Upcoming NFE Checkin - August 29th 2026 Agenda  Fundraising Debt/Asset financing updates - Stanbic  Q3 goals - Product Goals Metering 2.0  Storage 1.0  EFRIS integration  Expanding the team Rajeshwa - Embedded Systems Engineer  Chemutai - Accounting  Customers Pearl Marina - New requirements  Lofty Skies -  PowerAfrica Readiness  Calin Meters  Other China Meters  Participants: Aaron Tushabe, Dansturn Kimbowa, Hillary Arinda 1. Power Africa / Nairobi NFE has received travel support for the upcoming Power Africa/IEEE-related activities in Nairobi. The current support appears to include reimbursement of Uganda–Nairobi bus transport up to US$150/person , accommodation, airport transfers and most meals. The main outstanding question is the approximately US$300 conference registration fee , which was the item NFE had originally hoped would be sponsored. Aaron's attendance remains tentative because of possible travel restrictions, while Dansturn is expected to attend if possible. The team also discussed the possibility of participating in related activities in Rwanda later in October. Decision: Continue preparing for Nairobi, but clarify whether registration fees can also be covered. 2. Financing NFE deployments Aaron reported on his discussion with Stanbic's renewable-energy financing team. Two financing structures were discussed: Working-capital financing: requires collateral and is less suitable for NFE's current requirement. Asset financing: appears substantially better aligned with NFE because the loan can specifically finance solar/battery equipment whose project cash flows repay the loan. Indicative Stanbic terms are up to about 15% per annum , potentially lower for larger transactions, with financing periods potentially extending considerably longer for larger projects. However, the bank may require: audited financial statements; evidence of project cash flows; project/site due diligence; appropriate property/site documentation; a qualified/approved EPC or equipment supplier; appropriate equipment warranties and maintenance arrangements. This highlighted an important issue for NFE: procurement, installation and maintenance are currently somewhat separated. For bank-financed projects it may be advantageous to structure these more formally around an EPC relationship with clear manufacturer authorization, installation responsibility and warranties. For the proposed ~UGX 4 million solar investment at Nansana , the team estimated repayment at roughly UGX 190k–200k/month over two years , depending on the bank's calculation methodology. The discussion was not simply about obtaining UGX 4 million. The strategic value would be learning the bank's financing process and establishing a financing pathway that could later support much larger deployments such as Pearl Marina. Dansturn raised the counterargument that debt can encourage progressively larger borrowing and therefore increases risk. Aaron's view was that project-level asset financing can be appropriate where the asset and its project cash flows support the loan and the lender's remedy in a failed project is largely tied to the financed assets. Working direction: Continue investigating the Stanbic facility rather than dismissing it. The team generally considered 15% potentially workable, although Hillary would prefer a lower rate if one is available. 3. NFE accounting readiness The financing discussion reinforces the need for NFE's financial records to become audit-ready. Aaron has started migrating the company's accounting into Zoho Books and needs to finish bringing the records up to date before engaging an auditor. The team also discussed Esther's role supporting the books. Aaron had proposed a UGX 50,000 monthly stipend , while Esther asked whether she could receive equity instead. The existing NFE equity-for-work framework requires roughly five hours of regular contribution per month . At the current transaction volume, the bookkeeping work probably does not yet reach that threshold. Working position: Continue with cash compensation for now rather than allocating equity, while leaving open the possibility of equity if the finance workload grows sufficiently. 4. Nansana battery operation and arbitrage Hillary raised a concern about whether customer demand could undermine the economics of battery arbitrage. If customer load exceeds inverter capacity, the inverter may move into bypass/grid operation. This could be particularly important during evening peak periods, when NFE expects battery discharge to reduce grid consumption and improve margins. The team needs to understand the exact inverter behavior under: available grid power; available battery energy; sufficient battery power capacity; but customer instantaneous load exceeding inverter output capacity. The team also reviewed recent energy summaries and noticed surprisingly little reported battery discharge, despite known instances where the site has operated on battery. This raises the possibility of a reporting/algorithm problem rather than an actual absence of discharge . Decision: Investigate the battery discharge reporting before relying heavily on the existing daily summaries. The team also agreed that NFE does not need to wait for solar installation before testing battery arbitrage . With grid supply currently relatively stable, this is actually a good opportunity to begin controlled peak-discharge experiments. 5. Phase balancing and low-voltage problem at Nansana Following the recent phase-balancing work, one customer has reported that high-load appliances such as the microwave/hot plate are not operating properly. The leading hypothesis is a loose electrical connection, particularly a neutral connection , producing acceptable unloaded voltage but excessive voltage drop once significant current flows. The site technician was expected to visit the site and: tighten/check all relevant terminals; test voltage; have the customer switch on a significant load such as the microwave; verify that voltage remains stable under load. The recent balancing work has nevertheless significantly improved phase distribution. The approximate phase allocation is now around: L1: 28% L2: 35% L3: 37% A further meter transfer could potentially move this toward roughly 31/35/34 , but this is not urgent because the current distribution is already substantially better than before. The additional move requires suitable 16 mm² copper cable , which is not currently available. 6. Improve the physical meter installation While reviewing the Nansana installation, the team agreed that the current wiring arrangement is functional but not sufficiently clean or scalable for future commercial deployments. Particular attention should be given to the RS485/Modbus wiring and the general routing of conductors. The team discussed developing something more analogous to a busbar/distribution arrangement so connections are organized rather than looping and hanging between devices. Principle: Nansana can remain an experimental installation, but the next installation—particularly Pearl Marina—needs a significantly cleaner and more repeatable hardware design. 7. Pearl Marina engineering proposal Aaron met with Pearl Marina's engineering/management representatives to understand what would be required for formal approval. They want a proper engineering proposal showing: the purpose of the microgrid; locations of batteries; proposed solar installation; metering architecture; electrical integration with existing infrastructure; assurance that the installation will not interfere with existing utility equipment; assurance that the roof/building will not be damaged. They also want the proposal and drawings reviewed by a qualified/certified engineering firm. Multiconsult was mentioned as one firm they already work with and would likely trust. Dansturn explained that the starting point should be Pearl Marina's existing as-built electrical/MEP drawings . These would allow NFE to overlay the proposed system architecture. For the solar component, NFE also needs the roof plan . The roof plan establishes available area, while structural calculations or information from the structural engineer will be needed to determine allowable loading from the proposed panels. Decision: Prioritize completing the Pearl Marina proposal rather than pursuing the other stalled development immediately. The second project discussed remains potentially viable but construction has slowed because the developer appears to have funding constraints. 8. Additional embedded-systems engineering support Hillary described another engineer with skills in: C; C++; embedded systems; chip/hardware design. The team believes this person could be particularly relevant to the IEEE/open-hardware work. Hillary will introduce him to the material already shared in NFE's IEEE Smart Village collaboration channel, including the previous workshop documentation and NFE's broader generation/capability roadmap . The goal is not merely to have him study individual technical documents, but to understand NFE's direction toward increasingly open, locally maintainable hardware. 9. Calin meters and EnAccess The team confirmed that NFE no longer has a strong commercial use for the decommissioned Calin meters. EnAccess is interested in them for MicroPowerManager integration/testing, particularly because Calin meters are apparently used considerably in West Africa. Decision: NFE is willing to donate the available used meters to EnAccess provided EnAccess covers shipping. The meters should be clearly described as used , and EnAccess should understand that NFE cannot guarantee continued access to Calin's hosted AMI/API. The broader lesson remains that relying on vendor-hosted APIs creates long-term platform risk. NFE prefers equipment with interfaces that can be accessed directly and independently. 10. Smart Metering Crisis Response opportunity The team discussed the new OSEA/EnAccess Smart Metering Crisis Response initiative following the collapse/distress of major meter providers. Approximately a quarter-million connections across numerous countries may be affected. Emergency funding is being used to preserve existing platforms, including attempts to obtain source code and encryption keys so affected operators can continue operating deployed meters. However, the initiative is also considering what a long-term, vendor-independent architecture should look like. Aaron has already positioned NFE as a potential contributor. This fits strongly with NFE's Microgrid OS thesis: Operators should be able to integrate directly with meters through documented interfaces, while the management layer remains open source and self-hostable if necessary. There may therefore be both a technical collaboration opportunity and potentially access to catalytic funding. The team should follow the Discord channel and prepare to contribute to the expected September discussions/workshop, potentially in Nairobi. Q3 progress The team reviewed the existing Q3 goals and concluded that substantial progress has been made: Metering: effectively achieved. Outage detection: operational; NFE can identify when grid power disappears and the system transitions to battery. Battery monitoring/control: largely operational, although discharge reporting needs investigation. Arbitrage: technically ready to begin experimental testing. Phase balancing: substantially improved, with one additional optimization possible. More operating data is still required before some of these can be considered fully validated. Action Items Owner Action Aaron Follow up with Power Africa/IEEE organizers and ask whether the US$300 conference registration can be sponsored/reimbursed. Aaron / Dansturn Continue Nairobi preparations; Dansturn to plan on attending while Aaron's attendance remains tentative. Aaron Obtain Stanbic's complete asset-financing requirements/checklist . Aaron Finish updating NFE's financial records in Zoho Books . Aaron Investigate the requirements/cost of having NFE's accounts audited. Aaron Respond to Esther regarding compensation; current direction is UGX 50k stipend rather than equity at the current workload. Aaron / Hillary Investigate the apparent battery-discharge reporting bug in the daily energy summaries. Hillary / Aaron Confirm inverter behavior when customer instantaneous demand exceeds inverter output while battery/grid are available. Hillary / Aaron Begin planning/testing controlled battery arbitrage / peak discharge without waiting for solar. Site technician / Dansturn / Hillary Diagnose the Nansana low-voltage problem: inspect/tighten terminals, especially neutral, and verify voltage under load using the customer's microwave or similar appliance. Team Obtain suitable 16 mm² copper cable before completing the remaining phase-balancing move. Technical team Develop a cleaner wiring/RS485/bus arrangement for the next-generation meter installation. Aaron Request Pearl Marina's as-built electrical/MEP drawings and relevant roof drawings/plans . Dansturn Use the Pearl Marina as-built drawings to begin developing the proposed electrical integration drawings once received. Aaron / Dansturn Determine what structural information/calculations are required to demonstrate that the Pearl Marina roof can safely carry the solar array. Aaron Begin drafting the broader Pearl Marina technical/project proposal around the engineering drawings. Hillary Introduce/onboard the embedded-systems engineer to the IEEE/open-hardware work and share relevant workshop/wiki materials plus NFE's generation roadmap. Hillary Continue trying to contact the person holding the unused Calin meter inventory. Aaron Coordinate donation of the decommissioned Calin meters to EnAccess, with EnAccess covering shipping . All Follow the OSEA #smart-metering-crisis-response channel and familiarize yourselves with the initiative before upcoming discussions. Aaron / team Develop NFE's position/proposal for how the Microgrid OS/open metering architecture could contribute to the long-term smart-metering crisis response. Aaron + Dansturn Plan an in-person technical working session for Tuesday , including procurement/setup work discussed at the end of the meeting. Most important priorities before the next weekly meeting I would reduce the above to five immediate priorities : (1) resolve the Nansana voltage fault, (2) investigate battery discharge reporting and start arbitrage testing, (3) get Pearl Marina's as-built/roof drawings and start the proposal, (4) obtain Stanbic's financing requirements and make the books audit-ready, and (5) develop NFE's concrete contribution to the Smart Metering Crisis Response rather than participating only as an observer. Culture, Vision and Values What you can expect from our culture and distributed work environment. Vision, Strategy, Key Results Vision Thriving Communities  Strategy  Advancing Sustainable, Reliable, Affordable Energy through resilient Community Owned Microgrids. We build and operate these microgrids and teach others how to do the same.  Key Results  Completed Find Partners and advisors and cofounders Dansturn - Grid Operations  Hillary - Metering Technology  Michael Goldbach - Advisor  Attend Microgrid Conference in Dallas, April 2025 and connect with the community Register NFE as a Utility Company in Uganda  Set up collaboration tools for NFE team Email and Calendar  Wiki / Documentation Time tracking  Website  Group chat  Video calling   Meeting Scheduling   Version Source Control   Customer Help desk  Customer Relationship Management (CRM)   Project Management  Evaluations and sourcing for Metering Partner  Payment Processing Provider  Now Pilot microgrid in a small community of 8 to 10 homes Bulk (discounted billing) through UEDCL  Test smart metering hardware  Test monitoring and steering software for meters  Test customer post paid billing  Connect with Linux Foundation energy community for collaboration on Microgrid software  Find hardware partners in China  Connect with 2 potential customers  Bugolobi flats  ?  Publish one or two knowledge base articles  Share about Smart metering (finding a vendor and deciding on communication protocols)  Payment/Vending systems: Evaluating uganda's online payment ecosystem Financial Transparency - Publish our finances on open collective  Next Bellavista microgrid  1st customer onboarding (sign MOU)  Enable smart metering  Enable customer post paid billing  Introduce BESS for Pilot customer  Test power backup offering  Later Enable BESS for Bellavista  Enable Solar PVs for Pilot  Start using open source software for running the microgrid  Collaboration Tools Overview This page contains useful tips for working at NFE and for various tools we use. These tools can be found at dashboard.NearlyFreeEnergy.com Email and Celandar with NextCloud  Email and Calendar  Documentation with Bookstack  Wiki / Documentation   Kimai for Time tracking  Time tracking  Company Website with Wordpress  Website  Group Chat with Matrix and Element  Group chat  Code Repository with Gitea  Version Source Control   Customer Help desk with Freescout  Customer Help desk  CRM with Espo  Customer Relationship Management (CRM)   Project Management with Plane You can access plane here and their documentation .  Video Calls with Jitsi Jitsi is an important part of GitLab’s strategy for communication between team members. As such, extra care needs to be given to ensure the safety and integrity of data. For how to use Jitsi, refer to their official documentation Scheduling Meetings with Calcom Most of our work is asynchronous but we'll occassionally need to meet with each other and with external stakeholders. This is what Calcom is for. It's Free Software like most of our tools so you can search online for more information on how to use it. Here's how you can set up your NFE account.  In Nextcloud Calendar, hover over the link icon to the right of the calendar in question, e.g. Personal, and you see an edit icon. Click the edit icon: You'll see a pop-up like the following. You will want to click the + for "Share link" and then clck the resulting clipboard icon that copies the link to the clipboard: Then, you'll want to go to your Cal.com pop-up for configuring CalDav and paste the link: Then continue the process of connecting to your Nextcloud calendar via CalDav, confirming event creation: Complete the remaining steps. You can leave video settings for later. Confirm your availability times. Add a profile photo / avatar. Values Collaboration We are better Together: If you want to go quickly, go alone but if you want to go far, go together Curiosity Always learning, frequently questioning and listening.  Community  Default to Openness. We want to learn and build in public so that others who care about what we are working on can also learn and consider contributing to our mission. They'll be a few things that need to be private like our customers contact information but we aim to be open about how and what we are working on. So when in doubt, just share it. People first Relationships count most, invest in them. We want to give reach other room to center our lives around family and friends, not our jobs.  Managers of One People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed. What it means to be a manager of one .  Culture - how we work Most of our work is asynchronous, this is the best way for people in different timezones, schedules and places to effectively collaborate. The people at Gitlab wrote a good guide on asynchronous work , please go read it.  Here's some tips from Aaron Lean on element/matrix to start conversations about something you are inclined to "have a meeting or call" about. You'll be surprised by how much progress you can make on something without scheduling a meeting. Expect that progress might feel slower than having everyone in the same room at the same time.  You need to get better at writing your thoughts and ideas out. We really very heavily on written communication to collaborate  If you have an idea or suggestion, make use of our bookstack library and create a page for it as we discuss it.  NFE is a Social Venture! Our Identity We, Nearly Free Energy (NFE) , operate as a social enterprise — a mission-driven business committed to providing affordable, sustainable energy solutions while generating profit in a responsible and inclusive manner. Our Purpose Nearly Free Energy exists to: Advance access to sustainable, reliable, affordable electricity for every community; Support energy independence and resilience through microgrid innovation; Create local economic opportunities by empowering households, cooperatives, and small businesses to manage their energy needs Our Core Principles We are guided by the following values: People-Centered Impact We prioritize the needs, dignity, and aspirations of the communities we serve. Our solutions are co-designed with our users, and we strive to create long-term value and inclusion. Environmental Stewardship We commit to environmental sustainability in our products, services, and operations — advancing renewable energy efficiency solutions to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Financial Sustainability We operate for profit to ensure our longer-term viability. We reinvest earnings in innovation, infrastructure, and impact — balancing financial returns with social outcomes. Transparency and Accountability We share our goals, progress, and challenges openly with our stakeholders. We maintain integrity in our dealings with customers, employees, partners, and investors. Community Partnership We build local capacity and respect local knowledge. We collaborate with community organizations, public agencies, and other enterprises to maximize shared value. Governance and Decision-Making Our leadership team is accountable for balancing financial, environmental, and social performance in all major decisions. Impact and profit are both KPIs in our internal planning and reviews. We welcome regular feedback from our customers, partners, and employees to help shape our direction. Reporting and Learning We will publish a Social Impact Report at least once a year to document progress toward our mission. We will share lessons learned, challenges faced, and areas for improvement in line with our commitment to transparency. Our Long-Term Vision We envision a world where energy is: Sustainable — powered by renewable resources Affordable — enabling families and businesses to thrive; Community-owned — unlocking local prosperity and autonomy. Till every community can sustain their energy needs. Co-op Resources from Startup.coop We also encourage you to check out our  free Lean Co-op course  if you haven’t already and see if there are local resources within the  Cooperation Works  network who can continue to help you refine your vision!  We have also listed advocacy, technical assistance, financing and general startup resources on the  build  and  resource  pages of our website.  And have provided a list of additional resources below: Network for Developing Conscious Communities DC and Baltimore CoopNomics Academy Solidarity as a Business Model: a Multi-Stakeholder Cooperative Manual Webinar on Worker Self Directed Nonprofits: Workplace Democracy in Nonprofit Organizations Co-op Law: Resources for Worker Cooperatives Establishing a Worker Cooperative for Business Succession Planning Becoming Employee Owned: a Small Business Toolkit Think Outside the Boss: How to Create a Worker-Owned Business The FCI Guide to Starting a Food Co-op A Technology Freelancer's Guide to Starting a Worker Cooperative Glossary NFE Acronym Glossary This glossary consolidates acronyms used across the NFE BookStack. It covers business, energy, metering, software, finance, logistics, and regulatory terminology. Product model numbers and register codes are excluded unless they are genuine acronyms. Inventory reviewed: 134 BookStack pages. Last updated: 27 August 2026. Acronym Meaning NFE context A2EI Access to Energy Institute Energy-access research and data organization. AC Alternating Current Electrical current that periodically reverses direction. ADR Architecture Decision Record A durable record of an important technical decision. AfDB African Development Bank Regional development-finance institution. AI Artificial Intelligence Software techniques used for prediction, automation, or decision support. AMI Advanced Metering Infrastructure Meters, communications, and systems used for remote measurement and management. API Application Programming Interface A defined interface through which software systems exchange data or commands. BESS Battery Energy Storage System A battery installation together with its power conversion, controls, and protection. BMS Battery Management System Electronics that monitor, protect, and control a battery pack. BOM Bill of Materials Itemized list of components required to build a system. BOQ Bill of Quantities Itemized estimate of materials, work, quantities, and costs. BYD Build Your Dreams Battery and electric-vehicle manufacturer referenced in procurement research. CIF Cost, Insurance, and Freight Shipping-price basis that includes the goods, insurance, and freight to the destination port. CIU Customer Interface Unit Customer-facing device used to interact with a meter, commonly for prepaid metering. COSEM Companion Specification for Energy Metering Object model used with DLMS for energy-meter data. CRM Customer Relationship Management System for managing customer information and interactions. CT Current Transformer Sensor that scales electrical current for safe metering or protection. DC Direct Current Electrical current flowing in one direction. DCI Driver, Consulted, Informed NFE decision-ownership framework identifying who drives, advises, and is kept informed. DCU Data Concentrator Unit Device that aggregates data from multiple meters for upstream communication. DER Distributed Energy Resource Small-scale generation, storage, or controllable load connected within a distribution network. DLMS Device Language Message Specification Application-layer standard used to exchange utility-meter data. DRI Directly Responsible Individual The person accountable for driving a task or outcome. DTU Data Transfer Unit Communications device that relays field-device data to another system. EACU East African Customs Union Regional customs framework relevant to imports into Uganda. EMS Energy Management System Software and controls used to monitor and optimize energy flows. ERA Electricity Regulatory Authority Uganda's electricity-sector regulator. ESMAP Energy Sector Management Assistance Program World Bank energy-sector technical-assistance program. ESS Energy Storage System A storage asset and its associated controls and power electronics. EV Electric Vehicle Vehicle propelled partly or entirely by electric power. FCL Full Container Load Shipping arrangement in which one consignee uses a full container. G3-PLC G3 Power Line Communication Power-line communications technology used by smart-grid devices. GCP Google Cloud Platform Google's cloud-computing platform. GFF Green Future Foundation Organization referenced in NFE fundraising materials. GUI Graphical User Interface Visual interface through which a person operates software. GxF Grid eXchange Fabric Open smart-grid software platform evaluated by NFE. IEC International Electrotechnical Commission International standards body for electrical and electronic technologies. IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Professional association and technical-standards organization. IDIS Interoperable Device Interface Specifications Interoperability profile for DLMS/COSEM smart-meter implementations. IoT Internet of Things Networked physical devices that collect data or receive commands. IPC Insulation Piercing Connector Connector that makes contact through a cable's insulation. ISV IEEE Smart Village IEEE program supporting energy access and community development. LCL Less than Container Load Shipping arrangement in which cargo shares a container. LFP Lithium Iron Phosphate Lithium-ion battery chemistry commonly written LiFePO₄. LV Low Voltage Low-voltage portion of an electrical distribution system. MBE Metering and Billing Engine NFE software capability for turning meter data into customer billing records. MoU Memorandum of Understanding Document recording intended cooperation between parties. MPM Microgrid Power Manager NFE's microgrid control and management product concept. MQTT Message Queuing Telemetry Transport Lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol commonly used by IoT systems. NCM Nickel Cobalt Manganese Lithium-ion battery cathode chemistry. NFE Nearly Free Energy The organization and cooperative developing the NFE Microgrid OS. NPV Net Present Value Present value of future cash flows minus investment cost. OBIS Object Identification System Standard identifiers for measurements and data objects in utility meters. OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer Company that manufactures a product or component sold under its own or another brand. OS Operating System In 'Microgrid OS,' the coordinating software layer for microgrid operations and services. OSGP Open Smart Grid Protocol Open protocol suite for smart-grid communications. PDU Power Distribution Unit Assembly that distributes and protects electrical power to downstream circuits. PF Power Factor Ratio of real power to apparent power in an AC circuit. PLC Power Line Communication Communication that carries data over electrical power conductors. PR Pull Request Proposed set of source-code changes submitted for review and merging. PV Photovoltaic Conversion of sunlight into electricity; commonly refers to solar panels or arrays. ROI Return on Investment Gain or value produced relative to investment cost. RS-485 Recommended Standard 485 Differential serial communications standard widely used with Modbus field devices. RTU Remote Terminal Unit In Modbus RTU, the compact binary serial framing commonly used over RS-485. SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System for monitoring and controlling distributed industrial equipment. SEFA Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa AfDB-managed fund supporting sustainable-energy projects. SOC State of Charge Estimated percentage of usable energy remaining in a battery. SSH Secure Shell Encrypted protocol for remote command-line access. SSR Solid-State Relay Electronic switching device with no moving contacts. TCP Transmission Control Protocol Reliable, connection-oriented internet transport protocol. TLS Transport Layer Security Protocol that encrypts and authenticates network connections. TOU Time of Use Tariff or operating schedule that varies by time period. UEDCL Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited Ugandan electricity distribution company and macrogrid operator referenced by NFE. UGX Ugandan Shilling ISO 4217 currency code for Uganda's currency. UNBS Uganda National Bureau of Standards Uganda's national standards body. URA Uganda Revenue Authority Uganda's tax and customs authority. USB Universal Serial Bus Standard wired interface used for peripherals and serial adapters. USD United States Dollar ISO 4217 currency code for the United States dollar. VAT Value Added Tax Consumption tax applied to the value added to goods and services. VM Virtual Machine Software-defined computer running within a physical host. VNC Virtual Network Computing Protocol for remotely viewing and controlling a graphical desktop. VPN Virtual Private Network Encrypted private network carried over another network such as the internet. WSS WebSocket Secure WebSocket communication protected by TLS. ByLaws Welcome This work, "NFE Bylaws", works as the operating agreement for Watt Works Foundation Limited and is a derivative of "Ampled ByLaws and East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative Bylaws" by theselc.org, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Our Bylaws This is the guidebook for NFE. This document explains how shared ownership model works, how decisions are made, and how profit is shared. These Bylaws provide guidance for Watt Works Foundation Limited (dba NFE), our desire is to empower each other to steward NFE's vision well and go beyond simply following the letter of the bylaws.  We think having the ByLaws in place can be a helpful safety net when conflict inevitably arises but we expect and encourage 1:1 conversational deliberations rooted in our values to be the first tool we reach for to resolve conflicts peacefully.  Mission and Values Mission We are here to advance energy resilience using community owned sustainable energy microgrids.  Values  Collaboration We are better Together: If you want to go quickly, go alone but if you want to go far, go together Curiosity Always learning, frequently questioning and listening.  Community  Default to Openness. We want to learn and build in public so that others who care about what we are working on can also learn and consider contributing to our mission. They'll be a few things that need to be private like our customers contact information but we aim to be open about how and what we are working on. So when in doubt, just share it. People first Relationships count most, invest in them. We want to give each other room to center our lives around family and friends, not our jobs.  Managers of One People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed. What it means to be  a manager of one .  Five dysfunctions Our values also help us to prevent the five dysfunctions : Fear of conflict Seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate => prevented by transparency, specifically Managers of One   and Collaboration.  Absence of trust Unwilling to be vulnerable within the group => prevented by Collaboration, specifically People first.  Avoidance of accountability Ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior which sets low standards => prevented by Community.  Inattention to results Focusing on personal success, status, and ego before team success => prevented by Managers of One Lack of commitment Feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization => prevented by Community and Managers of One Some dysfunctions are not addressed directly by our values; for example, trust is not one of our values. Similar to happiness, trust is something that is an outcome, not something you can strive for directly. We hope that the way we work and our values will instill trust, instead of mandating it from people; trust is earned, not given Ownership NFE is owned by the community of people contributing to NFE's mission.  Owners or Members Owner-member is the term we use to refer to people NFE recognizes as owners or members of the NFE co-operative. Each ownership category elects at least 1 and a maximum of 2 representatives on the NFE board. Each board member serves a 2 year term, they serve for a maximum of 2 terms.  Owner-members take on 3 main categories. Some members can be recognized within more than one category.  Workers Workers contribute by investing time and skills to NFE activities they are hired to complete. They make most decisions about the day to day operations of NFE but their board representatives vote on the major decisions Becoming a Worker-Owner requires 3 things  Work and report at least 240 hours or 6 months, whichever comes first. This work needs to be regular ie at least 5 hours per month.  Agreement to the NFE ByLaws Approval of at least 2/3 our current worker-owners  Funders  Funders contribute money to an NFE microgrid project.  Their board representatives vote on major decisions  Becoming a Funder-Owner requires 3 things Fund at least 10% of the cost Phase 1 of a given microgrid Agreement to the NFE ByLaws Approval of at least 2/3 our current funder-owners  Customers Customers contribute by using and paying for energy via NFE's microgrids  Their board representatives vote on major decisions  Becoming a Customer-Owner requires 3 things Contributing for at least 12 consecutive months  Agreement to the NFE ByLaws Approval of at least 2/3 our current customer-owners  Please note that NFE membership voluntary. Individuals or organizations can be funders, workers or customers and chose not to apply for member/ownership.  Responsibilities of Owner-Members Active participation in NFE activities as prescribed by their membership category Voting on admission of new members  Benefits of Owner-Members  Influencing Major NFE and NFE microgrid decision Annual Surplus sharing Workers -  equal share of NFE's surplus (NFE is a worker-member of every microgrid we operate) Customers - proportional share of respective microgrid's surplus, proportional to their contribution Funders - proportional share of funded entity's surplus, proportional to their contribution.  Existing owners get right of refusal to opportunities for new membership as workers, customers or funders.  Suspending Membership  Ownership is suspended if an owner-member stops contributing and is given at least one warning.  Ownership is suspended if an owner-member dies or is dissolved or closed in the case of an organization owner.  The Board otherwise expels an Owner on grounds of actions contrary to the mission and values, as long as the Board uses a consistent, fair, and reasonable procedure for expulsion (provided in writing to the Owners) that gives an Owner a reasonable period of time in which to explain or correct a problem.  Non Owner Community Members  Not all our stakeholders are currently eligible for becoming members but are still part of the community so theoretically could be owners in the future.  Suppliers - NFE partners with organizations like UEDCL (Macrogrid operator in Uganda), Calinmeter Co a metering supplier and Linux and EnAccess foundations are key software partners. We would like to include them as members but are get to craft a model to that effect.  Regulators - Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) and Uganda National Beurou of Standards (UNBS) are also key stakeholders and part of our community but are currently not eligible for membership. Advisors - We have a board of advisors who provide guidance on our business, technology and people model. We may compensate these advisors for their time but they are currently not eligible for membership.  Donors - These have gifted the co-op resources in cash for in-kind. eg Energy IoT Board of Directors This group are the guardians of the NFE mission. They help steer and make all major decisions.  Board Members  All board members except the CEO are elected by the owner-members  The Board generally stewards the process by which work is carried out, as opposed to directing the substance of the work.  CEO is hired by NFE workers and approved by the board  Responsibilities  Regularly reviewing financials and financial decisions, changes to employee compensation, and periodic budget review. Monitoring compliance with the law. Reviewing internal policies adopted by Workers. Providing feedback and guidance to workers and Making reasonable inquiry into any concerning activities or decisions by workers. Intervening when the NFE's members engage in overly risky or illegal activity Board Elections Happen every time a board position is open.  Board terms are a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 2 years.  Members will serve for at most 2 consecutive terms.  Board member removal  A board member may be removed by the members that elected that particular board member  A board member may be removed if they die or the organization is closed or dissolved.  CEO may be removed by a simple majority of the board members.  Binding NFE The Secretary or Chairperson or CEO may sign a document or make a binding commitment on behalf of NFE. The Board may designate other people through a board resolution, to do the same. Directly Responsible Individuals NFE is a community owned organization but we rely very little on consensus to make most decisions. Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs) at NFE own particular projects, initiatives, or activity and make most decisions concerning those areas.  What is a directly responsible individual? Apple coined the term “directly responsible individual” (DRI). The idea is that every project is assigned a DRI who is ultimately held accountable for the success (or failure) of that project. They likely won’t be the only person working on their assigned project, but it’s “up to that person to get it done or find the resources needed.” DRIs may be a lead or senior or associate worker. The selection of a DRI and their specific role will vary based on their own skillset and the requirements of their assigned task. What’s most important is that they’re empowered. While the DRI is the individual who is ultimately held accountable for the success or failure of any given project, they are not necessarily the individual that does the tactical project work. The DRI should consult and collaborate with all teams and stakeholders involved to ensure they have all relevant context, to gather input/feedback from others, and to divide action items and tasks amongst those involved. Empowering DRIs It is important to understand that DRIs do not owe anyone an explanation for their decisions. If you force a DRI to explain too much, you’ll create incentives to ship projects under the radar. The fear of falling into a perpetual loop of explaining can derail a DRI , and cause people to defer rather than working with a bias for action. We would much rather foster a culture where DRIs are willing to put their ideas in the open. This enables feedback from a broad range of diverse perspectives, which the DRI can take into account and choose how (if at all) it shapes their thinking. Communication and feedback A DRI should be able to articulate the objectives, check progress and give and receive feedback. This will ensure the DRI can change direction or plan ahead to avoid any setbacks. At NFE we communicate and work asynchronously , you can read more about it on this page . One thing to consider when a DRI needs to give or receive feedback is that they may not be the actual manager of the other members of the team. DRI, Consulted, Informed (DCI) Different organizations use different methods of assigning responsibility; one of the most popular is the RACI Matrix , which outlines who the Responsible-Accountable-Consulted-Informed people should be on a decision or project. GitLab’s implementation of a DRI for decision-making means that we have evolved the RACI matrix to DCI (DRI, Consulted, Informed). The Responsible and Accountable person is the DRI , the Consulted people are those whose opinions are sought, typically subject-matter experts; and with whom there is two-way communication. and Informed people are those who are kept up-to-date on progress, often only on completion of the task or deliverable; and with whom there is just one-way communication.  Circumstances Requiring the Rare Need for Approvals Decisions that impact more than a single project  Could have large financial impact  Could present significant risk to the business Have business reputation considerations Decisions regarding approval or removal of NFE members, NFE project members and their respective board members as Surplus Sharing What and why After the end of every fiscal year, NFE shall do the following:  Determine available surpluses for each project for reallocation. Allocate some or all surpluses to members, following the procedures described under “How Surplus Is distributed”. If, instead of surpluses, there are losses, the losses will be allocated in any manner that the Board determines to be fair and equitable, in consideration of the circumstances leading to the loss. How Surplus is Distributed Books are balanced for each project under NFE as well as NFE itself.  NFE will propose to the board on how to invest the surplus in any of 3 ways in order of priority Every project will first pay back the principal contribution from all it's funders.  The project will then consider how much to reinvest back in the project expansion  Remaining surplus per project is distributed to it's members equally (workers) or proportionally to contributions for funders and customers.  Will & Testament How NFE will close  Any proposal to sell, dissolve, or liquidate NFE or it's projects must be approved by 2/3 of the board. In such an event, after paying or adequately providing for all debts, liabilities, and repayment to contributors, NFE shall make payments in following the procedures described under “Surplus Sharing” Defending and Compensating members NFE shall have the power to indemnify its Workers, Customers, Funders and their agents to the fullest extent permitted by law. NFE shall compensate a Worker, Customer or Funder for any expenses incurred from lawsuits, penalties, fines, and costs of defense if the person incurred these expenses in connection with fulfilling their duties as a Worker, Customer or Funder. This is also called “indemnification.” However, NFE is not obligated to “indemnify” a person if such expenses arose from a situation where the person stole funds, knowingly received funds they were not entitled to, intentionally committed a crime, or recklessly or intentionally harmed NFE or its members. Changing Bylaws Prior to the first Board election, these Bylaws may be changed by approval of a majority of Initial Worker-Owners. Once a Board has been elected, with exceptions listed below or on a specific Bylaws page, these Bylaws may be changed by approval of 2/3 of Board at a duly called Owner meeting, or by 2/3 of those voting by electronic ballot duly submitted to Owners, so long as a quorum participates. All elections should provide at least 15 days prior notice.  Exceptions include: Changes to the Bylaws (including formatting changes) not affecting the decision-making power or financial rights of Members may be made by approval of 2/3 of the Board. Each time a page in the Bylaws is amended, the Board Secretary will email a copy of the new Bylaws to all Owners, and will put the Bylaws on the NFE Library. The Library will include an archive of all old Bylaws. NFE's Library software (bookstack) will be used to maintain revision history and comments for more context on why each change was made.  Ownership (Membership) This project is community owned as per the model described  here .  This the membership for NFE co-operative.  Funders  Tushabes -  12,027.86 USD Arindas - 1,000 USD Kimbowas - 1,000 USD Workers  Dansturn Kimbowa - L3 Hillary Arinda - L3 Aaron Tushabe - L3 Customers  Non eligible yet  Membership Workers  Founding Team Dansturn Kimbowa  Hillary Arinda  Aaron Tushabe  Funders  Danturn and Ethol Kimbowa  Martha and Aaron Tushabe  Esther and Hillary Arinda  Customers  Sezibwa Rental Homes (10) Advisors  Sumaya Alba Joel Elaine Roadmap Now  Optimize Phase 1 Operations for Sezibwa Rentals Billing 2.2: Enable URA Efris intergration - Aaron / Hillary Metering 2.2: OpenEMS for realtime telemetry aggregation - Hillary / Aaron  Business As Usual - operations: Customer Support, Billing, Taxes - Aaron Phase 2 for Sezibwa Rentals  Storage 2.0 - OpenEMS for realtime telemetry aggregation for inverter and batteries Energy consumption and outage profiling - Hillary/ Aaron Scaling from 10 households to 100 households  New Product: Submetering (requires metering 2.2 and Billing 2.2)  Interconnection application for 2 sites Kyanja - Not yet started  Pearl Marina - In-progress Kyaliwajala - Not yet started  Serena Heights Universal Town  Fundraising and Marketing Stanbic Bank Innovator  Power Africa Conference - Nairobi  OSEA - Kigali  LF Energy Summit - Berlin  Next  Billing 2.3 CRM and billing with MPM  Solar 1.0  Microgrid Analytics - MCP server over the InfluxDB  Later  NFE Platform (metering, storage, solar) for other energy developers (similar to weEMS ) NFE partners (NFE platform as a service)  NFE Pilot in the US (we see here and we have NFE community members based in the US) Discovery: Water Outage Backup for Communities Unlimited Drinking water - Using reverse osmosis systems for homes Community wide Wifi networks  Released Sezibwa Rental Homes; Phase 1 Metering version 1.0 (based on Calinmeter and CalinAMI)  Billing version 1.0 (based on custom spreadsheets tariff calculations, Whatsapp for communication and URA's EFRIS for invoicing) Metering 2.0 Locally sourced meters from Chint   Access to data from Chint meters is also open (they are programmable)  Metering 2.1 Customer app for monitoring Custom Cron service for meter data aggregation Billing 2.0: Improve invoicing with MBE Phase 2 - Sezibwa Rentals - Initial 10 kwh battery deployment - Storage 1.0  Fundraising for NFE growth for the next 2 to 3 years - Equity Investors: Break down here . and the latest pitch here Financial Model Game plan - Q2 🎯 The 3 Goals Microgrid unit economics model Fundraising narrative Stress test your monetization models (Owned vs Partner) 🧭 Phase 1 (Week 1–2): Build Financial Clarity (Foundation) 1) Microgrid Unit Economics Model What you’re building A per-site financial model that answers: “If we deploy one microgrid, does it make money?” Step 1: Define core inputs Start simple (don’t overcomplicate): Costs (CapEx) Battery (e.g., 10kWh setup) Inverter Installation (+20%) Metering hardware Any fixed setup costs Revenue Avg monthly revenue per household Number of households (e.g., 10 → 100 → 360) Tariff (or effective price per kWh) Operating costs (OpEx) Maintenance Staff/ops allocation Platform/software (NFE OS) Losses / non-payment buffer Step 2: Build outputs You want 5 key metrics: Monthly revenue per site Monthly profit Payback period (months) Gross margin (%) Cash flow over time Step 3: Answer key questions How long to recover CapEx? What happens if:   Usage drops 20%? Costs increase 15%?   What is your minimum viable scale per site ? Deliverable 👉 A simple Google Sheet model (I can help you structure this next) 🧭 Phase 2 (Week 2–3): Stress Test Your Two Models Now apply the model to your two strategies: Model A: NFE-Owned Microgrid What to evaluate Total capital required per site Revenue collected directly Payback period Cash constraints (how many sites you can deploy) Key insight you want: “How fast can we scale before we run out of cash?” Model B: Partner-Owned Microgrid What to evaluate Your revenue:   Flat fee per customer +5% of electricity sales   Your costs:   Ops + maintenance   Key insight: “Is this a high-margin, low-capex business?” Compare side-by-side Metric NFE-Owned Partner Model Capital required High Low Margin High (long-term) Lower but steady Risk Higher Lower Speed of scale Slower Faster Strategic output You should be able to say: “We lead with Partner model to scale fast” or “We prioritize Owned model for long-term value” 👉 This becomes core to your pitch 🧭 Phase 3 (Week 3–4): Build Your Fundraising Narrative Now turn your numbers into a story investors understand 1) Problem (you already do this well) Unreliable grids Diesel backup risks Growing urban demand 2) Solution (tighten this) “Community microgrids that turn backup power into primary infrastructure” 3) Business Model (now backed by numbers) Use your model to clearly show: Revenue per site Margin Payback 4) Traction Pilot (10 homes) Phase 2 (100 homes) Pipeline (360 apartments) 5) Scaling Strategy (THIS is key) From your analysis: Example: Phase 1: Pilot + validate Phase 2: Scale via partner model Phase 3: Selectively own high-value sites 6) Use of funds Your model should let you say: “$300K deploys X sites” “Each site generates $Y/month” “Break-even in Z months” Deliverable 👉 A clean 8–10 slide pitch (or 1–2 page memo) 🧭 Phase 4 (Week 4–6): Add Financial Discipline This replaces what a CFO would start doing. 1) Monthly financial tracking Track: Revenue per site Cost per site Collection rates Downtime 2) Define 5 core KPIs For NFE, I’d suggest: Revenue per customer Cost per customer Payback period per site System uptime (%) Collection efficiency (%) 3) Cash planning (critical) Build a simple view: Cash today Monthly burn Months of runway ⚠️ Critical mindset shift You’re moving from: “We are building microgrids” to: “We are deploying capital into energy assets that must return money” That shift is what investors care about. 🧩 How this all connects Unit economics → proves viability Model comparison → defines strategy Narrative → unlocks capital Tracking → sustains growth