FAQ
We strive to be transparent about our products, business and mission. The FAQs below will help you use our technology and service like a pro.
We strive to be transparent about our products, business and mission. The FAQs below will help you use our technology and service like a pro.
Our systems are modular, which is why it is difficult to give one dedicated price for the Spark system. The price of the systems depends on your needs and your configuration, whether this is the number of batteries you require or the type of appliances you want to fit into your system. To learn more about this, have a look at our products here or contact us via this form.
(1) Modularity: Our modular plug & play technology is flexible, scalable and can be tailored to the varying energy needs of customers. Also, for distributors this is advantageous, as they can up-sell or re-configurate the system at any point in time after seeing specific customer needs. Read more about it here.
(2) Daisy chain lighting: connecting multiple lights in a daisy chain system. Our system is set up for you to link up to 3 lights on the same switch, without losing light intensity. Read more about it here.
(3) Efficiency: Both through the design of the hardware and through the application of software the Spark battery is highly efficient. This results in a higher useable capacity compared to systems of the same capacity. Read more about it here.
(4) PAYGo enabled: Distributors are not bound to one customer management solution, as Spark provides integration with any customer management solution available. Read more about it here
(1) Spark Support: Spark goes above and beyond to ensure sure the distributor has a good understanding of the Spark Solar systems, by face-to-face education about our kits and having dedicated solar technicians on the ground. Read more about it here.
(2) Spark Invest: Our partnership with the Dutch government enables us to unlock affordable inventory financing for our partners, which can be repaid in terms that align with distributors PAYGo collections. Read more about it here.
(3) Spark Portal: The Spark portal is integrated with all major PAYGo platforms and offers mobile money and SMS integration for speedy transactions. We take care of these integrations, and our portal triggers the automatic PAYGo payments so that distributors can focus on their core business. Read more about it here.
(4) Ecosystem creation: Due to the varying market maturity in Africa, we can enable learning between distributors of different markets, steer them towards market growth strategies and engage them in interesting partnership with strategic market stakeholders.
(5) Support on donor financing: Spark keeps an eye out and mobilises funds that support access to energy for all their distributors, by handholding them in the application process and connecting them to the donor funding network.
At Spark, we can offer you supplier credit of 85% of the contract value which you can repay over a set duration, for example, three years. We use a program supported by the Dutch Government, in which we will ask you to pay 5% at the point of contract signing, and another 10% upon shipment of goods. This means you receive products without any impact on your cash flow. The remaining 85% can be paid in equal instalments of a period of up to four years. This allows you to align your payment for the products to your income from payment collection. Read more about it here.
For payment terms outside of the Spark Invest support, we work with a 30% payment at PO, and 70% payment before shipment of the goods.
We ship our products from our warehouse in Shenzhen, China. Our manufacturing time takes about 45 days. Shipment takes about 45 to 60 days in total, depending on the location of shipment. From the moment of ordering, we strive to deliver the products in 3 months to our partners.
Our systems are modular, which is why it is difficult to give a certain number of systems that fit into a container. The number of systems that fit into a container depends on your needs and your configuration, whether this is the number of batteries you require or the type of appliances you want to fit into your system. To give an estimation: in a 40ft container, we can fit over 3000 Spark start kits. To learn more about this, have a look at our products here or contact our office via this form.
42Wh per battery. So, with our Spark 10Wp solar panel, you can power four lamps for up to 8 hours after sundown. Read more about our batteries here.
With confidence we can say that our batteries last over 2000 cycles, which corresponds to over 5 years of operation. After these 5 years, still 80% of the battery capacity is left. Read more about our batteries here.
In theory this number is unlimited. However, due to practical reasons, such as hanging the systems on the wall, we recommend a maximum number of 10 batteries connected when hanging on the wall. Read more about our batteries here.
Currently, our lights provide 200 lumens each. We include dimmers in our kits, so the number of lumens can be regulated. The light colour temperatures of our current Spark Light are between 4000K and 5000K. Read more about the Spark Light here.
The Spark portal supports distributors every step of the way. We are integrated with all major PAYGo platforms, offer mobile money and SMS integration for speedy transactions. We take care of these integrations, and our portal triggers the automatic PAYGo payments so that distributors can focus on their core business. Read more about the Spark Portal here.
Our systems are currently ranging between 10W and 100W. For the 10W system, we use 1 solar panel and 1 battery. For the 100W system, we use two 50W solar panels and in total 6 batteries. If needed, our systems can be tailored for bigger solar output sizes.
We are currently looking into expanding our product range to more productive use systems, such as refrigeration units. To learn more, have look at our innovation roadmap here.
Yes, our kits are VeraSol certified and meet all the requirements. You can see the certification here.
