Companies and organizations who are deploying new distributed renewable energy (DRE) solutions on the ground are struggling with the lack of local skills to construct and service these new systems adequately. DREs require extensive fieldwork at all project stages, from initial screening all the way through operations. But because systems are widely dispersed, field teams often have little support or supervision while on site. Poor fieldwork results in many systems falling into disrepair only after 1-2 years into their 15-year asset life and is a major bottleneck to scaling the deployment of DREs. One-off training and capacity-building interventions are helpful but not adequate to address this problem. They're too slow and expensive to bring up the new energy workforce needed, and also often don't provide the practical knowledge to make technicians immediately effective.

illu helps accelerate the transition to distributed renewable energy by enabling local teams to confidently install, operate, maintain, and fix systems. Illu’s cofounders have deep, first-hand experience and have been working in energy access together for more than 10 years. illu uniquely serves as command center for field teams and helps organize preventative maintenance, incident management, site survey and onboarding, as well as commissioning and QC.