Google and Ignite Energy Access fine‑tune Gemini for Science to map off‑grid solar and routes in sub‑Saharan Africa
Google and off‑grid energy NGO Ignite Energy Access have spent three years collaborating under Google’s Startups for Sustainable Development program to combine satellite imagery, the Open Buildings dataset, operations‑research routing models, and fine‑tuned Gemini for Science computer‑vision models (trained with Ignite drone imagery) to locate unmapped households, identify single‑panel solar installations, and optimize supply chains and delivery routes. The partners say the effort helped enable an estimated 160,000 tCO2e reductions in the first half of 2026 and supports work that has delivered about 3.7 million solar devices across the region since 2023.