In August 2001 the inception phase of the European Union project “Solar energy for the outer islands” began. The project was implemented by the Kiribati Solar Energy Company Limited (KSEC LTD) in conjunction with the technical assistance (TA) offered by the consortium Energo Group/ICAEN. The project's terms of reference (ToR) required the TA to assist the KSEC in the installation and maintenance of at least 1,500 solar home systems and the electrification of at least 96 community halls (maneabas). For this purpose, the project had defined two expert profiles: a Renewably Energy Expert (responsible for the technical aspects of the project) and a Business Management Expert (responsible for the financial, administrative and logistics).
Little after his arrival to Kiribati in October 2001, the Business Management Expert (Marc) realised that not specific software applications for renewable energy service companies (RESCOs) were available. Then he decided to start designing one by using a MS Access database (RescoManager v.1), with the idea of migrating the application to a more stable environment in the future, once it was more clear what the application what expected to do.
