Open mapping campaign putting productive-use-of-energy anchor loads onto OpenStreetMap across Sub-Saharan Africa. #AnchorLoads4EnergyAccess
# Anchor Loads for Energy Access
An open mapping campaign putting **productive-use-of-energy (PUE) anchor loads** onto OpenStreetMap across Sub-Saharan Africa — the mills, cold stores, water pumps, clinics, schools and markets whose electricity demand can anchor the economics of a rural mini-grid.
**Changeset hashtag:** `#AnchorLoads4EnergyAccess`
## Why
Mini-grid feasibility studies are typically built on household surveys — expensive, slow, and known to overstate real demand. Anchor loads are the single most decision-relevant input and the worst-covered in open data: commercial and agro-processing sites in particular are close to absent from most public datasets.
Everything mapped here goes into OpenStreetMap as open data under ODbL, available to the whole community on the same terms as any other contribution. Better open data on where these facilities are makes electrification planning cheaper and more accurate for everyone working in the sector.
## How to take part
Read **mapping-guide.md** — what to map, the tag scheme, and the changeset conventions.
The campaign is run with university cohorts and African YouthMappers chapters. If your chapter would like to join a mapathon, or you are a local mapper with questions or concerns, get in touch at the address below.
## This is not an import
Every feature is verified and placed **by hand** in the editor by a mapper. We do not perform automated or bulk uploads from any dataset. Where a public list suggests a facility may exist, a mapper confirms it against imagery and local knowledge before adding it, and adds only tags they can support.
## Organised editing declaration
This campaign is declared under the OSM Organised Editing Guidelines:
**Organised Editing/Activities/Climate16 - Anchor Loads for Energy Access**
## Who
Climate16 — a platform providing data and analysis for climate finance and off-grid electrification in the Global South, operated by Prodegee Pty Ltd (Australia).
Contact: Marc Torra — m …