Allison Archambault

President, EarthSpark International

2017 International Award Winner

Allison Archambault is President at EarthSpark International, where she builds climate solutions and opportunity. She specializes in rural electrification, smart grids, solar energy, Sustainable Development Goal 7, and “proving what is possible.”

Under Archambault’s leadership, EarthSpark pioneered Haiti’s first community-scale, solar-powered electricity grid. Working as an incubator at the intersection of entrepreneurship and social good, EarthSpark has launched several companies: SparkMeter is now a venture-backed smart metering and grid analytics company serving electric utilities in 30 countries. Enèji Pwòp is a microgrid operations company running some of Haiti’s most reliable power grids. Participant Power is a holding company housing the scale-up project of EarthSpark’s microrids in Haiti – growing from 2 to 24 community electricity grids in Haiti in a $46M blended finance project with support from the Green Climate Fund.

Archambault penned EarthSpark’s “Feminist Electrification” methodology, which explicitly leverages the process of grid electrification for pro-women outcomes, and which was named a “Lighthouse Activity” by the United Nations and described as “a real world example of what climate action looks like.” EarthSpark’s Advisory Services recently supported a local partner in launching South Sudan’s first community solar microgrid.

Archambault is a National Geographic Explorer and has been profiled as a “Solar Pioneer” by The Economist Films. Her TEDx Talk “Transitioning to “Electric Everything” is possible – Here’s how” bridges her work in Haiti with her home in Washington DC, and has been viewed over 60,000 times.

Archambault has consulted to clean energy companies, governments, and advocacy groups. She previously worked with 3TIER on large-scale renewable energy siting and grid integration and with GridPoint, an early clean tech company combining distributed energy storage, solar photovoltaics, and energy management. Archambault did her undergraduate thesis on rural solar electrification in Mali, and worked with Soluz, Inc. on its pioneering fee-for-service model for household solar systems in the Dominican Republic. She holds a BA from Tufts University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.