Access to electricity remains a major challenge for over half a billion people in sub-Saharan Africa, and power outages are common even for those who are hooked up to the grid.
Mark Munyua, CP solar's technician, examines solar panels on the roof of a company in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. Access to electricity remains a major challenge for over half a billion people in sub-Saharan Africa, and power outages are common. In South Africa and Kenya, solar is being used to power major businesses.
CP Solar’s managing director, Rashmi Shah, said his company has installed 25 megawatts of solar systems in the past six years. “It is a very clean source of energy,” he said and clients are able to recover their initial costs through savings within the first four years. In Nigeria, as in Kenya, things are changing. Most households have depended on gasoline generators for power, but recently the government removed a gasoline subsidy, prompting increased interest in solar power, according to dealers. Only about half of Nigerians are connected to the grid, and even for them, power cuts are common.
After addressing the issue of high upfront costs, the model has proved to be a solution for the social problems drawn out by Nigeria’s energy crisis in poorly served and low-income households. For Monsurat Qadri, the challenge was helping her young daughter with homework in the evenings when there was no light. Grid electricity was unavailable and the other option, a generator, had become too expensive.
Another example of this shift is the Ford vehicle assembly plant in Silverton, Pretoria, which currently sources over 35% of its electricity from solar power.
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