Rural citizens are the big winners of the Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge, which saw a range of creative applications for solar power, biodiesel and electric vehicles to support poor communities who have limited or no access to electricity.

Competitors pitched a variety of projects, with several winners including solar power in their pitches, from solar centres in fishing villages, water pumps for pastoralists, charging stations for electric motorbikes, and home lighting solutions. Biodiesel projects will also be funded, in the form of grass cooking stoves and cotton seed fuels. Grants worth $100,000 each were awarded to a diverse set of projects united by their creative thinking and a focus on remote, marginalised communities.

Lights, Bikes and Water, All Fueled By The Sun

Charles Ogingo’s Pfoofy Power and Lighting Ltd has imported more than 40 battery-powered motorbikes for hire in Kenya’s rural areas. The batteries can be recharged at any electricity point, but costs are being reduced through the introduction of solar-powered charging stations.

The grant he received from the Off-Grid Energy Challenge will fund two 10 kilowatt solar charging stations in addition to the existing 1 KW pilot project.

“We wanted to provide business people with a cheaper and easier way to transport goods and services between towns and villages,’’ Ogingo says. He plans to bring in three-wheeler electric tuk-tuks, which will be able to carry more goods and passengers.

The Off-Grid Energy Challenge will also be funding solar centres in 15 Kenyan fishing villages installed by Sollatek Electronics. The centres provide cold storage and solar-powered freezers for fish storage, solar phone charging and lighting units, and the hire of small solar lamps, enabling villagers to work at night and before dawn.

Elizabeth Musyoka, a project manager for Sollatek, says the grant from the Off-Grid Energy Challenge will expand the company’s reach, enabling it to supply solar power to communities not connected to Kenya’s national grid. The project is expected to directly benefit over 1,500 fishermen, as well as a further 7,500 people who depend on the fishing industry, reported Biashara Leo magazine.

“Fishermen along the coastline have suffered immense losses due to lack of storage facilities. We believe that the solar centres will give them a ray of hope,” she told Biashara Leo.

Solar power is providing answers in Kenya’s arid northern regions. Charles Oteko Riobo, of Solar World Limited, says only between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of rural residents are connected to the national grid. Riobo’s company helps to bridge this gap by providing solar lighting and solar-powered water pumps, and will also receive an Off-Grid Energy Challenge grant.

“Most of the people there are pastoralists, and they need water for families, and domestic animals, and light so that men and women can do business and children can study,” he says.

Electric lighting enables households to be more productive after the sun has set. More than 20,000 solar-powered home lighting systems have been provided by Mibawa Supplies, giving households two lighting points and cell-phone charging. Michael Wanyonyi says the grant funding will be used for pay-as-you-go modules, where payments are spread over a period because households cannot afford upfront payment.

Cooking With Grass

For many households, cooking requires a considerable amount of energy. SCODE Limited, a community-based for-profit company based in Nakuru, plans to roll out a pilot programme for efficient stoves fuelled by dry grass to 165 households, funded by the grant, as a precursor to commercial deployment. SCODE’s John Maina says the low-cost stoves will be linked to a solar-powered energy source.

Cotton Weaves A Power Revolution

Cotton seeds are being turned into bio-diesel to fuel home electricity generators, maize milling machines and water pumps, in what Kitui Industries in eastern Kenya describes as a “small-scale industrial revolution”. Cotton is particularly plentiful in this region, where in some places it is the dominant crop.

The organisation is selling the bio-diesel, along with multi-purpose engines, at a discount to farmers providing cotton to its cotton-ginning business. Kitui removes the seeds and sells the cotton fibre to spinning mills for textile manufacture, before crushing the seeds. The resulting oil is used for bio-fuel, and is supplied to over a hundred local farmers.

Kitui’s Taher Zaveri says the company is providing off-grid energy solutions to rural areas. It is targeting the 13,000 farms in a 600km radius who provide it with raw cotton, helping them to improve agricultural production and food security.

“Our vision is to improve the lives of those living in the arid areas of Kenya. We want to become the preferred home lighting supplier and service provider in East Africa,” he says.

The Power Africa Off-Grid Energy challenge is sponsored by General Electric (GE), the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).