Supported Projects
Kenya
Remba Island Community Solar Pilot
Remba Island is a Kenyan Island in Lake Victoria, close to Uganda.
It is home to about 7300 people, including about 2,800 men, 3,000 women and 1,500 children, whose livelihood is based on catching and processing fish from Lake Victoria.
For communities like Remba Island, there is limited or no electricity infrastructure present. Electricity generated by petrol or diesel generator is limited, expensive, and bad for health and the environment. Community solar microgrids represent the ideal working solution, providing affordable electricity required for economic– and human development in the precise quantities that the local society can afford, with zero reliance on existing grid infrastructure.
Since 2017, a 21kWp solar microgrid has been operating on the island, supported by a 144 kWh battery solution and a 12 kVa diesel generator for balancing demand. Currently, 160 customers are connected to the microgrid, including the telecoms antennae of Safaricom, the local clinic and police station, as well as PFP projects piloting poultry and vegetable farming and sports facilities.
The microgrid sells power on Pay-As-You-Go basis where customers pre-pay for power at a fixed tariff, using an M-Pesa provided payment solution.
Electrify.solar seeks to finance the expansion of the generation capacity to a total of 180 kWp, with the installation of another 159 kWp of PV panels, supported by additional battery capacity of approx.. 790 kWh. This nearly 9x expansion of the project will generate an additional 665 kWh of green power per day, reduce the cost of electricity paid by the consumer to approximately half, replace electricity from generators and save over 350 tons of carbon emissions over 5 years, and enable additional commercial uses incremental to human and economic development.
The fishing implies an immediate opportunity for the commercial use of the electricity with supporting economics for electricity consumers. Lack of cooling currently means up to 60% of the catch can be lost, with the waste – rotten fish – too often finding its way back into the lake. The electricity from the expansion thus increases fishing income, helps keeping the lake cleaner, and may potentially even reduce pressure to overfish due to better yields on caught fish.
Additional uses for the electricity includes the supply of clean water, the substitution of kerosene lamps for electric domestic lighting – improving the indoor respiratory environment of households, the powering of communications infrastructure and provisioning of internet access, the powering of modern healthcare; cooling for the storing of vaccines, the powering of education, sanitation and essential public amenities. And eventually, a diversification of the economic base beyond fishing.
The situation in Remba is characteristic of the majority of Kenya’s fishing communities. On Kenya’s many islands, the lack of sufficient reliable and affordable power is the single most constraining obstacle to economic development, health and well-being. Around Lake Victoria, Lake Turkana, Lake Baringo and other lakes and rivers, there are over 500 similar freshwater fishing communities.
Furthermore, going beyond Kenya and including Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, the population surrounding Lake Victoria amounts to about 40 million people. Going even further, beyond Lake Victoria, in the whole of Africa, there are about 700 million people without electricity.
