Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
Total’s solar kits target poor households
Total’s solar project co-ordinator Jeremia Kithae displays some of their products. The firm is eying Kenya’s clean energy market with portable solar kits for lighting and charging of mobile phones. Emma Nzioka
Total Kenya is banking on portable solar kits for lighting and charging of mobile phones to break into the Kenyan renewable energy market.
The firm seeks to win at least 10,000 households that use paraffin lamps to start using solar solutions, including for charging mobile phones.
“Solar Energy is abundant, clean and renewable. We are stepping up investment in this field since it is a key component in ensuring that we have sustainable energy,” said Ms Manoelle Lapoutre, Total senior vice-president in charge of sustainable development and environment.
The cheapest Total solar lantern retails at Sh1, 000 and can provide up to eight hours of lighting after a minimum six hour exposure to sunlight. Kenya, Cameroon and Indonesia have been selected as the launching pad for the low-budget kits.
The company hopes the low cost will help the base of the pyramid households reduce dependence on kerosene lamps which are considered costly, provide poor lighting and are not environmental friendly. (READ: Green energy key to lighting up Africa)
High initial installation costs has been one of the key barriers to exploitation of solar energy resources by poor households especially in Africa. For example, a 20 watt solar lighting kit retails for about Sh29,500— locking out low income households.
The focus on providing clean energy solutions like solar to poor households will assist combat the health and environmental challenges associated with biomass and paraffin usage such as respiratory diseases, fire outbreaks and irritation to the eyes caused by smoke.
Data from the Ministry of Energy show that kerosene lamps account for about 80 per cent of all households’ source of lighting in Kenya. A study by the International Finance Corporation estimates that Kenyan households spend between Sh20 to Sh50 a day on kerosene to meet their lighting needs.
In June last year, the oil marketer acquired a 60 per cent stake in SunPower, a US based solar products manufacturer, in a bid to solidify its capacity in solar markets. Total is also partnering with Indonesian solar kits producer Sundaya and Chinese based D.Light — to locally retail low cost solar light-emitting diode (LED) and solar-based lighting products.
In a bid to enhance penetration of solar energy in the country, the government last year zero-rated import duty and removed value added tax (VAT) on solar panels, equipment and accessories.
The solar products will be retailed through Total’s 170 service stations countrywide. The oil distributor has started a consumer education programme on the benefits of solar targeting investment groups (chamas) and microfinance institutions to spur uptake of its solar solutions.
