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Solar-Powered Televisions Brighten Homes in Rural Kenya
MACHAKOS, KENYA?
Violet Mwikali's new television has not just brought entertainment to her home. It has ushered in peace, too.

"The whining has stopped now. I was placed on the spot for some time as my two children visited the neighbours' to watch television," Mwikali said as she adjusted her new 16-inch solar-powered television.

Mwikali is among the many residents of Lukenya in Machakos County, east of Nairobi, who have bought televisions from M-KOPA Solar, a Nairobi-based company that sells solar-powered products in places not linked to the national energy grid.

The digital flat-screen television, added to the merchandise line in February, has a solar panel and a portable battery that also controls a lighting unit and has a socket for charging cell phones.

Margaret Nduge, another solar TV owner, said she had long resigned herself to never being installed to the national electricity grid. Before buying the solar kit, Nduge used a generator for power, nonetheless it was smoky and noisy, and the expense of fuel was a drain on her behalf finances.

"My neighbors didn't think that I could afford to power the house silently," she said.

The solar television works even though there is little or no sun, she said, allowing her to keep up with her favorite gospel channels and the national news. The battery lasts for four hours when useful for lighting and watching television simultaneously.

Television reaches less than a third of Kenya's adult population on a regular basis, with the rest lacking power or perhaps a TV set, according to 2015 data from the Kenya Audience Research Foundation cited by M-KOPA.

Leapfrogging the grid

The whole M-KOPA kit, including the television set, costs about $530, and customers make a short payment of up to $79, followed by installments of as little as $1 a day.

Kit owner Raphael Makau said the $148 minimum fee levied upfront by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company for connecting a house to the national grid was too expensive. It would took him years to afford access to electricity were it not for the solar kit, he said.

Makau also likes the capability of making his daily payment to M-KOPA through his cellular phone.

Jesse Moore, M-KOPA's chief executive, believes poorer nations will lead the way in switching to green energy use.

"In Africa, (we are going) directly from limited energy connections straight to renewable," he said.

According to Moore, the business has sold over 6,000 television sets, and plans to scale up production to meet rising demand.

The company hopes to attain 3 million households out of the 5 million yet to get in touch to the grid in Kenya, Moore told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Target areas are mainly rural because many residents you can find poor and need affordable energy products. Allowing payments via mobile money transfer helps attract customers, Moore added.

Better batteries

Consumers are already identifying improvements they would like to see in the next generation of solar products. Mwikali wants enhanced battery life to expand the volume of time she may use her TV, because the current four hours is not enough on her behalf family's needs.

Makau echoed the suggestion, saying he is sometimes forced to use backups such as kerosene lanterns once the solar battery runs out in the evenings.

M-KOPA is seeking to boost the quality of the solar tv's and improve their features, Moore said. But he warned the purchase price may not come down as the cost has already been low considering the capabilities of the whole system.

The company is now working out what to do with the solar batteries when their five-year lifespan ends, and has engaged another business to recycle the batteries to help conserve the surroundings, Moore said.

check here -KOPA is hoping to expand access to its solar televisions to Tanzania and Uganda, also to start manufacturing all of the components in Kenya. More solar products for the indegent are also in the pipeline, Moore said, declining to elaborate.





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