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Solar-Powered Televisions Brighten Homes in Rural Kenya
MACHAKOS, KENYA?
Violet Mwikali's new television have 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 connected to the national energy grid.

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

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

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

The solar television works even when there is little or no sun, she said, allowing her to maintain 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 significantly less than a third of Kenya's adult population on a daily basis, with the rest lacking power or a TV set, in accordance with 2015 data from the Kenya Audience Research Foundation cited by M-KOPA.

Leapfrogging the grid

The whole M-KOPA kit, including the tv, costs about $530, and customers make an initial payment of up to $79, followed by installments of less than $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 have taken him years to afford usage of electricity were it not for the solar kit, he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Better batteries

Individuals are already identifying improvements they would like to see in the next generation of solar products. Mwikali wants enhanced battery life to expand the number of time she can use her TV, as the current four hours isn't enough for her 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 wanting to raise the quality of the solar tv's and improve their features, Moore said. But he warned the purchase price may not drop as the cost is already low taking into consideration the capabilities of the whole system.

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

M-KOPA is hoping to expand access to its solar televisions to Tanzania and Uganda, and to start manufacturing all the components in Kenya. More solar products for the poor are also in the offing, Moore said, declining to elaborate.





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