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Solar-Powered Televisions Brighten Homes in Rural Kenya
MACHAKOS, KENYA?
more info 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 a while as my two children went to the neighbours' to view 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 contains a socket for charging cell phones.

Margaret Nduge, another solar TV owner, said she had long resigned herself to never being hooked up to the national electricity grid. Before buying 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 the house silently," she said.

The solar television works even though there is little if any sun, she said, allowing her to keep up with her favorite gospel channels and the national news. The battery lasts for four hours when used for lighting and watching TV simultaneously.

Television reaches significantly less than a third of Kenya's adult population on a daily basis, with the others lacking power or perhaps 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, like the tv, costs about $530, and customers make a short 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 to connect a home 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.

Jesse Moore, 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 right to renewable," he said.

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

The company hopes to attain 3 million households from 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 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 wish to see within the next generation of solar products. Mwikali wants enhanced battery life to expand how much time she can use her TV, because the current four hours isn't enough on her behalf family's needs.

Makau echoed the suggestion, saying he could be sometimes forced to utilize backups such as kerosene lanterns when the solar battery runs out in the evenings.

M-KOPA is wanting to boost the quality of the solar television sets and improve their features, Moore said. But he warned the purchase price may not drop 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 contains engaged another business to recycle the batteries to help conserve the environment, Moore said.

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





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