Schneider Electric brings energy to 45,000 rural students in Kenya

Lack of electricity in Africa remains one of the biggest barriers to the region’s development and prosperity, and it continues to trap millions of people in extreme poverty.

A third of all primary schools do not have access to any electricity, meaning 90 million students across the continent are left being educated from places that have no power.

Schneider Electric in collaboration with Rural Electrification Authority in Kenya has designed an off-grid PV solution in order to address electrification issues in rural communities. Completed in 2015, the project is now providing power for the education needs of more than 45,000 primary school pupils across 128 schools throughout the country.

The company said its solution is replicable and customisable for other electrification projects in Africa.

Fola Esan, president at Schneider Electric Kenya, said time restraints were a big challenge for the project as they had to imagine a solution customised to primary school needs in less than a few months.

“Thanks to our internal engineering capabilities, our wide network of local entrepreneurs in Kenya, and our strong collaboration with the REA, we’ve developed an off-grid solar power back-up, easy-to-install and -maintain solution that provides power for light, but also for computers,” said Esan.

“Now, each school benefiting from this solution can connect 30 computers, 34 lamps, one printer and 15 plugs.”

In Kenya, where 77% of the 44 million inhabitants have no access to electricity, the government entrusted the Rural Electrification Authority with the responsibility of ensuring that all public primary schools in the country are connected to electricity supply in readiness for the implementation of a global laptop program.

The solution comprises 2 PV inverters with solar charge controller. The first PV inverter is dedicated to supply energy for lighting and the second PV inverter is for computing. These 2 PV inverters are supported by Deep Cycle Solar GEL batteries and Solar PV modules.

The company has also endeavoured to train local workers to complete installations and a staff member from each school to maintain the system and regulate its usage. 

Images courtesy of Schneider Electric.