Affordable solar power is closing gaps in access to electricity which exposes Malawians to deadly air pollution and loss of trees, write a World Bank blogger.
As the sun set in moat villages in Malawi, many people struggle to locate things in the dark as only 23 percentage of the country has access to electricity.
Many households rely on battery-powered torches, candles and kerosene lamps for lighting inside the house.
School-going children either study in poor lighting or do not study at all.
However, this situation is improving due to solar–powered lighting provided by private firms with support from World Bank.
Rose John Soko of Shuga Village in Chiradzulu District installed solar-powered lighting facility under the Malawi Electricity Access Project (Meap) which is making clean energy affordable for even low-income households.
The project is supported by the Government of Malawi’s Off-Grid Market Development Fund, known as Ngwee Ngwee Ngwee under the fund, Meap partnered with five companies—Yellow, Zuwa Energy, Green Impact Technology, Vitalite and Star Times—to provide solar home systems to one million people.
Soko’s subsidised power system comprises four bulbs that light her bedroom, sitting room, storeroom and exterior security light.
“I have always wanted the solar lights,” she says. “For long time I was using either a candle or a mobile phone light every night.” Her system includes a built-in FM radio.
Yellow solar company sales agent Ungopanga Kanyemba says: “Biolite package is a fast-moving product in many villages here because of its price and the radio.
“From November 2023 more than 50 households have benefitted and the demand is increasing every day.
The reduce cost of solar electricity has made the package affordable and customers can pay upfront for the Biolite package at a cost of $58 (about K100 000), which is about $10 lower than its market price. Others opt for monthly instalments at a discounted price.
Junior Kaliati from Sasu village is relieved and says that he no longer must pay for charging his phone at a marketplace. He installed a new solar facility at his home.
“I also no longer spend money to buy torch batteries,” he says.
Such stories of transformation are becoming common in many communities.
Launched in 2019, Malawi Energy Access Project (Meap) aims to fast-track the provision of electricity to approximately 1.9 million people, constituting about 10 percent of the population. More than 140,000 households have since been connected.
This brings nationwide access rate to around 23 percent, up from 19 percent.
The target is to give access to 180,000 on-grid households and 200,000 off-grid by June 2025, raising access to around 28 percent.
About 70,000 households have been connected to the grid within a year, the highest in the country where Escom could only manage 30,000 connections.
“The off-grid access rate has been on an exponential trajectory ever since this access sector picked up some seven years back through other similar development partner-supported access initiatives, and the Meap is building upon and scaling up on this foundation to support the Malawi 2063 Access target of 50 percent by 2030,” says World Bank senior energy specialist Michael Gondwe.
He says that off-grid access, which is simpler to roll out and lower in cost, is critical as most Malawians live in rural areas, where access to electricity remains very low.
Before Meap, only four percent of the rural majority had access to electricity. — World Bank
Source: The nation-15 August 2024