Over the last four years, the U.K.-based charity SolarAid has worked to install solar panels on each of the almost 9,000 homes in the village of Kasakula in Malawi, Mongabay reported.
For much of the world, installing solar panels is a matter of lowering bills and reducing pollution. But for rural Malawi, this is the first time that many of these homes have been supplied with electricity at all. Most of these homes were not connected to the national power grid, and residents used to rely on candles and paraffin lamps for light.
"We chose Kasakula because it is a remote and low-income community," Brave Mhonie, SolarAid's general manager in Malawi, told Mongabay. "We wanted to test the viability of our model in such a setting, and see if it was scalable to other parts of the country."
SolarAid's model works by charging each household the equivalent of about 40 cents per week for access to their system, which can charge cell phones and power lights in the home. Expansion kits can also provide power for larger appliances like televisions and hair clippers.
The fees go toward maintenance costs and its team of service technicians, as well as paying back the cost of the system over time so that the program can continue to expand to other areas.
Without the program, families would have to pay up to $150 to install their own solar systems of similar quality — a near impossibility, given that a normal income in the area is less than $200 per year.
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SolarAid has challenges ahead, especially given that its systems are designed only to last for three to five years. However, its program shows promise for the future of clean energy in the region.
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