Solar power: Best alternative to light up rural Africa

Solar energy has always been an alternative power source in areas not connected to the electricity grid. And this is what Bernard, a Kenyan chicken breeder, living in a small village about sixty kilometers from Nairobi believes.

With a solar panel installed on the roof of his house, it now illuminates his nights and feeds power to his radio and television.

Bernard believes the answer to the electrical demand for millions of African homes can come from solar power, which still represents less than 5% of the energy sources of the African electricity networks. This number however continues to grow.

Several African countries have embarked on increasingly ambitious projects for renewable energy.

These solutions have mainly flourished in the eastern part of the continent, as in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but are also expected to spread in West Africa, where the problems are comparable.

Senegal has commissioned two photovoltaic power plants of 22 and 20 MW, the first of a series, with a stated target of 20% renewable energies in 2017 and 30% in 2018.

More than a choice, these cheaper solutions are in any case a necessity in relation to an ever-increasing demand for electricity, in a rapidly changing continent.