Kenya Power calculates that 30% of the population has access to the grid, which leaves up to 56% still relying on kerosene, batteries and candles.

By comparison to other African markets, Kenya is a leader for off-grid power.

The most recent Africa-wide study by Lighting Africa in 2012 showed that the penetration of ‘pico-powered’ lighting systems (solar and wind-up) in Africa’s 115-120 million off-grid households was estimated to be just 4%.

Jesse Moore, Managing Director and Co-Founder M-KOPA says, “Off-grid solar is a vital part of Kenya’s energy mix. This market has been ignited by new and improving solar equipment, and much of it has been made affordable to the mass market by pay-as-you-go offerings or other consumer financing models.”

M-KOPA has connected over 140,000 homes in Kenya to solar power in the past two years, plus 20,000 more in Uganda and Tanzania.

The Nairobi-based company partnered with Safaricom in late 2012 to launch the first commercial offering, globally, that combines mobile payments with GSM sensor technology to sell solar power systems to households on a daily payment plan.

Jesse Moore says, “We’ve developed solar home systems to power lighting, phone charging and radio. Being able to provide this on a payment plan that was on average 40% cheaper than kerosene, batteries and candles was what has enabled us to build scale – to the point we’re now connecting 500 or more homes a day.”

source:kbc