In countries where the energy infrastructure is under-developed and few towns are adequately electrified, extending the grid is often not financially viable, and certainly not likely to happen any time soon. Currently some 1.4 billion people are living without electricity. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 8% of the population in rural areas have access to electricity but personalized energy could change all of that!
As the cost of solar energy in rural Africa, parts of India and other countries in Asia has fallen dramatically in recent years, setting up personalized energy systems is quickly becoming the cheapest and most effective way of providing electricity.
In Mauritania, of the Western coast of Africa, the people living in the small fishing villages of Bellewakh, Lemcid, Loubeir and Lemhaijratt are currently getting by with candles, kerosene lamps and car batteries for lighting. They also use both costly and dangerous canisters of butane to run refrigeration units. This however is all about to change.
These remote villages are, as many other places in Africa, to isolate for any electrical grid to ever reach them, however by installing solar panels, and using solar energy these places are now starting to get electrified. The financing is often done through private investors, and international relief organizations but also a in part from micro lending.
The cost effectiveness of renewable energy has really changed the marketplace. The prices have fallen rapidly over the last couple of years, enabling projects like the one in Mauritania to get funded and launched.
Once the fishermen in Lemcid start producing their own person energy they will no longer be forced to purchase expensive kerosene or explosive and potentially lethal butane in order to provide for the household needs. Harvesting their own energy frees up not only money (not spent on kerosene) but also time that can be spent fishing an extra few hours, providing more money for the family.
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