ISSUE 21 / SEPTEMBER / 2011 IN FOCUS LIGHTING AFRICA NEWS Better and more: new round of products pass Off-Grid Lighting Sector in Africa Shows Positive Growth LA quality tests & what it means for the market 450% growth is sales in Africa in 2011 over 2010. Consumers are better equipped to make buying Six new products passed Lighting Africa quality tests in decisions in today’s market. Lighting Africa’s consumer education campaign, which works to the latest round of testing, bringing the total number generate consumer awareness around the benefits of clean and affordable off-grid lighting, has to 14 products. now reached 11 million people in rural Kenya and 675,000 people in Ghana. The campaign has supported the 450% growth in the sales of off-grid lighting products across the continent in FY 11. They include the Greenlight Planet Sun King Pro, Sunlite Solar Light G3, Barefoot Power Powapack Jr. Over 1.5m people in Africa with access to better lighting. Since 2010, close to 1.5 million people in 2.5 W Matrix, Uniglobe SolarMine 100, Trony Solar Africa have cleaner, safer, better lighting and improved energy access. Sundial-TSL-01 and Philips Solar Home Lighting System (see more on these products on page 3). The variety and choice of affordable and good quality products to off-grid consumers in Africa has increased. 6 new products passed Lighting Africa quality tests recently, bringing the number of While low cost and poor quality products continue to good quality and affordable lanterns available in the market to 14. To address the upfront costs make their way into the market, these affordable and bottleneck for consumers, Lighting Africa has reached out to MFIs to provide consumer finance. quality solar lanterns (and the other 8 products that Three MFIs in Kenya and two in Ghana are actively providing finance to consumers in rural areas. have met quality requirements to date) are also rapidly gaining market share. Lighting Global Outstanding Product Awards 2012 Launched Consumers are the ultimate winners as they continue to have a wider selection and variety of good quality The next round of off-grid lighting product awards is here! This competition products to choose from with the 14 products. All six will be called the Lighting Global Outstanding Product Awards 2012 to products met Lighting Africa’s Minimum Quality reflect the increasingly global nature of the off-grid lighting market. Standards and the Recommended Performance Targets. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? The goal is to recognize and showcase innovative and affordable lighting products designed to meet the needs of low income people living in off-grid areas of Africa, Asia, and beyond. Vs. Finalist products in the competition will be evaluated using results from rigorous laboratory The Minimum Quality Standards focus on truth-in- testing, input from off-grid lighting consumers in India, Kenya, and Senegal, and other factors such advertising and adherence to basic quality criteria, as product price. Awards will be given in three price based categories. such as lumen maintenance, IP-class, and durability rd The announcement of winners will take place at the 3 International Off-Grid Lighting Conference tests. Meeting the Recommended Performance & Trade Fair, to take place in October of 2012 in Dakar, Senegal. The awards competition builds Targets includes passing the minimum quality on the prior success of the 2010 Lighting Africa Outstanding Product Awards competition. More standards in addition to meeting specific performance information at: www.lightingafrica.org/awards run time and light output targets. Distinguishing between the two quality benchmarks 3rd International Off-Grid Lighting Conference & Trade Fair rd enables Lighting Africa to maintain quality standards Hosted by Lighting Africa and the Global Off-Grid Lighting Alliance, Lighting Africa’s 3 while also encouraging technological innovation by International Off-Grid Lighting Conference and Trade Fair will take place in October 2012 in Dakar, recognizing that market segmentation requires a Senegal. The 3 day conference expects to bring an estimated 800 participants to the event and range of product options at multiple price points and offer about 75 exhibition booths for the trade fair. The conference will be of particular interest to performance levels. These new products will join the global lighting manufacturers; local distributors, suppliers, and retailers of off-grid lighting list of lanterns supported by the Lighting Africa 1 products; financial institutions; policy makers; bilateral and multilateral organizations; and consumer education campaign. buyers/consumer groups. Sponsorships are also available. Contact Judy Siegel: judy@energyandsecurity.org 1 Investing in Education STORIES FROM THE FIELD Maggie Hobbs also found donors to purchase the Greenlight Planet Sun King solar powered portable task lights for all ten teachers at Mukuri school and each of the 25 students in Innovative Rural Employers Keep Pace with Employees’ Needs year 8 who are preparing for exams to graduate to secondary level. “They (the students) used to come early in “I was buying a full jerry can *of kerosene+ costing Ksh 600/- ($ 6.40) for my father and the morning to do homework before school. These days mum every month, only for them to see. Then my brother’s children were coming to they come ready,” said Stephen Mwangi, headmaster of my mother’s house to study,” said Rebecca Muthiani, employee of Tambuzi Mukuri School. The task lights are now school property. The Farm in Nanyuki, Kenya whose income supports a large extended family. students charge them each day on the school premises and then take them home at night to study. The plan is to hand With the cost of living in Kenya rising, large scale rural employers are thinking of the lamps on to the next group of year 8 students in January innovative solutions to alleviate financial pressure on employees, arranging loans to 2011. make products such as good quality portable solar lanterns affordable to all. Tambuzi Farm also provides these students with prep Bringing solar lanterns into employees’ homes diaries, which are signed off by their parents every day, in A year ago, Maggie Hobbs, director of the Tambuzi flower farm, which is located in an order to supervise their homework. Since the initiative area with no grid electrification, attended a Lighting Africa conference in Nairobi. She started, the school has seen an improvement in the year 8 was particularly interested in the fact that many products had undergone quality student’s grades. “I am seeing a great, great change,” Mr. testing carried out independently by Lighting Africa. Once she was assured that there Mwangi said. “It would be good to see this project extended were good quality portable solar lanterns available in the marketplace, that can to year 6 or 7. Currently it (the lantern) is used by siblings at provide clean, sustainable, bright light in the home, she was determined to try to give home, so already each lamp is benefiting more than one all her 225 employees access to these products. student.” Another 265 pupils are enrolled at the school, the majority without access to the grid. The example of Tambuzi Farm shows that the initiative had a bigger impact than first imagined, improving the lives not Girls completing homework only of the students, but of the wider community. under a LED light © Jamie Seno/Lighting Africa SOLUX brings solar light to pregnant mothers and AIDS orphans in Uganda The Adult Education College in Bad Alexandersbad, Germany has partnered with two Ugandan communities to bring solar light to community projects. The first of these partnerships is a small community run After the conference, Maggie arranged to take a sample product from each of the maternity clinic in unelectrified Kanungu – newly equipped eight category winners from the 2010 Lighting Africa Outstanding Product Awards with 11 Solux solar portable lamps. A group of 24 women Competition and, together with her employees, undertook home testing. Upon called Kihanda Women for Development established a clinic seeing the products, the farm employees were all keen to switch from kerosene to in the late 1990s. In this very mountainous, rural area solar lighting. They unanimously voted for one product, the Barefoot Powapack 5, bordering the Republic of Congo, pregnant women had to making it possible for Maggie to negotiate a reduced price for a large order. walk long distances to reach the hospital – and many babies She also approached the Waitrose Foundation, the farm’s main UK client, which died on the way. They financed their local clinic through provided a subsidy of Ksh 2,000/- ($18) for each unit sold. The final subsidized selling income generating projects, supplemented by financial price of each Barefoot Power Powapack 5 was Ksh 3,000, which employees paid back support from the Adult Education College. at a rate of Ksh 250/- per month over one year, some opting to pay back more quickly. Each solar kit comprises four lanterns, one solar panel and a battery that can The second partnership concerns a primary school near recharge a mobile phone and run a radio. Kampala that the Adult Education College provided with Solux solar portable lanterns. Although the school is “We have never had a CSR *corporate social responsibility+ project as successful as connected to the grid, it experienced frequent powercuts, as this, that truly addresses the issue and by saving on the cost of kerosene and phone the Kampala municipality implements power sharing charging, ultimately puts cash back into employees pockets.” Maggie said. schemes. With the Solux solar lanterns, the students have Tambuzi Farm is currently rolling out the second phase of the initiative, this time now light in their classrooms every evening – independently offering employees the choice of buying subsidized bicycles, water tanks, iron sheets from the municipal supply. Several years ago, the Centre (mbati) or solar lanterns on manageable repayment terms. Half of the employees provided financial support to Mary Kayamba who was have chosen to buy additional solar lamps for family and friends. teaching AIDS orphans on a rented veranda, to build her own school on a donated plot of land. Today she is heading a school of 10 teachers, 1 matron and around 200 pupils, Lighting up rural areas some of them boarders, some of them day-schoolers. The Rebecca Muthiani, Production Manager at Tambuzi Farm, has so far bought a set for orphans go to school free of charge. herself and five more Powapack units for her extended family many miles away in Nyara District, Eastern Kenya. “In my village they are asking me for them. The whole village is calling me every day. By the time I get money, I buy another one.” 2 ASSOCIATE NEWS Six new products passed Lighting Africa quality tests. They were tested for battery capacity, charge controller, run time, lighting service, charging behavior, mechanical durability, and long-term lumen degradation. We asked the manufacturers to say a few words about their products: “When we set out to expand our award-winning Sun King™ line of solar-powered lanterns, we revisited what Sun King really stands for: adaptable design, maximum durability, and life-changing affordability— and we challenged ourselves to once again raise the bar for flexible, long-lasting and appropriately priced off-grid lighting. Informed by our customers’ requests for bright room lighting and the ability to charge mobile phones at night, we developed the newest member of the Sun King family – the Sun King Pro™. With the same durable, all season performance our consumers rely on with the original Sun King, our new Sun King Pro™ provides a robus t, comprehensive solar powered light and mobile-phone charger at an ultra-affordable price.” - Greenlight Planet See how the Sun King Pro performed against Lighting Africa’s quality tests “The SUNLITE G3 is a Ceiling mounted light that also charges mobile phones. It was designed and developed in Kenya to meet the increasing demand for reliable, affordable and bright solar lighting solutions across Africa. The product serves as a ceiling light with a wall mounted switch or can be converted into a portable torch by attaching the bulb to the power pack with the screws provided. The SUNLITE G3 is a Ceiling mounted light that also charges mobile phones. The Sunlite is a good combination of Price, Brightness and Light hours per day.” – Sunlite See how the Sunlite G3 performed against Lighting Africa’s quality tests “The PowaPack Junior Matrix includes 2 lighting points to illuminate two rooms. The matrix lamps were improved and included with the kits in response to customer’s use of the previous generation of LED lamps. The bright matrix LED lights provide between 7 and 12 hours of room lighting depending upon use. The 2.5W solar panel will recharge the 3.2V, 3300mAh battery in about 7 hours depending on the capacity of the battery. The PowaPack Junior Matrix system uses an innovative plug and play wire system for simple installation and support phone charging and radio operation from the port on the battery .” – Barefoot Power See how the PowaPack Jr. 2.5 W Matrix performed against Lighting Africa’s quality tests SolarMine 100: “When we made up our mind to do something with our solar and LED technologies for the people living without electricity, we hit upon the idea of a versatile solar lantern. We set out to design a multi-purpose (ambient, task and portable), long product life-time (5years), bright (100lm), long autonomous run time(12hours) and easy to carry product. It was tough job at the beginning to find a way to meet all the design targets. Fortunately we arrived at the current design, which could fulfill all the specifications targeted .” – Uniglobe See how the SolarMine 100 performed against Lighting Africa’s quality tests Solar Home Lighting System: “This is a complete solar home kit, and has been designed to provide low-cost yet highly efficient bright light for homes and small businesses. The central solar power-charged battery pack powers two LED lights, which can be suspended around a building. A full day’s charging in the sun (8 hours) will provide enough light for a wh ole evening (5 hours of light using both lights). The benefits are considerable. It is cheaper to run than Kerosene lamps and provides a far higher quality light. It is also safer as there is no fire risk as with kerosene and better for the health as damaging smoke is avoided. Situations such as child birth should also become safer. Economic benefits include the extension of working hours beyond sunset and children for example can continue to do homework in the evenings.” – Philips See how the Solar Home Lighting System performed against Lighting Africa’s quality tests Trony Solar’s Sundial-TSL-01: TSL01: “A high value lighting and mobile charging solution for Africa people. You can use the light for Reading, cooking, walking, meeting and provide USB power charging for mobile, radio, CD, MP3. TSL01 do not need any installation, the only requirement is that the solar module be plugged into the light during the day. It was designed to give the highest overall value to you.” – TRONY See how the Sundial-TSL-01 performed against Lighting Africa’s quality tests For more product information from the manufacturer:  Greenlight Planet Sun King Pro: http://www.greenlightplanet.com  Sunlite Solar Light G3: http://www.sunlite.co.ke  Barefoot Power Powa Pack Jr.2.5 W Matrix: http://barefootpower.com  Uniglobe SolarMine 100: http://www.solarmine.co.kr  Trony Solar Holdings TSL01: http://www.trony.com  3 Philip’s Solar Home Lighting System: http://www.philips.com/offgridlighting See all 14 products that have passed Lighting Africa ’s minimum standards OFF-GRID LIGHTING SECTOR NEWS LINKS & RESOURCES NEW RESOURCES Portable Solar Lanterns donated by USAID to help break the Lighting Africa released Issue 6 in its Briefing Note series, "Optical Control cycle of poverty Techniques for Off-Grid Lighting Products." “The solar lights are working well. Once you charge it all day, it This issue introduces basic concepts in optical design for low power off-grid will still be on throughout the night,” said Mr.Wainaina from lighting products and suggests ways to improve optical efficiency. It is intended to Kayole, Nairobi. provide useful information to product manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and other interested stakeholders. Mr.Wainaina’s charity, Children Hope Foundation, raises funds for needy children in his community, providing school uniforms, food packages, exercise books and jerry cans for carrying water. When he received 19 Greenlight Planet Sun King solar lanterns from the AIDS, Population and Health Integrated A shop keeper Assistance Project (APHIA II), he distributed them to year 8 sells her wares under LED light. students who were studying for critical examinations that would This enables her determine if they would progress to secondary school. to extend business hours. © Lighting Africa Benefitting school children Mr. Wainaina had only praise for the Sun King lanterns: “The children can study all night and without the smoke. Families also save on paraffin that they used to buy every day.” Renewable Energy Ventures (K) Ltd. compiled results five This Briefing Note builds on previous Notes in the series. months after the solar lanterns were distributed to the students. Download them at: They found that the majority of students who were allocated http://www.lightingafrica.org/resources/briefing-notes.html portable solar lanterns were studying for an average of three hours each evening compared to only one hour before, when they only had kerosene lamps. The Sun King lantern is a product which meets Lighting Africa’s recommended performance targets for quality. In November 2010, the APHIA II program, funded by USAID, purchased 500 Greenlight Planet Sun King solar lanterns from Renewable Energy Ventures (K) Ltd. for distribution in Nairobi’s informal settlements. The Lighting Africa Newsletter is a briefing on the latest developments in the Lighting Africa program and the off-grid lighting market. It is provided to all organizations and Due to the success of the APHIA II project, USAID recently individuals in the Lighting Africa network. Help us help you tell your story by sending us bought an additional 1,000 Sun King lanterns for distribution your articles! from Renewable Energy Ventures. See also how Renewable Energy Ventures has developed a Lighting Africa does not endorse the contents of the articles submitted by its members. Solanterns Initiative, pledging to replace one million kerosene To submit articles or for comments, questions, or suggestions, please contact our lanterns with solar lanterns in Kenya at www.solanterns.com. project team at: support@lightingafrica.org Stay Connected www.lightingafrica.org 4