Africa Surges Into Clean, Cheap Solar Energy
Until almost two years ago, James Mbugua, a farmer living in Karai, a village on the outskirts of Kenya's capital, relied on kerosene to light his house, and a car battery to power his television so he wouldn't miss the news.
Part of the reason he couldn't plug into the power grid, despite being so close to Nairobi and in an area where electricity is readily available, is that he lives on government land as a squatter, with no papers to show he owns the 70-foot by 80-foot parcel where he has put up a makeshift house.
Now, however, he has found an alternative: An affordable solar system to power his home.
"I could not go on like that and had to seek an alternative way of lighting my house and I discovered that with only $150 I could use solar to light my house and power the television plus radio," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
James Moran