By Winnie Kamau
Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya hosted the recent 8th Global Off-Grid Forum and Expo with pomp and colour which saw the The latest Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report (MTR) 2024, launched. The report showed Off-grid solar is the most cost-effective way to power 41% of people globally by 2030 who are still living without energy access. The sector already provided 55% of the new connections in sub-Saharan Africa between 2020 to 2022 – where about 85% of the unelectrified population lives.
The Expo which is hosted by the Global Association for the Off Grid Solar Energy Industry (GOGLA) saw over 3,000 participants drawn from over 100 countries globally exhibit and participate in panel discussions.
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary (Minister) of Energy and Petroleum James Opiyo Wandayi in his opening remarks noted “Kenya has made great progress towards achieving universal access to electricity, more than doubling electricity access rate from 29% in 2013 to 75% currently. Much of our progress was achieved through the expansion and densification of the national grid and the Last Mile Connectivity programme, but complemented through the inclusion of off-grid solar (OGS) solutions in the 2018 Kenya National Electrification Strategy” he said.
During the 4- day event various innovations were showcased including solar powered grain mills and solar powered irrigations systems and solar powered home solutions.
Annish Takkar Co Founder of Sun King noted “We’ve connected over 20 million households in Africa and extended 1 billion dollars in purchase finance so that households can afford to purchase off grid and solar power for their households despite that over 600 Million people continue to live off the grid. We are optimistic of this coalition of policy makers, private sector and funders”
Adding “This sector works because of partnership between private and public sector. For example over 5 years the World Bank funded Nigerian electrification project carried out by the Nigerian Government has made solar home systems massively available to 10s of millions household who lack access to the electricity in Nigeria by providing a modest 20-25 percent subsidy which improves the affordability of solar home systems we’ve seen a fivefold rate increase in the adoption of solar in Nigeria”said Anish.
The Executive Director of GOGLA Sarah Malm observed ”Over 400 million or 40% of new connections need to come from offgrid solar products as an industry association that represents companies it is very important that we make sure that interest of offgrid solar are reflected at these multinational plans and also at the national level when you look at integrated energy planning and as it gets rolled out into other countries” noted Sarah.
The report warns that a 6-fold increase over current investment levels – or $21 billion – is required to realize off-grid solar’s potential to contribute to universal energy access, or this opportunity will be missed. Under the current trajectory, 660 million people are projected to still be without electricity by 2030.
