Swapping hydro power for sun power: the brighter benefits of solar

It seemed poignant that the first school I visited in Kenya was one whose need for solar was so clear. As we pulled up at Mukuyuni Secondary School, students spilled excitedly out of their classrooms to greet the Solar Roller and its human cargo.

There are 360 students at Mukuyuni, mainly girls, aged between 11 and 18 years. The average pass rate is B+, so there are clearly some bright sparks here. But there is something holding this school back from being really successful.

Pupils at Mukuyuni Secondary School. Photo: Charlotte Webster.

The school is connected to the grid. There is light in some offices but most of the classrooms and all dormitories are without any light. The responsibility of lighting the classrooms falls upon the individual teachers. If they require anything brighter than the daylight that spills in through the windows, teachers must buy kerosene for the lanterns out of their own pocket. Many of the teachers here are volunteers, so paying for kerosene is certainly not easy.

Dim light: most of the classrooms at Mukuyuni have no power. Photo: Charlotte Webster.

We met with the school's Vice Principal who told us that the power supply is very unreliable. On average, the school will experience total black out at least twice a week. This is not only frustrating but also pretty dangerous. Imagine several hundred students finishing work, diligently trying to squeeze in extra study hours or even get ready for bed in total darkness. The only alternative until now has been candles or kerosene lanterns. Pretty hazardous. As with many schools across Africa, lanterns are forbidden inside the dormitories at Mukuyuni (we spotted one surreptitiously hidden under a bed). There is clearly a hunger for after-dark study here.

The school's power source is hydro-electricity so when the rains are heavy, blackouts are more frequent due to power surges. The energy bills are cripplingly - the average bill is around 12,000KSH (£100) per month. And this is on top of wood for cooking (the school buys around 60,000 tonnes worth of wood each year) and kerosene for lanterns.

Miguel went through the application process with the Vice Principal. He explained that SolarAid would require only a 10% contribution to the whole solar lighting system - which we calculated to be, all in, around 45,000KSH. That's about £360 - just three month's worth of electricity bills. And better than that, the school can pay their contribution over a period of a year or longer.

SolarAid's Miguel Ramirez talks the application process through with the Vice Principal of Mukuyuni Secondary School.

We left Mukuyuni with a good feeling. This is clearly a school with big ambitions - and next year they plan to expand in size. We left the Vice Principal with a solar application form in her hand; and a great sense of hope at the prospects of reliable, clean and safer light for her bright spark students.