Kategori : ELECTRICITY ENERGY NEWS, ENERGY AGENDA NEWS, SOLAR ENERGY NEWS - Tarih : 08 November 2021
Even at 80 years old, Raphael Mauyu, a dairy farmer from southeast Kenya, has no plans to retire. But not long ago, he worried that his advancing age would soon make it impossible to carry on his labour-intensive job.
The nearest river only flows during the two rainy seasons of the year, so the community has built sand dams – barriers across the river that trap sand, which in turn captures and holds water-to store river water to use when they need it.
In February, the World Bank and the Makueni County government worked with farmers to install a 32-cell solar unit in Mauyu’s village, one of more than a dozen off-grid solar projects the World Bank has helped set up around Kenya.
A spokesperson for the World Bank directed interview requests to the Makueni government, which did not respond to several requests for comment.
Under the $150 million project, solar pumps are provided free of charge, with maintenance costs covered by users paying a small fee for the water they collect.
