KENYA: Sidonge village in western Kenya pilots a renewable energy scheme that could help remote communities across Africa get connected to power and provide alternative sources of income

Record ID: 362177

  • Title: KENYA: Sidonge village in western Kenya pilots a renewable energy scheme that could help remote communities across Africa get connected to power and provide alternative sources of income
  • Date: 6th December 2011
  • Summary: BUSIA, KENYA (RECENT) (REUTERS) ENGINEER WORKING ON A POWER LINE SOLAR PANELS MORE OF ENGINEER WORKING WIDE VIEW OF SOLAR POWER 'HUB' AND PEOPLE WORKING ON IT WOMAN WALKING INTO TRADITIONAL TIN ROOFED HOME VARIOUS OF LOCAL RESIDENT JENNIFER ATIENO AND A RELATIVE INSIDE THEIR HOME WITH THE NEW SOLAR POWERED TRANSISTOR POWERING A RADIO (SOUNDBITE) (Luhya) JENNIFER A
  • Embargoed: 21st December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya, Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA89D945FKRSZJB06OF8DQNC65L
  • Story Text: Like many remote villages in rural Africa, Sidonge village in western Kenya has never been connected to the main power grid.
    Home to a population of around 600 people or just over 100 families, the village sits within a stone's throw of the Uganda border, nestled close to the River Sio that flows into Lake Victoria's northern tip.
    While access to water is not a problem here, access to clean water is hard to come by. A government bore hole built a few years ago provides some with drinking water but only when it hasn't dried up and even then at 3 US dollars a month, it's out of range for some of the poorer families.
    More recently however, Sidonge became the subject of a pilot renewable energy scheme, launched by a charity in Portugal to help provide power and clean water to out-of-reach places.
    With the help of local and international funders the group has set up an 'energy hub' in Sidonge village that uses solar power panels connected to batteries to generate electricity that can then be piped into people's homes and used to purify water.
    Jenifer Ationo is just one of the villagers to make use of the new scheme. Now that she has a transmitter fitted in her mud and brick home, she can light her house, listen to the radio and charge her phone.
    "This time I can see electricity in my house which I never had before. Now I also see my radio playing and my phone is charging. I feel really happy, I will not go to the shop to buy paraffin anymore to light fire. I'm really happy that we've had such good fortune. God has brought good things to this village for all of us," said Ationo.
    Like many residents who have recently got power through the scheme, Ationo says simply cutting down on costs for fuel and candles or gas lighting has had a transforming effect.
    Collecting water is traditionally done by women in Sidonge village, who carry large containers to and from the river bed early in the morning and as the sun goes down. The water is used for everything from cooking to cleaning and drinking.
    The new renewable energy hub is fitted with a water purification system that uses microscopic filters and electric currents to get rid of harmful bacteria and tiny organisms that make people sick.
    The system has only just been tested but already residents are hopeful it could dramatically reduce incidents of illness and infection in children and adults in Sidonge.
    "I have five children, all of them have been having problems with vomiting and diarrhea. I have also been suffering from typhoid. It's really bad for our health and costs us so much to buy medications. But for now I am very happy that I have got safe water to drink and I can say goodbye to these diseases. I am sure my children are going to be much healthier as a result of this safe water," said Mariatricks Nekesa, a local resident.
    The energy hub is still in an experimental stage however, its makers say judging by the positive results in Sidonge it could soon be installed in other parts of rural Kenya and further afield across the continent as a whole.
    "I think from where we are now if I look forward ten years ahead, I see a very developed village a village with clean drinking water a village with light in their homes where they can be able, their children can be able to read, they can be able to do a number of enterprises that are linked to energy provision," said Harrison Adome, project coordinator.
    The hub in Sidonge is just one of many solar, wind and water power projects currently being tested in Kenya - rapidly gaining a reputation as a base for experimental power solutions.
    If proved successful, the energy hub's makers in Sidonge hope it could become a blue print for community power solutions that are both cost efficient and good for the environment, all over the world.
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