Pictured: The team in front of the Great Lakes Power Office
We left Kigali and traveled four hours travel along the National Route 1 and 7 before arriving at the unclassified red dirt road leading to Banda. Banda is located in the Rangiro Sector, Nyamasheke District in the Western Province of Rwanda. The two hours along rutted red dirt road, muddied from recent rains and with debris from intermittent landslides is only passable by 4x4, ours a deep green Toyota pickup operated by our professional driver. Banda represents the most remote, poorest and demanding locations in Rwanda. Children walk many kilometers up and down steep hills to attend school, fetch water and firewood or work in the fields. Adults, young and old work, on small agriculture plots, carry their produce along the same steep hills either pushing them on bicycles or carrying them on their backs and heads. The village of Banda has limited or no infrastructure, no running water, sanitation, hospitals and until the extraordinary effort of Great Lakes Power, no electricity.
Pictured: Jean de Dieu and Christian loading stock into the Great Lakes Power vehicle
Pictured: Theogene training new field agents at the Great Lakes Power Office
In early 2017, Great Lakes Power installed and now operates a 30 kW Banda Smart Village solar mini grid in under contract from Renerg R and with the support of Power Africa and the United States African Development Foundation. The mini grid has electrified the handful of small store fronts and approximately 120 households in Banda. Great Lakes Power employs Dominic, a young man born in Banda and educated as an electrician, to operate the plant, maintain the distribution system, oversee metering and billing and make service calls. We inspected the solar plant, distribution system, metering infrastructure and billing and collection mechanisms. Remarkably the system has experienced no outages despite the intense rain storms that frequent the area. The Banda mini grid is a shining example of the potential for local ingenuity and international support to address some of the toughest challenges facing vulnerable populations in developing countries.
Pictured: Yvette standing in front of Solar Home System stock
Still in Banda, we meet with Fabian, a Great Lakes solar home system sales agent and technician. Fabian was recently hired by Great Lakes to distribute solar home systems to households which could be connected to the mini grid if capacity is expanded and those which are scattered around Banda in a manner making connection prohibitively expensive. Fabien took us to a local household who had recently invested in a solar home system to observe the difference in lighting service delivered by the households previous lighting source, a LED flashlight and the Great Lakes four bulb solar home system. The solar home system has a price near $100 and is a large investment in an area where many individuals earn $1 per day. Great Lakes Power offers an installment contract that allows the household to purchase the system over 12 months with an initial 20% down payment. Despite the financial challenges facing this and other rural households in Banda, the arrival of Great Lakes Power in Banda is celebrated. In our time there, we were approached by several young people interested in investing in solar home systems for their homes or finding employment with Great Lakes Power. The distribution of solar home systems in Banda is part of a larger Clean Lighting Solution for Community Project which has also been supported by Power Africa and the United States African Development Foundation. The project meets the lighting demands of disperse rural households while providing employment through a growing network of sales agents.
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