Improving living conditions in Uganda thanks to solar street lighting

In Uganda, 50% of the population still doesn’t have access to a reliable source of electricity. A French consortium supervised by the Energies for the World Foundation (FONDEM) has implemented an autonomous solar lighting system, as part of a FASEP funding.

60% of the African population still has no access to electricity. In the Kampala region of Uganda, the public lighting network only covers 8% of the town. Dilapidated, it is also only 50% operational and involves significant costs of maintenance.

Public lighting is essential to the well-being of populations and the development of cities. Reliable lighting improves people’s comfort and safety, enhances the attractiveness of the territory, particularly by allowing businesses to open later.

Thanks to a FASEP Green Innovation subvention (Private Sector Study and Assistance Fund), the Kampala region was able to implement a compliance upgrade and extension project for its street lighting network, a priority for the cities of Entebbe, Jinja and Mukono selected for this first phase of works.

FONDEM, the Novéa Energies company of the Ragni Group and Sunna Design have thus joined forces to deploy a demonstrator of innovative public lighting solutions in the region of Kampala, a complete model to be replicated on a larger scale. This project includes a preliminary analysis of the situation and needs of the area concerned to define a suitable lighting plan, the installation and monitoring of the solar street lighting system, and an impact study allowing preparing the replica of this model.

For this first phase, 75 high-power solar street lamps from the EverGen range have been deployed in the cities of Kampala. These autonomous street lamps powered by free green energy are equipped with the new generation of SunnaCore electronic card, a Sunna Design technology that allows remote supervision of the operation of the intelligent street lamps, for a precise management of energy expenses as well as an unequalled responsiveness in case of a light point failure.

The benefits of solar lighting of markets, schools and pedestrian paths are already being felt in the daily lives of the 400.000 residents of the Kampala region. The living conditions of the population are improved, security strengthened, a success that makes it possible to contemplate a large-scale deployment of Sunna Design’s solar solutions in Uganda, at the rate of 10.000 solar street lamps per city.

The success of this FASEP project is also an additional example of the quality of French technology and know-how, guaranteeing the installation of efficient and reliable solar solutions with an unequalled lifespan.