In the sprawling Kakuma refugee camp, in northwestern Kenya, one section stands out because it is well-lit amid the tranquility of the looming dusk.
TURKANA, Kenya, July 1 (Xinhua) -- In the sprawling Kakuma refugee camp, in northwestern Kenya, one section stands out because it is well-lit amid the tranquility of the looming dusk.
The residents of Kakuma Three refugee camp are beneficiaries of green energy that is readily available thanks to a mini-grid that has been made possible thanks to China's solar technology.
Vasco Hamisi, who fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2010, is playing a pivotal role in ensuring that the Kakuma refugee camp has access to renewable energy despite not being connected to Kenya's main electricity grid.
Hamisi, a father of two children, was inspired by the region's all-year-round abundant sunshine. Initially, he did not have the funding to actualize his dream of lighting up his camp, home to about 288,000 refugees from nine countries, including South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi and the DRC.
The breakthrough came in 2018 when he participated in a grant challenge competition and emerged as one of the winners who qualified to be awarded funding for their green projects.
Hamisi received about 275,000 U.S. dollars to finance development of a solar power plant, Okapi Green Energy, in the refugee camp.
"I began looking for a viable solution to supply electricity and discovered that China has developed affordable and reliable technology to convert sunshine into electricity," Hamisi told Xinhua during a recent interview in Kakuma Refugee Camp.
After receiving all the necessary approvals from government agencies such as the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the National Environmental Management Authority as well as the county government of Turkana, he hit the ground running.
Through Okapi Green Energy, Hamisi purchased solar panels and other related accessories from Chinese firm Jinko Solar to establish a 20-kilowatt power plant and began connecting the refugee camp with electricity in 2021.
"So far I have 150 households and 50 businesses as customers of my mini electricity grid at the Kakuma refugee camp," he said.
Due to the overwhelming success of the project, Hamisi is in talks with the Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd, a stationary battery manufacturer headquartered in east China's Fujian Province, to expand his electricity generating capacity to 2.4 megawatts in the next few months.
One of the beneficiaries of the green energy project is Desantos Theophile Byizigiro, a Rwandan who runs a successful entertainment joint at Kakuma refugee camp.
Byizigiro said that before he connected to the solar plant, he depended on a generator, which was very costly and inconvenient to his patrons.
"The generator produced a lot of smoke and noise which interfered with the comfort of my clients," Byizigiro said.
Since he was connected to the solar electricity grid, he was able to make more money, as the cost of electricity fell from 2,000 shillings (about 15.5 dollars) daily to 3.9 dollars, he said. ■
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