Training project to restore solar sector’s shine

By Nicholas Waitathu

Kenya: A year ago, Mr Peter Mwangi contracted a technician to install a solar lighting system in his elderly mother’s house in Murang’a County.

He was hoping to spare her the reliance on costly traditional sources of lighting.

Mwangi’s mother is among millions of Kenyans who have never accessed power from the national grid due to high connectivity fees.

However, two short months later, the solar panel system broke down. It was later discovered that the technician Mr Mwangi had hired had made a mess of the installation.

Mwangi was infuriated, considering he had spent more than Sh60,000 to procure the panels and pay the technician. On being contacted, the technician turned on Mwangi and accused him of tampering with the system.

“Mwangi’s experience is not unique,” said Mr Francis Njoka, a trainer and solar photovoltaics (PV) expert at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). 

“Many other Kenyans have fallen victim to quack technicians who only have a basic understanding of solar lighting.”

Rural electrification

Mwangi later found out the technician worked with the wrong panel accessories and batteries, and installed them badly.

Mwangi’s is a story you will hear repeated in many other counties, and such incompetence has denied rural families the opportunity to access cheap, renewable power.

To stop further damage to the solar energy sector, industry players have stepped up efforts to train local technicians on photovoltaics, which converts solar radiation into electricity.  

JKUAT is working with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERC) to implement the Project for Capacity Development for Promoting Rural Electrification Using Renewable Energy (the Bright Project). 

The four-year programme, which targets training at least 1,000 technicians, has also developed a curriculum on modern solar PV systems that training institutions can adopt.

“This move was meant to ensure that the quality and standards of solar PV installations all over the country do not disappoint consumers anymore,” the JICA Bright Project chief advisor, Mr Otake Yuji, told Business Beat last week. 

Renewable Energy

According to ERC, Kenya leads in Africa in exploiting renewable energy sources. Solar technology has been in the country the last 35 years, with industry sources saying more than 300,000 PV units have been installed, though several thousand have failed to work.  

To streamline the sector, the Government in 2012 published regulations requiring that all technicians be trained on how to install solar systems. 

The regulations also require that suppliers and distributors be licensed by the ERC after passing an industrial test administered by the National Industrial Training Authority. 

The director in charge of renewable energy at ERC, Mr Robert Pavel Oimeke, said since the operationalisation of the regulations, more than 70 technicians and over 30 companies have been licensed to install and supply the gadgets, respectively.

“Through the regulations, we have managed to tame the prevalence of corrupt technicians and traders. The number of cases of failed installations being reported to us now are fewer than they were two years ago,” Mr Oimeke said.

Mr Cuxton Ngari, a trainee at the Rwika Technical Institute, Embu, said many solar technicians are “half-baked” and often work blind.

“After this two-week training, I now feel more confident ... I have also noted there are many things I wasn’t doing right.”  

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