Africa-Press – Uganda. Village Energy, the distributor of customised solar solutions has revealed that adoption of green energy to power businesses in rural areas is on the increase.
According to the distributor, business owners are increasingly opting for solar gadgets such as refrigerators, Television sets, and lighting, as a solution to frequent power outages or even lack of connection to the national grid.
Recently, Village Energy carried out a survey through the Global LEAP Awards Refrigeration Challenge on 36 off-grid SMEs that received solar refrigerators in 2018 in five districts, showing that the average daily revenue from drinks increased from $12 per day (Shs45,000) to $29 (Shs108,000) per day.
The survey further shows that while the average total daily income increased from $39 (Shs146,000) per day to $70 (Shs262,000) a day, 50% reported expanding into a new business line and all respondents reported an increase in customers and sales, with overwhelmingly positive feedback.
A follow-up survey conducted in 2020 by Energy4Impact on the impact of the 2018 distribution indicated that 30 of 36 respondents (83%) still possessed the fridges they had gotten, whereas 89% were unable to easily find a good alternative to the solar fridge. 86% were likely to recommend the fridge to a friend, having assigned a mark between 8-10 out of 10.
The survey further revealed that 83% of the respondents noticed growth in their business in the previous 2 years because of the fridges and 27% were able to purchase a new solar system or appliance because of the additional income and awareness.
According to Village Energy, overall sentiment depicted gratitude and satisfaction.
Waringa Matindi, the Chief Executive Officer of Village Energy, says refrigerators are continuously improving livelihoods and boosting incomes by enhancing productivity, expanding working hours, and increasing products/services, as well as cutting energy costs and eliminating business losses that are energy-related.
Matindi notes that although affordability is a key barrier to adoption, innovative models can be leveraged to increase access to existing solar solutions.
She says “The partnership between Equity Bank and Village Energy can be useful to provide access for SMEs.
Equity’s Eco loan will increase available financing to consumers and Village Energy’s remote monitoring, a 2-year system warranty will ensure the solar fridges are working efficiently and the system challenges are handled quickly and efficiently,”
Recently, President Yoweri Museveni, called for more investment in solar energy and emphasised the need for the population to focus on boosting production and improving agriculture.
Across Uganda, solar fridges are being adopted by small and medium enterprises such as shops, restaurants, hotels, and guesthouses to store and sell cold drinks, dairy products, and other perishable goods.
Founded in 2008, Village Energy has since 2015, been at the helm of helping businesses grow by offering affordable solar solutions.
It is a distributor of customised solar solutions that enable productive use of energy (PUE) for businesses, non-profit institutions and agriculture in underserved areas.
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