With current events, inflation and supply chain issues amongst other factors, accessing reliable, clean and affordable power is increasingly challenging for populations in West Africa. Indeed, with over 700 million people in sub-Saharan Africa with poor or no access to the electricity grid, many are forced to use generators either full-time or as back-up. However, these come with high costs to run and create health issues. Solar power reduces the costs to access reliable and clean energy and users can rest assured that if there is sun, they can have power.
An Unreliable Grid
As the failure of the power grid in Nigeria becomes more frequent, the amount of power generated also seems to gradually be falling. Indeed, by April 9th 2022, Nigeria's national electricity grid, which serves around 117 million people, had already collapsed for the second time in the month, leaving the parts of the country, including the capital Abuja and Africa's biggest city Lagos, without power. Whilst Nigeria has installed the capacity of 12,500 megawatts, on a good day it only produces a quarter of that, leaving many Nigerians and businesses to rely on fuel-powered generators.
Similarly in Côte d’Ivoire, power cuts can affect most of the country at once, can last for an indefinite amount of time and are also becoming more and more recurrent.
Fuel Generators
Not only can fuel generators cause long-term health issues due to the fumes released, as these fumes can be very irritating for the eyes and throat, generators are also very expensive to run. Indeed, as the price of fuel increases more than it usually does due to current circumstances (prices have more than doubled since the start of the year), so is the cost of maintaining generators. This means that some households, families and even small and medium businesses have to reduce the amount of power they use and some are left unable to afford power altogether.
Solving the Issue with Solar Power
With Lumos, customers can be worry-free and own their power destiny, deciding if and when they want to use electricity. Furthermore, depending on the plan that Lumos customers opt for, Lumos is up to 80% cheaper than running a generator. As a result, customers are able to spend wisely, reduce their monthly power expenses as they save on their bills and for their future, and don’t have to be concerned about whether or not the grid is functioning properly.