The solar energy access in Kenya: a review focusing on Pay-As-You-Go solar home system

Abstract

Only a third of the people living in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity. While the benefits of electricity services for the society continue to increase, solar home system (SHS) provides a long-term rural electrification and development solution. SHS is thought out to be a robust and cost-effective option for supplying basic electrification under Kenya’s metrological conditions. This paper begins with an in-depth justification of the need for SHS in rural areas, and then it presents an overview of SHS financing, benefits and barriers, followed by a crucial component of existing SHSs in Kenya, Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) technology. It ends with succinct analysis of the payment models highlighting the benefits, challenges and methods adopted in overcoming those challenges. Lessons from this review suggest that solar firms face a myriad of challenges operating in poor rural areas in Kenya; credit risk is a major concern for solar firms as well as financiers which makes payment models notably challenging. Technical performance of SHS is becoming well proven, and end users desire a wide range of component preferences and service levels that are of benefit. The challenges faced by solar firms using different payment models show that there is a dire need for integration of SHS with rural electrification policy in Kenya. The principal conclusion is that PAYG model offers the best option for SHS dissemination, though energy-as-a-service implementation has a great potential of improving the dissemination process in rural communities as it offers a promising mechanisms from a sustainability point of view.