Africa's cities are becoming increasingly urbanized, resulting in a surge in demand for new infrastructure and services, such as street lighting. The city government of Kampala has constructed over 1800 solar street lights in order to provide for their growing city population. This has resulted in lower energy costs for the city government, environmental gain as well as increased open hours for small businesses, which has aided overall economic growth.

Much of urban population growth is taking place in Africa and Asia, creating huge demand for new infrastructure and services.

Among other infrastructure needs, there is an urgent need to build street lighting throughout urban sub-Saharan Africa. Street-lighting makes streets safer and more secure. 60% of urban residents in developing countries have been victim to a crime, with dark streets helping to exacerbate violence, particularly against women. Street lighting also allows vendors and traders to operate for longer hours, leading to higher incomes.

Solar street lights are not only cheaper to install, but then cheaper to operate since they generate their own power instead of drawing from the grid. In Kampala, the city government has installed over 1800 solar street lights. 

This has slashed the city government’s electricity bills and supported wider economic growth by increasing trading hours for small businesses. The research finds that, if replicated nationwide, the Ugandan government could halve upfront costs by, electricity costs by 40% and maintenance costs by 60%. Scaling up initiatives like this across sub-Saharan Africa would replace consumption of grid-based electricity with between 96 and 160GW of distributed solar power, doubling renewable energy generation in the region.

Photo by Mak on Unsplash