The Kafita Cooperative runs a solar mini-grid infrastructure in Mpanta, Zambia, providing electricity to households and businesses that before had no or very little access to electricity. The infrastructure is currently owned under a provisional licence to the Rural Electrification Authority but is run by a local cooperative to which it will be handed over to.

In Mpanta, majority of the households relied on the use of traditional energy sources such as paraffin lamps and candles exposing especially the women to respiratory diseases and causing high carbon emissions to the environment. In Zambia the rural electricity access rate is only of 3.5%.

In 2013, a 60kw photovoltaic mini-grid was installed in the village with the aim to provide electricity to the community. The project connected households, shops, a market, a school, a clinic, fish deports and churches. Every household connected has to be a member of the local cooperative with a board selected to make decisions on behalf of the community and a qualified management employed by the cooperative to run the operations of the project. Every member pays a tariff, which is cost reflective and regulated by the country’s Energy Regulation Board in consultation with the cooperative.

2, 292 people in Mpanta village are benefiting from this project. Moverover, the carbon emissions in people’s households greatly reduced in line with MDG 7 leading to an improvement in the standard of living as people had access to clean energy for lighting.