This project was a further step towards the introduction of small solar systems with LED lamps (SHS: - Solar Home Systems) on the Tanzanian Islands, which belong to Zanzibar. The German-Tanzanian Partnership (www.dtpev.de) has been active in Zanzibar since 1998 and has continuously promoted the use of solar energy since then. It started with a school in the south of Zanzibar, where solar lamps were built and used by the students. In recent years, the use of solar energy for school students across Zanzibar has been gradually expanded in order to achieve the most sustainable effect. With this project, we dared to step into the villages without public electricity supply and enable entire households to use solar energy.
Zanzibar's night falls at 6:30 p.m. It lasts 12 hours until the sun rises the next morning. In the villages without a connection to the public power grid, kerosene lamps are preferably used to illuminate the houses. The kerosene lamps only offer flickering light and they smell very heavily, which not only pollutes the environment but also the health of the residents. In addition, there often are fires in the houses, caused by kerosene lamps falling down.
With this project, 70 SHS systems were installed in these villages to:
- To raise the standard of living through the use of solar energy,
- To improve the communication options, since the systems also charge
Enable mobile phones
- To work and read in the houses with clean and bright light, even after the sunset.
The project financed:
1. the pre-financing for the purchase of the SHS systems,
2. the training days in the villages,
3. the use of personnel for training and installation of the systems,
4. aftercare and maintenance of the systems.
Villages without connection to the public power supply were selected for training days. The trainings should arouse interest in the use of solar energy. Miniature solar systems have been installed in interested households, which are adapted to the financial possibilities of the people. The aim was also not to give away the facilities. The future users must pay for the facilities in full. A basic amount was paid to purchase the system, followed by 3 to 5 installments, which can be paid by via mobile phones. The technology of a German company that is active in Tanzania was used for this.
Trained ZASEA experts were available on site for maintenance and repair work.