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Liberia Finds Solar Power Gets Things Moving Again
FrontLines - June 2009
MONROVIA, Liberia—Liberians who live, study, or work outside the limited electric grid of
the capital, Monrovia, do not have affordable, reliable light. A place to charge a mobile phone is
a daily quest.
Less than 2 percent of rural areas and about 10 percent of the urban capital area have modern
energy sources.
People who live in thatched or makeshift dwellings use hazardous candles and kerosene
lamps—there are no fire fighters to come to the rescue. A fortunate minority have generators that
run on expensive fuel.
Renewable energy is emerging to fill the need for power, allowing the rebuilding country to
leapfrog over polluting fuels into “green” energy using the country’s abundance of sun and water.
In 2006, the USAID Liberia Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) began helping the post-war
government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf create a national energy policy, including a strategy
to reach the most underserved.
In two years, LEAP showed the benefits of low maintenance solar technologies at 19 sites in
schools, clinics, small businesses, and public buildings supported by other USAID programs.Some examples of these pilot sites and how they renewed people’s lives and livelihoods follow.
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A solar-powered vaccine refrigerator keeps medicines cool.
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Solar Refrigerator Preserves
Vaccines and Saves Lives
At the Sakonnedu Health Clinic
in Lofa County, LEAP provided a
solar-powered vaccine refrigerator
and a portable solar lantern for
night births and other emergencies.
Before receiving the
refrigerator, vaccines weren’t
always available when needed as
Sakonnedu staff had to bring ice
packs from the county capital to
keep vaccines in a cold box.
Opportunities to vaccinate infants
coming from remote villages were
often lost.
A health worker at the clinic,
which is run by International
Medical Corps, credits the solarpowered
refrigerator with saving
lives: “Before a lot of newborns
died, mostly from tetanus;
since the refrigerator came, no
more.”—N.T. ★
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Workers install a solar-powered street light in Robertsport. Solar
light panels are attached to sturdy aluminum mounting racks,
each including a maintenance-free battery and a “dusk to dawn”
charge controller.
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Lights Revive
Social Life in
Robertsport
Roberstport is the capital
town of Grand Cape Mount
County, known for its scenic
beaches, lakes, and hills. But it
had no street lights for nearly 20
years until LEAP installed 10 at
the center of the town.
A cook at a small camping
lodge catering to tourists from
Monrovia said shops are open
longer and the lights enable her
to work at night and get home
safely. And the lights revived
social life after years of conflict.
“Now people come out
at night; they aren’t afraid
anymore; they meet and talk.
I think the lights bring us more
together,” she said.—N.T .. ★
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Women
and a few
men are
making
it their
business to
build solar
flashlights/
reading
lights using
recycled
plastic
water
bottles
and a solar
charging
panel.
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Entrepreneurs Turn Plastic
Bottles into Solar Lamps
A few Liberian groups are testing out a new business using empty
plastic water bottles to make solar-powered lanterns with three tiny
LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs. The small lantern serves as a flashlight
or flexes to become a reading light.
The solar torch was developed and donated by Green Energies, LLC,
for micro-enterprises in Tanzania. A start-up assembly tool kit costs
$100 and light kits are $15 each. The lanterns are sold for about $25
each, including a small (1.5W) solar panel for recharging the batteries.
In Liberia, people can spend up to $15 each month on kerosene
and candles, so makers of the small lights expect brisk sales.
After training, a person can assemble four or five lights in a
day.—N.T.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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Material should be submitted
by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
RRB, Suite 6.10, Washington, DC 20523-6100;
by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
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