Microgrid for OMAWA's School in Tanzania

Impact Summary

Location: Moshi town, Kilimanjaro - Tanzania

6.6 kWp (6600 watt peak) Solar Microgrid with 12 batteries for a total energy storage capacity of 28.8 kWh
Reliable, clean power for classrooms, staff houses, offices, security lights, televisions and radios
Replaced kerosene lamps, candles and diesel generators to reduce emissions, improve health outcomes and address climate change
Solar-powered community charging station saves people from walking 60-80 km to charge phones & radios and enables community to get more news and information about what is happening in Tanzania and abroad
Microgrid is estimated to serve approximately 1,000 people
Installation of the micgrogrid also catalyzed the improvements to the road serving the school in order to facilitate the delivery of the solar materials
New revenue streams from sharing solar with two other organizations

Okoa Maisha Ya Watoto (OMAWA) means "Save Children's Lives" in Swahili and this community led NGO supports and advocates for the needs and rights of orphans and vulnerable children in rural communities. We partnered with OMAWA in Tanzania to create a microgrid for their Iring’ong’weni Primary School which faced significant challenges of electricity and no integration of computers and technology in the delivery of their curriculum.

This project provides reliable, clean energy from the sun to power classrooms used by approximately 800 children, staff houses and offices, security lights and a charging station for the entire community for phone charging and other productive uses. In addition, two local organizations asked to utilize the excess solar power and so the microgrid resulted in a new revenue stream for the organization.

"The solar power has scaled a positive change in our community as it is well known that kerosene lights/burners and candles have adverse effects such as harming children’s lungs and eyes as they try to study but now they are using solar power to study which is clean energy." - Joseph Maro, executive director, OMAWA

OMAWA students are now realizing and learning about the many benefits of solar power

This is just the first step toward realizing the exponential benefits of solar in this community. In the future, we hope to partner with OMAWA on solar-powered small businesses such as a barber shop (that will also teach students valuable skills), an on-line learning center with reliable internet, and solar-powered irrigation for smallholder farmers.

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"Lack of energy inhibits the effective learning and education of children and results in a sub-optimal learning environment. We would like to thank The Solar Foundation for helping us fulfill our mission of enabling the education of vulnerable children and the creation of livelihoods thereby reducing poverty in the rural districts in Tanzania."

Joseph Maro

Executive Director

Okoa Maisha Ya Watoto (OMAWA)

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