Greentech Lead Asia: Kyocera announced it has donated solar power generating systems to four secondary schools in Tanzania and three primary schools in Uganda.
The installations are part of larger donation projects that have been ongoing since 2009, in which Kyocera has been providing solar power generating systems to schools in Tanzania and Uganda that have no access to the electricity grid.
The five-year projects consist of 600-watt solar power generating systems for 35 schools in total, each with storage batteries as well as basic equipment such as lamps, TV sets and radios — lighting up the classrooms and diversifying learning activities for the students. Furthermore, the solar systems are occasionally used as an electricity source for the people of the community to charge their mobile devices.
With additional installations at seven schools in the last fiscal year, donations have already been made to a total of 28 schools, with seven more to follow by March 2014.
During the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) held in Japan, the Japanese Government pledged 3.2 trillion yen of public and private assistance to Africa over the next five years and stressed the importance of private sector investment.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pointed out that the key to meet the needs of countries in Africa lies in human capacity development. Kyocera believes in the great possibilities of the young generation in Africa and hopes that its donations in Tanzania and Uganda will help further the education of students who carry the future of the countries on their shoulders.
As part of these efforts, donation ceremonies were held in which a company representative interacted with the teachers and students. In Tanzania, the ceremonies were held on June 7 at two representative schools in Kilimanjaro. In Uganda, the ceremonies took place on June 11 at all three schools in Bushenyi.
Kyocera started research into solar energy in 1975 when then-president Kazuo Inamori first recognized the long-term potential for solar technology to contribute to global energy demand. Shortly after, in the early 1980s, the company began providing solar power systems to regions without electricity in Pakistan, China and Nepal.