Will Africa lead the LED revolution?

The International Finance Corporation, a branch of the World Bank, has launched the project "Lighting the Bottom of the Pyramid" aimed at the replacement of kerosene lighting with solar-powered LED units in Ghana and Kenya. The project cuts into a 40 BUSD-market that the 1.6 Billion people who does not have access to electricity spend on kerosene every year. The project is now seeking partners from a range of actors including manufacturers, wholesalers, NGOs and several others. The project is certainly well focused and aimed at the receivers mentioned, but it should be kept in mind that "Deployment is local but development is global". The technologies used are highly applicable not only in the bottom of the pyramid but also higher up. We may again have to thank Africa for taking the initial steps on the earth!

The projected impact as described in the project design documents are really interesting. The off-grid lighting in Kenya and Ghana alone has a value of 1.4 BUSD per year and emits 3.9 Mtonnes CO₂. The profitability of the suggested LED-units is stunning, less than a year, see figures below, and have a look at the markets.