School children studying with Green Light Planet’s Sun King Lantern Photo courtesy of Solanterns Initiative

“The solar lights are working well.  Once you charge it all day, it will still be on throughout the night,” said Mr.Wainaina from Kayole, Nairobi.

Mr.Wainaina’s charity, Children Hope Foundation, raises funds for needy children in his community, providing school uniforms, food packages, exercise books and jerry cans for carrying water.  When he received 19 Greenlight Planet Sun King solar lanterns from the AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance Project (APHIA II), he distributed them to year 8 students who were studying for critical examinations that would determine if they would progress to secondary school.

Benefitting school children
Mr. Wainaina had only praise for the Sun King lanterns: “The children can study all night and without the smoke.  Families also save on paraffin that they used to buy every day.”

Renewable Energy Ventures (K) Ltd. compiled results five months after the solar lanterns were distributed to the students. 

They found that the majority of students who were allocated portable solar lanterns were studying for an average of three hours each evening compared to only one hour before, when they only had kerosene lamps.

The Sun King lantern is a product which meets Lighting Africa’s recommended performance targets for quality. In November 2010, the APHIA II program, funded by USAID, purchased 500 Greenlight Planet Sun King solar lanterns from Renewable Energy Ventures (K) Ltd. for distribution in Nairobi’s informal settlements. 

Due to the success of the APHIA II project, USAID recently bought an additional 1,000 Sun King lanterns for distribution from Renewable Energy Ventures.