Alex families receive Schneider Electric solar lamps
DEVELOPMENT
| Aug. 25, 2014, 5:07 p.m.
Schneider Electric, a specialist in energy management, has partnered with Rays of Hope, a non-profit organisation, providing 28 schoolchildren and their families in the northern Johannesburg township of Alexandra, South Africa, with an alternative to using candles and paraffin as a source of light.
The donation of high quality solar lamps from Schneider Electric is hoped to assist with reducing dwelling fires and their devastating consequences, improve education by providing learners with a source of light to study at night and encourage small business development.
Zanelle Dalglish, head of sustainable development for southern Africa at Schneider Electric says that the donation forms part of Schneider Electric “Access to Energy” programme, called BipBop, which stands for Business, Innovation and People at the Base of the Pyramid.
She explains that representatives from Schneider Electric were on hand to demonstrate and educate the recipients on the In-Diya lighting system, which is the company’s highly energy-efficient LEDs, especially designed to provide lighting to people living with no or unreliable electricity.
In-Diya consumes 50 percent less power than an 11-watt CFL and 90 percent less power than a 60-watt incandescent lamp for the same light output. The lamp is ideal for a small dwelling as it is mounted on a wall and can illuminate a room of just over 12 square metres for all normal activities. In its high-end version, it costs less than any CFL-based solar home lighting system and provides 50,000 hours of lighting.
“In addition, Schneider Electric donated a battery charging station, which has been installed at Rays of Hope’s facility for safety and risk purposes. Here batteries will continually be charged and families will be able to swop out batteries so that they have fully charged batteries at all times,” says Dalglish.
She adds that Schneider Electric’s sustainable development strategy is to partner with other businesses, NGOs, NPOs and funders to establish an electrification model for off-grid communities. “We understand that our systems could mean the world to many people living with no access to electricity. Being the proverbial light at the end of a dark tunnel encourages us to fulfill our plan of bringing electricity to thousands of people in southern Africa.”
