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A solar products marketing company based in Accra, Kube Afrika, has announced its willingness to partner with the government, NGOs and other development organisations to provide electricity to communities that are not connected to the national power grid.
The director of the company, Nana Kwame Yeboah-Afari, made this known at a renewable energy workshop organised in Accra on Monday.
He mentioned that his company would welcome initiatives from any public, private or nonprofit sector organisation seeking to make accessible the social amenity or extend any such developmental projects to off-grid communities.
Nana Yeboah-Afari said the lack of electricity made it extremely challenging for the delivery of other essential amenities to such communities, and also hampered their economic potentials which they could leverage to break free from the poverty cycle.
He said it ought not be the case that communities, some of which he averred, were not too distant from the country’s capital, continue to remain in deprivation, if the country desired to fully move forward its development.
“In this day and age, no community should be left out in development. It is mind-boggling that communities within an hour’s travel from Accra still depend on kerosene and firewood as their source of energy because there is no power,” he said.
Nana Yeboah-Afari also noted that although the location of some communities made it technically unfeasible to be reached with the national grid, there was no excuse for any community to be left behind in development due to the availability of other forms of energy.
“Admittedly, the location of some communities is reason why they are not connected onto the national grid, however, there are other equally sustainable power and energy sources that can be taken advantage of to provide our rural folk with socio-economic opportunities,” he said.
Kube Afrika is the sole Africa agent for US-based Kube Technology LLC, which specialises in the development of unique solar-powered products ideal for rural off-grid areas.
To demonstrate how their products work, the company undertook a pilot project in two off-grid communities in the Akwapem South district of the Eastern region of Ghana, where it installed and commissioned a range of solar-powered units.
Akwansu, one of the two beneficiary communities, received a solar-powered reverse osmosis water purification system, which treats raw water to the WHO required standard for drinking.
For Obosono, Kube Afrika commissioned, among other products, a facility for the community’s health post designed for storage of vaccines and other medical supplies.
Also, teachers and schoolchildren in this farming community are currently able to organise evening classes as their school now has solar-powered generators, which provide lighting for their classrooms and power to charge devices for ICT lessons.
Nana Yeboah-Afari said he was hopeful that his company, with the right kind of partnerships, would positively impact national development by resourcing off-grid communities to be able to realise their untapped socio-economic potentials.
By Clifford Yaw Frimpong, Freelance Journalist
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