Solar Panel Project in Paranhos

Solar panels provide energy to community facilities

In June 2004, in the wake of a recent war that had ravaged Paranhos, Angola, a small village some 50 miles north of Luanda, BP Solar and the British government established a renewable energy source for the 360 people living in the devastated village. A free-standing solar panel installation was established, and ever since these solar panels have been providing the village with clean, renewable solar energy to help power community facilities such as the local school, medical facility, water-pumping facility, and vaccine refrigerator. These solar panels helped the community get on with life even as they felt the effects of a violent war.

Before the solar panel installation, the vilage had been relying on a low-yeild generator that the Pananhos villagers could not afford to maintain. After being trained how to use the new solar panel installation by the team at BP Solar, these African citizens become a more self-sufficient and more functional community.

Analysts have been looking at this case as a model for how many small African villages can be powered and put on course to progress. Solar panels will be an integral part of Africa's future. BP Solar calls the project "a showcase to demonstrate the potential of solar energy in rural communities in Angola." The local Ministry of Energy and Water is looking into the issue to see if the Paranhos project's use of solar panels can indeed serve as a model for the rest of the poverty-striken country.