A Study of Factors that Influence the Adoption of Solar Powered Lanterns in a Rural Village in Kenya

The problem of access to electricity is still a major challenge to about 2 billion people that still live in rural and urban off-grid areas on incomes of $1-2/day. Since the cost of linking these people to the grid is high, there is a need to explore the development of alternative energy solutions for the provision of electricity in such contexts. There is also a need to develop new insights for the formulation of evidence-based policy that could enable the development of strategies to provide electricity to people that live in off-grid areas. This paper presents the results of a survey that provides insights for the formulation of evidence-based policy for the adoption of solar lanterns into rural/urban off-grid areas. The two year questionnaire study was carried out in Mpala Village in the Laikipia district of Kenya. The study identifies the factors that resulted in the adoption rate of 96% and a decrease of 14.7% in annual family expenditures. The social and health impacts are also elucidated before discussing the implications of the results for the formulation of evidence-based solar energy policy in developing countries.