- The luminaires installed harness solar energy to light the roads of Kobe in Dollo Ado (Ethiopia). This improves security in an area without access to the electricity grid.
- Thanks to this action, the percentage of public spaces lit in the Kobe refugee camp and its host community has increased from 5.6% of the territory to approximately 40%.
- The project is promoted by the first multi-stakeholder alliance for humanitarian action in Spain, formed by AECID, itdUPM, acciona.org, Signify and Iberdrola, with the collaboration of UNHCR and co-financing from the European Union through AECID.
Madrid, July 11th 2024.- The 200 solar luminaires donated by the Signify Foundation and installed by the Alianza Shire on several of the roads in the Kobe refugee camp and its host community are already working. This allows the lives of approximately 38,000 people to be lit and provides safety at nightfall, especially for people in vulnerable situations such as women and minors.
The installation of the 200 luminaires is part of an energy access project that the Alianza Shire is carrying out in Dollo Ado, a remote area in southern Ethiopia without access to basic infrastructures.
Alianza Shire is Spain’s first multi-stakeholder alliance for humanitarian action. It is formed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Polytechnic University of Madrid through its Centre for Innovation in Technology for Human Development (itdUPM), the acciona.org Foundation, Signify and Iberdrola, with the collaboration of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and co-funding from the European Union.
A sustainable and participatory approach to street lighting in vulnerable contexts
This public lighting project has been based on sustainability as fundamental pillar, both in the design phase as well as in its development and in order to favour its continuity. This is reflected in the use of environmentally friendly technologies and in the involvement of local communities in the different stages of the process.
Given the fact that the area has no access to basic infrastructures, the required lighting solution had to be able to be installed without the need to deploy cabling. In this regard, the Philips SunStay luminaires used have an integrated battery to store the solar energy received during the day, so that the paths can be illuminated at nightfall.
In addition, in order to identify the most suitable location for each of the light points, the local organisations RRS (Ethiopia Refugees & Returnees Services), SEE (Save the Environment Ethiopia), as well as the local population, especially women and children, have collaborated. Taking into account the pre-existing light points, in the design and development phase of the project, the optimum coordinates for installing the luminaires were defined in such a way as to maintain the correct distance between them and to reinforce safety in the most critical places. As a result, the percentage of public spaces lit in the Kobe refugee camp and its host community increased from 5.6% of the territory to approximately 40%.
The commitment to the collaborative development of the project, as well as the installation of technologies based on renewable sources, contribute to the sustainability of the project. From an environmental perspective, it favours the use of a natural resource such as sunlight. On the social side, it seeks to improve well-being and safety in the fields, as well as the necessary training for the correct autonomous maintenance of the luminaires and the involvement of the community and authorities to guarantee the care and protection of the luminaires.
Part of a wider energy access project in Dollo Ado
In Kobe, Alianza Shire is also developing a microgrid, under the coordination of Iberdrola, to serve almost 9,500 people, with an operation that resembles an energy community, to be launched in the coming months. This microgrid will supply energy to 17 community services (including schools and health centres), allowing – in addition to the lighting of rooms or the use of fans and computer equipment – to power the electric pressure cookers that will be distributed to local schools.
Besides street lighting, Alianza Shire has also developed a home electricity service solution designed by acciona.org Foundation that mainly provides electricity and mobile phone charging to improve the quality of life inside the 2,000 beneficiary households in the neighbouring town of Hileweyn, as well as the refugees’ communications with their places of origin.