A solar panel that only lights a house is useful. A solar panel that pumps water onto a tomato field in February, dries mangoes for sale in June, or keeps a trader’s tilapia frozen overnight is something different. It pays for itself. That is what people mean by productive use of renewable energy, or PURE: clean energy put to work in a way that earns money or saves it.
Most of what Symnet sells to farmers already works this way. We just had not called it by that name.
Where the money is made
Water, without the fuel bill
A petrol or diesel pump costs money every hour it runs. With fuel at around Ksh 227 a litre in Nairobi this month, many smallholders simply stop irrigating once the rains go. A solar pump turns that around: the running cost is close to zero, so farmers keep watering through the dry months, when vegetables fetch their best prices. Paired with drip irrigation and a lined water pan, every litre the sun lifts goes further.
Drying that adds value
Mango, pineapple, chillies, moringa and vegetables all lose value fast when they rot in the glut season. Dried properly in a solar dryer, away from dust, rain and flies, the same produce keeps for months and sells as a new product.
Cold that buys time
The farmer who has to sell today takes whatever the broker offers. A solar freezer for a fish trader or dairy farmer, or a solar cold room for a farmer group, means produce can wait a few days for a better buyer, even where there is no grid power.
What this looks like on the ground
We have installed solar irrigation for farmers in Machakos County and solar pumping with drip irrigation in the Naivasha basin. In both cases the point was the same: stop paying for fuel, and keep crops growing when the rain stops.
We size every system to the job. A smallholder irrigating half an acre from a shallow well needs a very different kit from a farmer group pumping from a borehole into a water pan, and we would rather sell the right small system than an impressive oversized one.
Running a programme?
If your organisation supplies solar equipment to farmers, see how we work with partners.
Talk to us
Farmers, groups and programme teams can reach us on +254 703 999 523 (call or WhatsApp) or info@symnet.co.ke. The first consultation is free.