Benin illuminated in solar energy by Fonroche Lighting

In 2019, Fonroche Lighting won the bid to install more than 15,000 off-grid solar streetlights in Benin. The project will provide high-performance lighting to improve safety in outdoor areas and public gathering places at night.

Benin: local subsidiary heads up operations

To support the project, the French company set up a local office in Cotonou in October 2019. The Fonroche Lighting Benin team is responsible for overseeing the installation of our solar streetlights in nine cities across the country. Their role is also to ensure the project is carried out under optimal conditions and in complete compliance with the measures taken by the Benin authorities in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to safeguard the teams involved.

Maixent Kionghat, General Manager of the subsidiary, liaises between our head office in France and Benin's “living environment and regional development agency” (ACV-DT), which is in charge of the project. Several local companies are working on the project, ensuring that the streetlights are installed according to plan at the different locations around the country.

The project kicked off in November 2019 and is moving forward today to bring sustainable, reliable lighting to the streets. The Benin development agency spoke to people in the first communities to benefit from the new streetlights:

Epiphanie Mitohouanton, a Cotonou resident: “They really light up the streets, so that makes everyone happy. (…) If there's a power outage or any other incident, we don't even notice because the lights stay on!”