Gabon’s bush villages get solar lighting

Gabon villages lit up with Fonroche solar streetlights

A rural population left in the dark

Gabon is one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, thanks to its oil resources, but it’s also one of the most unequal in terms of access to energy. The country’s power grid is largely limited to the major cities like Libreville and isn’t developed or powerful enough to allow public lighting in remote, rural areas. Less than 30% of people in these communities have access to electricity, leaving a large swathe of the population in the dark. The government is keen to combat rural flight, poverty and security issues and has launched a vast programme to extend the grid!

Fonroche solar lighting solution

This programme will take a long time to complete, however, and there’s no guarantee that all bush villages will eventually have lighting. Fonroche solar streetlights are completely off-grid, making them an ideal and rapidly deployable past solution to the country’s problem. Over 400 solar streetlights from our Smartlight range have already been installed in Gabon, most of them in bush villages! Gabon is an equatorial country with an alternating pattern of rainy and dry seasons and an average humidity of 85%. To withstand these climate conditions, the Fonroche Lighting technical teams specially adapted some of the components:

• The LED light unit is impervious to water, humidity and dust
• The Fonroche Power365 circuitry has been tropicalized, with a protective lacquer coating and gold-plated connectors

Economic and environmental benefits

Gabon’s fauna and flora remain well preserved. Fonroche solar streetlights integrate quickly and easily into the environment, with no cabling needed, minimizing their impact on the country’s many national parks. People living in remote areas now have an improved standard of living and can enjoy evening and night-time activities in safety. Solar lighting is also supporting local economic development by attracting small- and medium-size enterprises and industries to these areas.