Electrifying Africa Our World

next month. Now on BBC News, in this week's edition of Our World,

Tom Heap investigates the green energy revolution sweeping east

Africa. There is a new power struggle in Africa. The demand for

Allott trustee exceeds supply. I am in Kenya to find out how darkness

limits life and how the solutions are unleashing light across a

swathe of Africa. Can superheated water from under the Rift Valley

deliver power to the people? That is so much more than a deafening

roar. It is an elemental power that makes the ground tremble. And,

could a revolutionary solar lamp banish the gloom from billions of

homes. We need something to put power online as possible. Some of

them have Sola lamps and it is changing the way they can work.

Will energy from the rocks below electrify Africa for the 21st

Central Kenya, like countless other towns and villages across the

developing world, this place has ambitions which outstrip its energy

supply. Sylvester Muthama is the village hairdresser. The manual

clippers give them cramp. It is slow, unpopular and painful for his

customers. But without electricity, it is all there is. What can you do

for me? Not too much. There is another business in my mind. A

vision. Whereby I get electricity. And I do welding. You are a

business when with IDs but you cannot get on. Without electricity,

I cannot do anything. I have the ability but not the power. That is

very neat but I'm not sure about the choirboy you work. He works

alongside fellow entrepreneurs. His aunt is a seamstress. She would

love to expand to business but without electricity, she is left

with only the power of hand and foot. There are people like him all

across this region, pupils whose aspirations could be creating

wealth and jobs but the lack of an affordable, reliable source of

electricity holds them back. Being powerless effects industry's old

and new. This online magazine cannot exist without electricity.

But the sauce is strictly a DIY job. I have been using it for quite some

years. It powers everything, my laptop and my fines. Peter Njenga

is another frustrated businessman. He uses a solar panel on the roof

of his office to power his business as the Grid is so unreliable. A

recent surge destroyed his computer. The unstable supply is killing his

kit and tricking his ambition. is very important, because there is

an explosion in the use of global technologies. Soon people like me

and other young entrepreneurs that are doing business is online

compared to a student who does not have a poor Corey Payne. Alec

trustee powers everything, from the Internet to the fines were used.

Kenya's economy is crying. But with three-quarters of the population

off the grid, you realise that development happens despite the

electricity supply not because of it. Reliable energy could

accelerate growth. This is not a story without solutions. There are

answers to the power problem. Some of them much closer than you think.

The Great Rift Valley, a 4,000 mile long split in the surface of the

Earth that stretches through East Africa. This crater was once the

scene of regular volcanic eruptions, at least the size of Krakatoa.

Shooting rocks like this high into the area. The whole place was a

blizzard of ash and caustic gases. Now the very same power is on the

brink of being harnessed to electrify Africa. The land around

the belly feels primaeval. The proximity of the underworld in

earning this area or the name Hell's Gate National Park. The

local Maasai believe spirits 12 euros well. The earth his young

here is the Rift Valley widens, cracks open up and the heat escapes

to the surface. You can smell the sulphur and the rocks are toasty.

To harness that he'd for Alec trustee, we must find palls of

superheated water and the highly pressurised reservoirs below the

surface. Daniel Odongo the head Engineer for KenGen is heading the

search at the Olkaria Geothermal Plant 75 miles outside of the

Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Trilling each will takes two months and

demands all this hard where. Across Kenya, the ambitions for geothermal

are massive. We need something that can put us online as fast as

possible. Geothermal is doing that for us. People coming from all over

Kenya and the world are coming to see what we're doing with

geothermal. It is not on a huge scale, what you're doing here?

is the single biggest investment for Kenya. It will cost $1.3

billion. It is generate it the lot of excitement all over. The drill

is boring down about two miles into the earth and there are eight of

these rigs operating throughout Kenya, overall they want to drill a

hundred wells. The subterranean pressure cooker brings water to the

surface at temperatures above 200 degrees centigrade. Well worth

keeping your distance when they let off steam. That is so much more

than just a deafening roar. It is an elemental power that makes the

ground tremble and shakes your chest. It is a force of nature. But

taming the force is messy. It requires roads, pipelines and big

earth-moving equipment, scarring the Hell's Gate National Park, home

of the plant. The world famous wildlife must co-exist with the

infrastructure of the Gallic trustee. That was a leopard. I

wonder what she thought of it. is the first privately funded

geothermal project in Africa. The developers have committed

themselves to restoring the landscape. They have created this

nursery to answer their critics who say they are not serious about

minimising the environmental impact. We are by law required to be

vegetate the land afterwards. Even where we are, what we are looking

at now was like a chasm. We have rehabilitated it and are taking it

back to what it is. We have minimum impact on the environment. And by a

mental concerns may grow is the power station at the side expanse

to feed on the wells being drilled. Within five years, this geothermal

field is scheduled to produce more electricity than is currently

consumed by walk Kenya. What am I looking at here? We're standing in

front of a typical geothermal well. The cod -- for the C E O of the

company, it is crucial for Kenya's long-term economic growth. We are

looking for geothermal being the driver for expansion that we need

to have enough power in the country to drive the economy and achieve

our vision. In ten years' time, what will the energy generation

look like of Kenya? The picture will look very green. 70% of our

power supply will come from green sources. A figure most Western

countries would envy. We do have a natural resources. We have wind,

solar and Gio full well. Like Europe, we have more natural

resources. By any comparison, that is a world-beating figure. Despite

the abundance of green resources and the country's experience in

producing geothermal, there is still a huge financial mountain to

climb. We need over 10 billion US dollars between now and 2020. We

believe that this is a viable project, these are projects we can

get Paton's to develop with ourselves. Generating electricity

is just one part of the energy problem in the developing world.

Delivering power to the people is just as much of a challenge. Seven

out of ten Africans do not have access to mains electricity. Right

across this region of East Africa, much of life is lived in the dark.

This village in the Kenyan Highlands, like all countries near

the equator, the nights are long. 12 hours of daylight followed by 12

hours of darkness. I have come here to meet Naima, a farmer and mother

of two. While she cooked the dinner, the boys to the homework. Delight

comes from paraffin lamps. -- the And that is $5 a month for a family

with by up -- barely any money. Living by a naked flame could

easily be romanticised but on top of the punishing costs, it is also

heavily polluting. An evening of lighting by paraffin creates

equivalent toxins to the smoke from 40 cigarettes. Thank you! At a good

dinner. We have had to add some light to make these interview

remotely visible. This is how she really works.

Be lighting up the lives of people across the developing world in a

safe and affordable way it is a big challenge. One of the solutions is

an emblem of Africa. In fact, it is The Kenyan Highlands, like much of

rural Africa, are witnessing a quiet revolution in solar power.

Focus less on big expensive solar panels and power stations and more

on simple solutions suited to the reality of life in the developing

This is the Solar Roller, a vehicle taking the message of usable,

affordable solar energy go out to the people. Victor Koyier is from

the company a sunny money and they're saying that this small,

robust and increasingly cheap solar devices across Africa. Another -- a

lot of people using kerosene lamps of which are expensive and harmful.

Having this light which is very cheap and is plug-and-play, you

don't need to get somebody to come Five years ago, lights like this

were being sold for �20. We are now selling it at close to �7. In 2012,

we did 20,000 lives, a record. I was in one month, four weeks.

Before that? A few years ago, we would do that -- within one year,

we would sell 7,000 lives. Portable solar power is that a tipping point.

In at two years, the cost of Ella the lights and panels and batteries

have tumbled -- LED lights. The price tag took the dream of

harnessing up sunshine from wishful thinking into reality. Today, the

Sunni many crew is pitching to village elders and teachers. If

they can sell the concept to them, they will open up a wider market of

pupils and other punctual customers -- potential customers. In about

four hours to six hours depending on the 10th Duke of the San...

audience listens attentively but it is the demo that impresses. -- the

Eliminating, cheap, and tough, it is a winning combination.

After all the talk, what really impress people were seeing how

strong it was. Testing it on the rope real ground. A lot of a

product they have do not withstand the realities of African life. With

the light impressing, sales are brisk. Most are teachers, shopping

for themselves and for the parents of their pupils. Great time is over

and the kids have to go back to the class. Of the 600 students here,

nearly half of them have solar light in their home. It is changing

the way that they can work. Stanley Rugut is one of the customers. He

is the head teacher at Kemba Primary School.

Around half of your teachers have solar lights in their homes. Why is

it so successful? They are increasing in marks. They can do

preparation at night. You can put it down to the solar lights? Your

results have improved? Yes they have improved. It is down to people

having evening light? Yes. The children are now coming up with

good marks. It can change lives. One people benefiting from solar

lighting is someone at not too keen on the limelight. Recent exams, in

Nokia came first in his school and 55th in the hall of Kenya. He is a

modest character who puts up with rather than encourages of the

celebrations of his classmates. -- Enoch. At home, he demonstrates for

me the land which has changed his life.

You just got short exam results? I read in a paper that you were the

55th best student in the hall of Kenya? Yes.How does that feel? I

am very proud. A winter sport only here? President Obama? Wayne Reddit

I'll have to market down for that one.

He is a typical teenager in many ways but the new light in his life

means that he can satisfy his life that might his appetite for study

as well. Before there was daylight, I used to read up until... And now

with the light, up to 10pm three more hours of light? You have

gotten very good results. What do you want to do in your future? What

is your hope? To be a doctor.A Dr! Yes. His success is not all down to

the solar light but without it there is no doubt that his

considerable talents would have But our problem in this region is

holding back people in all sorts of ways. Economic growth here is

between four and 5% a year, a figure that many countries can only

dream of. Without a reliable supply of more affordable power that

reaches more people, its potential that is only partly being realised.

-- it is potential. This is the main street in Nakuru, Kenya's

fourth-largest city. When the sun sets and darkness falls, streets

become shadowy canyons. Few businesses here can afford power

and many that do have electricity complain of power cuts as the Hydro

Electric source is vulnerable to Electricity does not just enhance

education and economic growth. For many, across the developing world,

a lack of power is just plain Even by day, the Kibera in the

Kenyan capital Nairobi is not the safest part of town. But by night,

This man is well known in the community here but a few years ago

when he was returning home in the night of the Kibera, he was

attacked by a game -- began -- a gang. I met a group of young men.

It was dark. I could not tell their Where they aren't? -- were they

He cut to? That is the scar? He believes that tapas was just as

crucial a weapon as the machete that tore his face. The resulting

scars are more than physical. You have a staff of life because of

Really? It is not just the fear at the time

and the loss but the permanent effect on your life?

The scene of the assault now has a single, very high street light. As

there is just one light, the diners can easily target it, cutting the

wires and with it, the only light in the neighbourhood. Danger in the

If geothermal is to bring light to places like this, it will need huge

amounts of money. Up to $15 billion across Kenya are alone. The big

question hanging over Africa's energy ambitions is whether that

Some of the people looking for it are here at the African Development

Bank in Nairobi. Gabriel regard to Making sure the government puts in

appropriate regulations to allow the private sector to come in is

important. If the full potential is realised, how could it change

things? Energy is a game changed up because there is a realisation

across the Continent that this is an enabler but the Continent needs.

What is today wasteland could be a Them universities and full economic

activities and all that will be powered by Georg formal energy.

They will say that what was once a dark Continent will have forced be

known as the brightest concerned. That will be something for us to

celebrate. -- brightest Continent. Whether it is a bubble looking to

grow his business or the school boy wanting a light to study by, the

entrepreneur trying to expand, or people wanting freedom from fear of

a dark, I have seen how the appetite for more electricity in

East Africa is insatiable. Solskjaer is helping feed that

demand with a technological revolution, leapfrogging the

traditional grits apply for an increasing number of people -- soul

of energy. The really big economic steps are even more power-hungry.

Europe and America needed coal to power their industrial revolutions.

Africa has the opportunity to bypass the fossil fuel route,