Solar energy to light up Egypt's poorest villages

No longer just the remit of entrepreneurs, social issues affecting a nation have also been taken up by corporations, and PepsiCo Egypt has recently launched an initiative that tackles the long complained about problem of electricity supply.

Beginning at the end of 2014 the aptly titled A Liter of Light saw disadvantage communities throughout Egypt receive electricity from solar power. Beginning with the governate of Sohag the initiative aims to bridge the gap between electricity production capacity and the demand.

An initiative born in the Philippines in 2011 the name ‘liter of light’ comes from the practice of taking a plastic or glass soda bottle, filling it with chlorine, exposing it to direct sunlight (which turns it bright white), then fitting it with an internal battery that is charged with solar energy.

As the electricity problem in Egypt worsened, with daily power shortages becoming the norm, PepsiCo Egypt decided to bring the initiative west. “The situation is even worse in poor villages and governorates,” said Shereen Shaheen, North East Africa External Communications, PR, and CSR Manager at PepsiCo Egypt.

Original article by Eman Mostafa

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Solar energy to light up Egypt’s poorest villages