Kenya's families bought 2.4 million solar kits — light without waiting for the grid

For a family far from the power lines, a small solar kit can mean light after dark, a charged phone and a television — without waiting for the national grid to arrive. A new report from the World Bank's energy programme ESMAP and the Global Off-Grid Solar Association (GOGLA) shows Kenya sold about 2.4 million off-grid solar products in 2025, up from just over 1.7 million in 2021 — the most in Africa, growing steadily at 8.2% a year. Across East and Southern Africa, sales rose 51% between 2023 and 2025, and about 1.2 million Kenyan households now get their electricity from standalone solar systems. The report is honest about the hard part, too: kits still cost too much upfront for many families, and pay-in-instalments plans can strain irregular incomes — which is why keeping prices down and finance fair matters as much as the panels themselves.

SDG 7 · Affordable and clean energy — Mechanism: market force