Some 75 percent of solar energy kits sold for off-grid use since the early 2000s have stopped working. Entrepreneurs are working to revitalize these much-needed systems.
Some nights in Kaputula Village in Zambia, Reuben Musunga repairs solar lights by the light of his own solar light. Batteries are the most likely component to fail in off-grid solar products, according to SolarAid, a non-governmental organization that trains repair techs, including Musunga, through its social enterprise SunnyMoney. Musunga can now replace batteries and repair switches, faulty wiring, and other problems with solar products that stop working.
Each light he repairs chips away at a global stockpile of hundreds of millions of solar products sold since the early 2000s that no longer work.
