The African Photovoltaic Project (APP) has changed the lives of thousands in remote areas of Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The project began as a dream for Sister Lorraine Connell. As General Treasurer of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Sister Lorraine wanted to improve the lives of her sisters and their communities in Africa. Her goal was to provide:
- Electricity
- Clean water
- Reliable communication systems
After careful research, she determined that this dream could be realized through the implementation of solar energy.
Starting in 2003, Sister Lorraine worked persistently on the prototype with engineers, testing the idea in the summer of 2005 in Ipswich. After a successful trial in October 2005, Sister Lorraine began to train the African sisters and their communities in how to use the systems effectively.
These training sessions helped them understand the value of solar energy for their community as a whole. It also established the local congregation’s ability to construct, maintain, and support the program independently.
The installations generate electricity for multiple uses in school, clinic, and cyber cafe settings. They also aid in water purification, which allows for more accessible educational programming and reliable communication.
The installations empower the sisters to administer medical care & run maternity wards. They also give schools key technology to support more than 1,500 children of all ages who gather there to learn.
Partnering with the Lynch Foundation
Sister Lorraine approached The Lynch Foundation in 2006 once the initial trials and trainings were completed.
We were excited to support the innovative project. Not only did we recognize the inherent value that solar energy would provide to participating communities, but we also saw that the education & training would provide them with skills and knowledge that would benefit them beyond providing electricity. We realized that this innovation would provide basic necessities to millions of Africans. In addition, it would create economic and educational mobility by providing a template to be replicated across the entire continent, reaching many more millions of people.
Thus, The Lynch Foundation provided the first grant to the APP to bring electricity and pure water to two initial sites. The first would support Fugar in Nigeria. The second site was Ngidinga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Both of these initial sites saw great success and a large local impact thanks to this initiative. So, in 2013, the Trustees at The Lynch Foundation provided a second grant to open three more comprehensive sites in the Congo and to bring electricity to seven additional sites in Nigeria.
Today, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur has established a total of:
- 7 comprehensive photovoltaic sites in the Congo
- 2 comprehensive sites in Nigeria
- 8 basic solar installations in Nigeria
In 2019, The Lynch Foundation Trustees approved a grant to support the final piece of the project.
This grant allowed for the transfer of the APP from the Sisters of Notre de Namur’s U.S. office to the local sites in Nigeria and the DRC. This will help the local community to maintain the sites for future use and sustainability of the program.
2003 – 2018 African Photovoltaic Project at a Glance Brochure