Michael Satterfield
Land Rover is harnessing the power of the sun to transform lives with a unique art installation at the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts. The Night Time Sun is an ambitious installation using solar lamps, designed to cast its light over festival-goers as the sunsets.
The installation is inspired by the work Jaguar Land Rover is doing to help families in rural Kenya. Its Lighting up Lives project is bringing safe, reliable solar power to 1.2 million people by 2020.
A lack of grid electricity limits opportunities to study and work, poses health risks, and harms the environment. Lighting up Lives, implemented by Jaguar Land Rover’s specialist project partner ClimateCare, makes solar technology available in remote communities – literally bringing power to the people.
Throughout the Hay Festival, Jaguar Land Rover will be hosting interactive sessions in its Story Nook tent, allowing families to connect with children in Kenya and to learn more about the transformational power of solar energy.
Powering a brighter future
The Lighting up Lives project helps children in Kenya, to read and study after dark. Franklin Nzeki, a 14-year-old pupil at Kasooni School in Kalawa, said: “I finish all my homework now. Before I could not do it at home when it was dark. I know my parents are much happier now, and so am I.”
Franklin is one of the many in isolated rural Kenya to benefit from Lighting up Lives. Education improves as children like him can study, read, and play after dark. Women enjoy greater opportunities to work and learn. Homes are healthier and safer and incomes improve thanks to ending reliance on expensive, inefficient, and polluting kerosene lamps.
Significantly, the distribution, installation, and maintenance of the household solar kits bring new opportunities for entrepreneurship. People are empowered to improve their own lives in a sustainable and innovative way.
Jaguar Land Rover’s involvement reflects its values as an organization employing more than 40,000 people globally. Helen McLintock, Jaguar Land Rover Director, said: “This exciting new venture is exactly the type of program that Jaguar Land Rover wants to lead on in the future. Using technology for good and supporting the power of engineering to improve lives and help to build a cleaner future.”
Edward Hanrahan, ClimateCare CEO, said: “Our focus is on creating smart, integrated and cost-effective programs for our corporate partners, using their investments to deliver a maximum positive impact for people and the environment. This project to provide household energy in Kenya is a great example. Not only does it create an immediate, positive change, it will also leave a lasting legacy for families and schools across Kenya”.
