In Lomé, a company has been talking about it since 2015. Positioned as a major player in the solar energy sector, KYA-Energy Group is founded and managed by Professor Yao Azoumah. This energy engineering teacher-researcher specializes in solar energy and energy efficiency. For the CEO of KYA-Energy Group, “those who do not believe in solar are wrong”. As proof, scientific and technological development, embodied and promoted locally, will further reduce the price of solar energy and make it even more accessible to populations.
At KYA-Energy Group, it is believed that Togo is on the right track in reaching the 2030 target. “The country has taken the right option. The different strategies meet the needs at all levels. Solar kits, for example, bring electricity directly to rural households. For community needs, we can count on mini-power plant construction projects and, for industrial needs, on large, more powerful power plants,” notes Professor Azoumah.
In this national energy coverage strategy, KYA-Energy Group is positioned in several segments. For the installation and maintenance of equipment, the group has trained around 3,000 technicians to support, for example, the CIZO project. “Capacity building is essential to achieve the objectives (100% electricity coverage in Togo). You have to know how to install solar kits, solar street lights, solar-based pumping systems and, above all, maintain them,” insists Professor Azoumah.
His company is acting as a consulting engineer in the construction of the Blitta solar power plant. Also, the company develops its own products, especially for productive uses (agrifood processing, solar mills, etc.).
"KYA-Energy Group is supporting the government very well in achieving its goals for 2030," says the CEO of the company.
Research in the service of clean energies
In addition to its positioning as a key player in supporting the national electrification strategy in Togo, KYA-Energy Group is a green energy laboratory. Present in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali, the company aims to be a champion of green energy in Africa. In fact, it"practices what it preaches," maintain its managers. “We recycle what we produce, by contracting with two local companies. At our head office, we operate exclusively from solar, with a production of 40kWp ”, specifies the CEO of the group. Indeed, KYA-Energy Group operates 24/7 autonomously, producing electricity for its team, which is made up of around 40 people. Electricity, air conditioning, computer equipment… Everything works on solar power at the company's headquarters in Lomé.
This experience, KYA-Energy Group shares with other solar users - individuals or companies. In the deployment of its projects, the company emphasizes efficiency, so that users achieve the best investment / efficiency ratio. In this regard, the company's flagship product is KYA-SolDesign. This sizing software, developed by the group’s R&D unit and launched in 2019, offers the best compromise between technical reliability and affordability of stand-alone solar systems. “It is based on the KEG method. It offers a better dimensioning of energy systems based on fluctuating energy and takes into account the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the energy needs expressed with regard to the availability of the resource ", one explains to KYA-Energie Group.
At the consultancy firm in economic and social development in Africa - CEDS-Africa, the electricity bill has thus fallen from 130,000 FCFA with CEET to 17/19,000 FCFA with the adoption of solar energy, notes the head of the cabinet. Komla Kuassi Agbové. Like the state, which responds to needs at all levels, KYA-Energy Group is also part of this dynamic. "The objective is to support the overall green policy", attests CEO Azoumah. And, in addition to production, deployment, monitoring and maintenance, the group's activities stand out through research. "This is the DNA of the group," says the professor.
KYA-Energy Group can pride itself on being one of the leading players in innovation in Togo. In 2018, KYA-SoP won the first prize for innovation from BOAD. This product, intended for the electrification of health centers, schools, SMEs / SMIs and rural / urban households, is composed of solar transformation units. These “solar power units” are compact, autonomous, hybrid, mobile, modular and multiservice solar systems.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, the company brought the KYA-SolWasherKit, an automatic solar-powered, contactless hand wash, to the market. Another product of the group, the KYA-FlexyControl allows energy management by improving the technical reliability and efficient use of the output of any solar system. KYA-Energy Group, which locally assembles solar street lights, also designed KYA-RetrofitKit for the repair and management of non-functional solar street lights. This state-private sector synchronization is leading the country to its 2030 target, with the promise of supplying all of its population with electricity, while reducing the environmental impact through green renewable energies.
From No 70 July - August - September of CIO MAG, pages 45-46