Togo launches its first “Tomorrow Connected Community” in Yoto prefecture
Thursday, 25 April 2019 16:30 
(Togo First) - Togo launched April 23 in Siké-Afidegnon, in the Yoto prefecture, the pilot stage of the “Tomorrow Connected Community” project, a project inspired from Rwanda’s “Tomorrow rural home” project. The new project leverages the technology-energy combo to benefit Togolese communities.
It is steered by BBOXX, just like the CIZO, EDF, mobile operators Togocel and Moov, and power utility CEET. In its framework, a 30KVA mini solar plant will be set up to power one of the relay towers of Togocom in Sikpé-Afidegnan. The facility, in parallel, provides the people of this village, and surrounding localities, electricity, but also internet and derived services. Previously, it should be noted, these communities depended on Benin’s network.
“300 families, or more than 4,000 people, live in this village situated in the Southern part of the country. Soon, it will rely on solar as source of power and have access to various services and products, like clean energies to cook, internet and water pumps,” BBOXX declared.
For its part, authorities said: “The Sikpé-Afidegnon village is only the first and others will benefit from this major project. Overall, more than 315 localities across the country’s five regions will soon be electrified in line with our national electrification strategy, with similar mini solar plants built and operated by private actors.”
Concerning the Tomorrow Connected Community, it is connected to a mini-grid developed by General Electric to meet high power consumption needs, as well as to BBOXX’s domestic solar systems to power households and SMEs. It is fully manageable remotely and all related services (power and internet) will be paid for via mobile money.
Last June, Togo adopted a national electrification strategy which aims at raising its rate of electrification to 50% in 2020, 75% in 2025 and 100% in 2030, from a little more than 40% currently. To reach this goal, Lomé intends to rely on clean power sources and expand the CEET’s network.
