Great Lakes Energy

Great Lakes Energy is a social enterprise founded by Sam Dargan in 2005. The company is headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda and primarily serves the East African market. The company provides non-governmental organizations, hospitals, and schools with optimized photovoltaic systems. The company has specialized in retrofitting existing off-grid PV solar system designs with optimized versions. In the past the company has also provided jobs for training local Rwandans on how to engineer and install these systems. The company also has provided training to other social entrepreneurs learning to operate in Africa.
Great Lakes Energy became the distributor for Sun King lamps by Green Light Energy in 2013 allowing it to provide off the shelf sustainable lighting solutions for rural households in Rwanda.
In 2014 Great Lakes Energy partnered with Global Bright Light Foundation to distribute sun king lamps to refugees in the UNHCR Kiziba refugee camp in Rwanda.