In his younger years, Edwin Wanji was just a boy who tinkered with the solar panel on his mother’s calculator. He was born a curious soul like most children are. The power outages of the city that would stretch on for hours gave him a distaste for conventional power sources. As he grew older, the electrical bills would be forever etched in his mind. Soon, he would provide solutions to city boys fighting boredom and parents in need of a lower energy bill.
He would, later on, move to the United States, but curiosity and innovation would follow the tinkerer, who became a worker with the city of Seattle. Though he had studied communications at Indiana University Bloomington, he gathered knowledge as he worked on the mechanical bridges of Washington State’s largest city. He gained an understanding of how houses are wired while working for a general contractor. As he installed solar panels on different houses, his passion for green energy began to shine through. With his experience, he took a leap and founded his company: Sphere Solar Energy.
Sphere Solar Energy is dedicated to the health of the environment and green energy. They “aim to accelerate the adoption of the abundant and free Solar Energy that nature provides us to create clean energy independence in our communities.” Making solar energy more accessible globally, especially to those who struggle with the high cost of conventional energy options is an important goal to the company. It aims to accomplish this goal by doing everything from assessing the sites where solar is desired, designing the systems that would enable a home to access solar power to installing the actual solar panels. The company has completed projects across Washington State and East Africa, coming highly recommended.
But even with all its success, Sphere Solar Energy remains true to its founder’s roots with its phenomenal outreach work. Through this work, they were able to complete an irrigation project in Kenya in 2018. They are also currently working on bringing the advantages of solar power to places like Haiti and Honduras.
Born in Nairobi and raised in the city, Edwin now finds himself surrounded by other city kids with a knack for tinkering. He teaches them about solar energy. As he engages their curiosity, he realizes the seeds he’s sowing will grow into more sustainable practices and increased care for the environment.
Edwin Wanji, founder and owner of Sphere Solar Energy, receives our praise at Paukwa for the great things he’s doing abroad!
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