About us
Kamworks Ltd was established as a Cambodian solar energy company in 2006. The mission of Kamworks is to provide affordable energy systems order to contribute to sustainable development. Knowing that about 90% of the Cambodian population are living in the rural areas and have no access to an electricity grid, solar electricity could be an economical and clean solution for these people.
Solar power for rural electrification in Cambodia: Climbing the energy ladder
As the majority of the Cambodian population lives in the rural areas it often doesnot use electricity at all or uses a highly inefficient system with car (starter) batteries. Providing these people with efficient modern electric lighting is a small but important step to overcome their impoverished situation. After having access to electric light, other applications follow such as phone charging, radio, TV, etc. By offering a broad range of good quality solar products, Kamworks aims at helping rural Cambodians to climb the energy ladder, saving money on kerosene or battery charging by every step further up. Solar energy (PV) is a technology that can provide a high quality lighting and electricity for household or income generating activities. New LED technology makes solar lighting now also very affordable, reliable and highly energy efficient at low wattages. Lack of awareness, however, is an issue as our market research shows that only about 10% of the rural people in Cambodia knows the concept of solar energy.
Our markets
Kamworks works on its mission by two types of activities. In the first place the company sells and installs solar electricity systems for professional end-users that have a need for electricity in the rural areas (high-end). In the second place, the company imports, develops, produces and sells products based on solar electricity for the consumer market (low end). For its first activities, Kamworks acquired some dealerships in Cambodia. For the second activities, a lot of product development is going on and the first products are now becoming available.
Kamworks vision
International experience shows that the biggest problems with battery operated solar systems are usually related to the quality of the product and the lack of a functioning local service network. In this project, Kamworks has started to address both a) the quality problem (by developing and experimenting with good quality products for rural lighting) and b) the service/maintenance issue by setting up local solar shops where trained micro entrepreneurs can provide basic service.
The solar shop concept that has been developed by Kamworks aims at offering a complete product range from a very cheap rechargeable battery up to a complete 80Wp Solar home system with a small inverter. Our vision is that the customer should be able to ‘climb the energy ladder’ with our products, saving money on kerosene or car battery charging while on the way up.
As Kamworks aims at assembling the core products in Cambodia, also service can be ensured much better and micro entrepreneurs can be more easily trained on small maintenance (e.g. replacing a battery or lamp).
Kamworks staff & students 2009
Awards won by Kamworks
In its short existence, Kamworks has already been nominated for a few awards:
• 2005 BID Challenge (nomination)
• 2006 Development Market Place Award (award)
• 2008 Toon van Tuijl Design Award (award for Kamworks students)
• 2009 "FEEL PLANET EARTH" Cifial Design Award (award for design of the MoonLight)
Newsletter
Click on the links below for the latest newsletters:
If you would like to receive our newsletter (2-3 times a year), please send an email with your name and organization to: subscribe_newsletter@kamworks.com
Links to our partners
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