German start-up company Solarbakery is breaking new ground by delivering solar-powered bakeries in the global south.

With a successful pilot project launched in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, German start-up company Solarbakery has plans in motion to create up to 30 artisanal bakeries in Senegal. The twist? Each will be located in a fully solar-powered container.

Solarbakery is the brainchild of Simon Zimmermann who helped set up the first containerised bakery in Kinshasa in 2016, with the help of his friend, Rodrick, who grew up in the Congo and knew the challenges and problems first hand.

Simon said the location was chosen because the demand for bread was extremely high in Kinshasa—and so was the motivation of the potential bakers in the city.

“The first containerised bakery was built in Germany over the course of one year,” Simon said.

“The project in the Congo was financed by local supporters with donations and the budget was slim. The financing was a challenge as well as the technical set up.”

In 2018 the Kinshasa-based container bakery was officially opened and it immediately proved a success, turning over USD$128,000 in its first year alone. However, the frequent power blackouts across the capital led to numerous stops in production and, although the Kinshasa-based bakery did have an in-built emergency generator, the large amounts of diesel fuel needed was proving expensive.

One of the containerised bakeries by Solarbakery

Simon said a solution had to be found. This is where Solarbakery co-founder Torsten Schreiber came in.

Simon approached Africa GreenTec founder Torsten, who had been working on the solar electrification of villages in Africa, and together the duo began to develop a bakery that could be operated independently using renewable energy.

The end result was a 52kW containerised bakery that has been designed so that the goods are baked during the day with direct sunlight. Then, to ensure that fresh bread comes out of the oven in the early morning, the baked goods are then finished at night. As a result, the expensive battery storage can also be reduced to a minimum.

A few changes were also made to optimise the container bakeries, including ruling out the machines that aren’t strictly necessary so as to optimise energy efficiency.

“The current Solarbakery container uses a 45-foot shipping container as the base structure. The container is then modified with foldable rooms as an extension of the container, thus giving the production area twice the size of a regular container,” Simon said.

“Solarbakery relies on durable, high-quality and low-maintenance components—a decisive advantage over standard market equipment. The equipment in the kitchen has been chosen to be as simple and low tech as possible but with a high production output. We use a spiral mixer and a rotary oven as well as some smaller equipment.”

Products from baguettes and sourdough bread to cakes and pizza are all produced in the bakery, and the Solarbakery team optimises the range of baked goods, recipes and processes for the African market with extensive baking tests. Simon said the integrated mill within the bakery can grind local grains such as maize, millet and rice.

“This not only promotes local value chains, but also increases the fibre and nutritional value of the products,” he said.

Baking in the Solarbakery

he company’s second containerised bakery is currently under construction and is set to open in the coming months in Senegal, and plans are underway for up to 30 locations across the country.

“We are aiming at establishing an energy self-sufficient bakery chain in Senegal with up to 30 locations nationwide and bakers trained in our own training centre,” Simon said.

“One of the criterias for Solarbakery to be installed in a new location is the demand from the local community. We don’t want to force our bakery solutions into existing structures but rather go where we’re explicitly invited.