Keep It Running
Fault diagnosis, testing and repair of panels, charge controllers, inverters and batteries, so systems work for longer and owners avoid buying new.
About Solar Second Life
Our mission is to make renewable energy accessible to everyone, by giving solar equipment a second life.
Why we started
Most solar that stops working can be fixed. All over the world, systems sit idle on roofs because a diode, a fuse or a battery failed, and there was no one trained to find the fault. Meanwhile, schools, clinics, farms and families go without power because a new system costs too much.
The waste is growing fast. In 2022, 600,000 tonnes of solar panels reached the end of their life worldwide, and that figure is set to quadruple by 2030. When equipment is thrown away, it is usually broken up by hand, stored in homes or dumped, with real risks from lithium battery fires and heavy metals leaking into soil and water.
Most solar training teaches installation. Very little teaches what happens after: how to revive a system that fails, and how to retire one that dies. Solar Second Life covers both.
Our first hub is in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The training, the register and the free guides are built to work anywhere, and more hubs will follow.
How it works
- Donation and revival: people and organisations donate equipment they no longer need, including decommissioned systems. Trained technicians revive what still has life in it.
- Second-life power: revived equipment is given, free, to schools, clinics, farms, community groups and households that request it, and the handover is recorded with the recipient's sign-off.
- Training: hands-on sessions where technicians repair real equipment on the bench and at real sites.
- The Second Life Network: a register that connects people holding old equipment with trained technicians.
- Safe recycling: supervised collection days that hand dead equipment to a licensed recycler, with a receipt.
- Open resources: a free field guide and video lessons, so the skills spread beyond the people in the room.
Two skills
Handle It Safe
A safety routine for equipment at the end of its life: lithium fire risk, safe storage and transport, and handing it to a licensed recycler.
What we're aiming for
Our targets for the first year.
- Technicians trained
- 30
- Places for women
- At least 30%
- Systems revived
- 5 or more
- Safely recycled
- 200 kg or more
- Equipment holders registered
- 40 or more
- Free video lessons
- 10 or more
The team
Peter Banigo
Leads the design, technical training and safety of the project. Peter has repaired solar equipment and built his own 3 kW system, holds an MSc in Petroleum and Environmental Technology from Coventry University and a NEBOSH safety certificate, and produces the Green Tech Pulse podcast.
Jennifer Amarachi Ugwueze
Leads recruitment through women's trade and market associations and community networks, looks after trainees and their support needs, and makes sure the training is a place where everyone can take part.
Funders and partners
Clue WebHost
Website hosting (in kind)