Frequently asked questions

It depends on the system type and size. As a guide, a panel-only savings system runs roughly 450 to 680 US dollars per kWp installed, and larger systems cost less per kWp. Adding battery backup raises the price, because storage is a large part of the system.

Every system is sized to your load and your site, so the reliable way to get a real figure is a short call with us.

For a panel-only savings system, usually 3 to 5 years. For a system with battery backup, usually 5 to 8 years. Payback depends on how much grid and diesel power you replace and how many daytime hours you run.

On a system that lasts 25 years or more, most commercial installations return in the range of 20 to 30 percent a year over the life of the asset. Panel-only systems give the strongest return because they carry no battery to replace.

For daytime users, yes. A well-sized system replaces a large share of your daytime grid consumption at a cost fixed on day one, while grid tariffs tend to rise over time.

A hybrid solar and battery system usually cuts diesel use by 60 to 80 percent across the year, and by 90 percent or more during daylight hours. A full off-grid system can remove diesel from daily operation.

We quote a fixed price for the full scope: supply, shipping, customs, installation and commissioning, under one contract. The ongoing costs are cleaning and maintenance, which you can cover with an O and M plan.

Solar PV modules are exempt from VAT in Uganda, and 2025 tax amendments extended exemptions to deep-cycle batteries. Tax rules change from year to year, so we confirm the current position for your specific scope when we quote.

We measure before we recommend. We log your actual load on site, usually over one to four weeks, and design around real consumption rather than an estimate.

Solar output changes through the day and with the weather. To cover your load and charge the battery, the panel array is sized above your peak demand. As a rough guide, a 25 kW peak load often needs around 65 kWp of panels.

Yes. Systems are modular. We can size the inverter and cabling for your target load now and add panels or batteries in stages as your demand grows.

• –Solar savings: panels only, grid-tied. Cuts your daytime bill. No cover during an outage.
• –Solar backup: panels plus battery. Runs through outages and carries you for a set number of hours at night.
• –Full off-grid: panels plus a larger battery. Runs your site around the clock without the grid.

It depends on battery size relative to your consumption. A battery sized around one day of use gives a few hours of evening cover. Round-the-clock autonomy needs a battery around two and a half to three times daily consumption.

Yes. We use three-phase hybrid inverters at 400/230 V, 50 Hz. Motors, compressors, autoclaves and variable-speed drives run normally when the system is sized for their starting behaviour.

Yes, with correct sizing. Motor starting draws far more than running power, so we size the battery inverter in kVA with margin. Very large direct-start motors may use a soft starter or a drive.

• –Panels: Jinko Solar, Tier 1.
• –Inverters: Deye for commercial and industrial systems. Sungrow, Huawei, GoodWe and Solis on larger panel-only projects.
• –Batteries: Deye, BYD and Dyness.
• –Mounting: aluminium rail with clamp or ballast fixings.

• –Panels: 12-year product warranty, 30-year performance warranty.
• –Hybrid inverters: 5 to 10 years.
• –Batteries: 10-year product and performance warranty.
• –Our installation workmanship: 2 years from commissioning.

Yes. We use Tier 1 components as rated by BloombergNEF. Tier 1 is a measure of a manufacturer bankability and track record.

Deye is widely deployed across East Africa, with strong local service and spare-part availability. That support network matters as much as the hardware. We have installed more than 200 Deye inverters with reliable field performance.

• –Panels: IEC 61215 and IEC 61730.
• –Inverters: IEC 62109 and IEEE 1547.
• –Batteries: IEC 62619.
• –Installation: IEC 62446 and the ERA wiring regulations for Uganda.

Our inverters include built-in surge protection for indirect strikes. For exposed or high-risk sites we add external DC surge arrestors. Building-level lightning rods and earthing remain part of the building own protection, and we advise on both.

From first site survey to a signed contract is usually 4 to 8 weeks. From contract to commissioning is about 3 to 4 months for an imported system. Most projects run 4 to 6 months end to end.

Payment is staged across the project: on order, on delivery of materials to site, and on commissioning. We share the exact schedule with your quote.

Yes. Shipping, customs clearance, UNBS certification and transport to site are all part of our scope. You deal with one contract for the whole project.

• –A sound, unshaded roof or ground space.
• –Access to your power connection point.
• –A contact person on site.
• –Any permits needed for installation and grid connection, which we help arrange.

No full shutdown is needed. We schedule a short outage of a few hours to make the final connection, at a time that suits your operation.

Yes. We arrange reference visits to our office and to client sites near Kampala, so you can see installed systems and talk to the people who run them.

• –Direct purchase: you buy the system and own it from day one.
• –Lease-to-own: a finance partner funds the system and you pay a fixed monthly fee, with ownership transferring to you at the end.
• –Bank finance: a bank funds the purchase and you repay the loan.

Equator Solar does not provide financing itself. Lease and finance structures are arranged through our finance partners, and that agreement is between you and the partner.

No. We design, supply, install and service the system. Financing comes from our finance partners. If you choose a lease or a loan, the funding contract is with the partner, not with Equator Solar. We are glad to introduce you to partners we work with.

A finance partner owns and funds the system, and you pay a fixed monthly fee, usually at a discount to your current power cost. Maintenance and insurance are typically included, and ownership transfers to you at the end of the term. The lease agreement is with the finance partner.

Under a lease you pay a fixed monthly fee. Under a power purchase agreement you pay per unit of electricity the system produces. In Uganda, most commercial and industrial systems are structured as a direct purchase or a lease. We recommend a legal review before signing any per-unit contract.

Most lease structures allow a buy-out, usually from a few years into the term, at a value that reduces over time. The exact terms sit in your agreement with the finance partner.

No. Direct-purchase payments are staged across the project rather than paid in one sum. We share the schedule with your quote.

Yes. Every system is monitored around the clock through the manufacturer platform, so we see performance and alerts in real time.

• –Remote performance checks, ongoing.
• –Panel cleaning, scheduled to your site dust level.
• –On-site inspection twice a year.
• –A full annual service with a thermographic scan.

As a guide, ongoing operation and maintenance runs about 1 to 2 percent of the system cost a year for full service. We scope a plan to your system and site.

A basic plan covers monitoring, alerts, phone support and one annual inspection. A premium plan adds scheduled preventive maintenance, corrective labour, travel and half-year performance reports. Clients with several sites can take a portfolio contract.

Critical faults get a same-day to next-day response, with emergency dispatch anywhere in Uganda within 48 hours. Kampala and West Nile are usually same day. Routine items are handled at the next scheduled visit.

We target 98 percent or better. For larger systems we recommend a performance-based guarantee alongside uptime, so the guarantee covers the energy the system actually produces, which is what your operation runs on.

If a component fails within warranty, we diagnose it remotely or on site, fit a replacement from local stock, usually within 5 to 10 days, and return the faulty unit to the manufacturer. A valid claim costs you nothing.

Yes. At handover we train your team on operation, monitoring, safety and routine checks, with refresher sessions on request.

Most industrial and commercial roofs can. Panels and mounting add about 15 to 20 kg per square metre, close to one person standing on each square metre. At the site survey we check the roof structure, sheet thickness and condition, and confirm it before any work begins.

We check this at the survey, before the contract. If the roof needs support, we can replace sheets, add reinforcement at the fixing points, use ballasted mounting that needs no drilling, or move the array to a ground mount.

A correctly installed roof mount does not cause leaks. Every fixing is sealed with gaskets and sealant rated for the life of the system. We also record the roof condition before we start, so the baseline is clear.

As a rough guide for modern panels:

• –50 kWp: about 300 square metres.
• –100 kWp: about 600 square metres.
• –500 kWp: about 3,000 square metres.

The roof should be unshaded and sound. Where roof space is tight or unsuitable, a ground mount is an option.

Yes. A ground mount suits sites with land available, weak or damaged roofs, and larger installations. It adds some cost for the steel structure and civil works. One example is our 400 kWp ground-mount system in Wakiso.

It depends on dust. Urban and industrial sites near Kampala or Jinja suit cleaning every two to three months. Sites near cement works, sugar mills or unpaved roads may need it monthly. Rural sites away from dust need it less often, and rainy-season rain does much of the work.

Yes, when they are properly engineered and installed. We build in arc-fault protection, rapid shutdown, proper isolation and earthing, and we install to international safety standards and the wiring regulations for Uganda.

A single switch drops the roof DC voltage to a safe level within seconds. It is a safety feature for firefighters and maintenance teams, and every commercial system we install includes it.

A backup system switches to battery within milliseconds, so your operation keeps running with no visible interruption. A panel-only savings system shuts down during an outage for safety and restarts when the grid returns.

Yes. Every hybrid system integrates with your generator. The system draws power in order of priority: solar first, then battery, then grid, and the generator only as a last resort.

Yes, much less. Most sites see generator run-hours drop by 60 to 80 percent, which also extends the generator life. A full off-grid system can retire the generator from daily use.

Uganda does not offer net metering for commercial and industrial users, so systems are set to zero export. The design uses your solar on site rather than sending it back to the grid.

No. With zero export set correctly, the system never pushes power back to the grid, which is the condition utilities care about.

The batteries we use carry a 10-year product and performance warranty and typically last 12 to 15 years in service. Over a 25-year system life, plan for one battery replacement.

Deep discharge, high temperature and hard cycling all age a battery. We set a safe charge floor, monitor temperature continuously and configure charging to protect the cells.

Yes, with a full-autonomy system sized for round-the-clock operation. It suits remote sites, weak-grid locations, health centres, lodges and farms. We size the battery to carry you through cloudy spells, with a generator as optional backup.

A well-sized off-grid system carries two to three low-sun days. Uganda gets steady sun year-round, and even in the rainy season output drops rather than stops. For longer spells we plan for a backup generator or extra battery.

For a system that powers your own site, the requirements are light. Smaller captive and off-grid systems are registered with the Electricity Regulatory Authority rather than fully licensed. We handle the registration and permits as part of our scope, and we confirm the current requirements for your project, since these can change.

Yes. A captive system for your own use, with no sale of electricity to others, is allowed. We take care of the notifications involved.

Yes. For grid-tied systems we prepare the applications for the utility and the regulator, set the system for zero export, and manage the approval process for you.

Yes. For a direct purchase, most clients add the system to their existing building or business insurance at a small premium. Under a lease, the finance partner usually arranges insurance. We can point you to brokers experienced with solar if your insurer needs it.

We quote in US dollars by default, because equipment and international warranties are priced in dollars. We accept payment in dollars, shillings or euros, and we can structure long-term contracts to suit your revenue currency.

Yes. Monitoring runs over an encrypted connection with no direct exposure to the open internet. Default passwords are changed and unused access is closed. For sensitive sites we can run monitoring in a closed mode.

Your component warranties for panels, inverters and batteries sit with the manufacturers and stay with the system, and those brands are honoured internationally. We build with standard, widely supported equipment, and we hand over all documentation, monitoring access and design files on request, so any qualified company can service the system. We have operated in East Africa since 2011.

More than 50 commercial and industrial projects across East Africa, totalling 4,074 kWp of solar and 3,923 kWh of battery storage. We have operated since 2011.

Yes. We work across Uganda, from Fort Portal and Mbale to Arua, Soroti and Jinja, and in Kenya and Tanzania. We are also delivering solar to 250 UNICEF health centres in West Nile.

From around 20 kWp for a small commercial site up to systems in the megawatt range. Our completed work reaches the 1 MWp range, with larger utility-scale projects in the pipeline.

Manufacturing, health, education, agriculture and agro-processing, hospitality, communication and humanitarian programmes. Hospitals are a particular strength, with a long track record of protecting critical loads.

Yes. We size the battery around critical loads such as theatres, ICUs and cold chain, with changeover fast enough that the equipment never sees the interruption.

Yes. They include Jesa Farm Dairy, Lubaga and Naggalama Hospitals, Corsu Rehabilitation Hospital, Spouts of Water, Kyamuhunga Tea, Radio Pacis, Total Bunamwaya, Acaki Lodge, GIZ, and 250 UNICEF health centres.

It varies with size and use. A 100 kWp system in Uganda saves in the order of 14 tonnes of CO2 a year, on top of the diesel it displaces.

Silicon panels are largely recyclable. Where local recycling is not yet available, we store equipment for return to the manufacturer or specialist recyclers, and batteries go back to their makers.

Yes. The first call is 20 minutes with no obligation. We clarify your needs and propose the next steps.