Akon the Senegalese-American hip-hop star who started a solar power initiative called Akon Lighting Africa in 2014, that aimed to bring electricity to 600 million rural Africans has embarked on another similar but smaller project. He is working on powering a soccer field using solar power and the kinetic energy generated by the players on the field. He partnered with the Shell Oil Company and British green technology company Pavegen, and opened the first of the innovative fields for Africa in Lagos, in December 2015.
Akon said that the idea of people-generated power seemed to be a natural pairing with sport activity. He added that it was a great opportunity to educate people about the possibilities of alternative and renewable energy. The unveiling of the first of the power-pitches was at a teachers’ training college in Lagos, where Akon and Pavegen presented a full demonstration of the system at the 2016 Powering Africa Summit in Washington, DC. Governments from South Africa, Mozambique and Nigeria among others  attended the summit.

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