All you need is clear sky, a nice flat space with no shade and a flexible mindset to organize your work production and then... you’re good to go!
We are supporting you all the way for the success of your project. The Lytefire units, Pro (made in Kenya) or Artisan (made in France for French market only), come with with 5m² of mirrors. Depending on your location and your bread recipe, it can produce up to 110 kg of bread per day.
Joan Arwa is successfully running her solar bakery in Kisumu, Kenya (here). Not far from there, in Sego, she recently trained a great group supported by World Vision for the Noswet program. The group members have known each other for years and are very appreciated in the community.
As per their report: “The group has over 30 members and they chose 5 to be working in the bakery at all times. They open early morning and close late evening for 6 days of the week, each day they bake 25kgs of bread, scones and cakes.
“This community based group serves various clients ranging from bakery walk-in customers, to nearby retail shops, and schools who give orders in bulk.
“Being a long rainy season they have currently been substituting sunlight energy with charcoal backup as they continue serving clients. When there is sun, of course they make solar baking. They say they use both sources of energy to power the bakery. The group has been working on buying more baking tins to produce more.”
World Vision’s local staff highlights that the group makes profit everyday with the solar barking activity and invests in their development. The data collection will allow to quantify everything much better.
A nice inauguration day has been organized to support the new Sego solar bakery!
The local association Elevate Africa Mozambique installed their Lytefire Oven in 2024. The plan is to start a solar powered bakery to support their youth center by reducing energy costs, creating additional income and sustainable jobs!
The project was made possible with the support from the Swiss association Wungana Mozambique who visited the training center a few weeks after the installation. They shared the pictures with us and we could see that despite the complex and tense political context in this country, people are happily baking solar "pao" bread!
Joan Arwa Ogwang is using 2 Lytefire Pro. She started to test her activity in 2021 and since then she grew the Solar Fire Bakery in Kisumu. With several bakers and salesperson, she is able to offer solar baked bread, cookies and buns to regular customers. In 2024, she opened a second shop in the same area. Joan is also working with us as trainer and project manager to help create sustainable bakeries in East Africa. She is, to our knwoledge, the first woman solar entrepreneur in Kenya and we have been happy to support her installation in 2022.
After a training organized by Plan International and our team, Prudence Yoo Acel Ladegi, Benedict Bithola and friends were so passionate about baking with the Lytefire that they kept going with learning and marketing their recipes. At Smart Up Solar Bakery, they bake 4 times a week. People like the products and sometimes come from miles away to buy their bread or order occasion’s cakes to Smart Up Solar Bakery Nebbi.
Professional baker, seasoned builder and sustainability enthusiast, Sébastien decided to take the plunge and open his own bakery in the small village of Brusquet, near Digne, France. Supported by a solid network, a crowdfunding campaign led by Hélène, his partner, and an EU-grant, the project was launched successfully very quickly. Au Soleil Levain is located in a magnificent landscap and the bakery building was built using sustainable construction methods. Business started is August 2024 with a focus on biscuits with his solar oven.
We are back in action in Uganda with Plan International Finland and Plan Uganda! We already delivered two of our solar bakery and entrepreneurship trainings at Plan’s SmartUp Factory Hubs in 2018. Now we’re back to do another nine installations and trainings, and two refreshers! We have a bigger (…)
The 105 women of Lougsi village, situated 30km away from Ouagadougou, have been supported by the local association SOS Energie, our team and Jansen Primesteps Foundation to get a solar oven. After 2 years, 15 of them that have been trained to solar baking and are using their Lytefire in order to produce bread 5 days a week and sell it all around. They no longer buy wood and coal and the solar oven allows them to save 750 to 1000 CFA per day (entre 1 et 2 Euros), which is significant in this tough rural context.
Tujijenge is a women community group that is producing both dehydrated fish and baked goods. They also engage in roasting peanuts and baked sweet potatoes. Before a project with them, every month they spent about $400 in charcoal expenses, and we were happy to see that the Lytefire has been making a big financial difference. Monica Matcha is the lead person and listening to her team’s experience is enlightening.
After a project with Plan International Uganda and Plan International Finland in 2021-2022, the Tororo District Youth Advocay Network (TDYAN-YOVANU) continued to use their Lytefire Oven and have a few clients. They are a Community Based Organization.
Based in Normandy, with NeoLoco, Arnaud Crétot is the first solar bakery in Europe with 30% of bread production baked with solar. With roasting, the performances are much higher. Since 2019, Arnaud has been using Lytefire Deluxe Oven + Roaster and then Lytefire Deluxe Big Oven + Roaster to bake nutritious sourdough bread, and to roast seeds and nuts to create fake coffee, muësli and energy bars. To start his activity, he has done a crowdfunding campaign. 4 people are working at NeoLoco, the bread is sold in 8 shops and the solar roasted goods in 80. Arnaud is an engineer at first and he has developped several tools supporting the energy transition.
This group is based in Kampala, Uganda. They use the best ingredients and a Lytefire solar oven to bake cookies, party cakes, donuts, cupcake and more!
Their full name is "Change Lead Agency for Social Support". And this very dynamic group of young bakers has been part of the solar baking and bakery setting up training given with Plan International and Smart Up Factory in Uganda in 2021-2022. Since then, thanks to their hard work and their Lytefire Oven the solar bakers sell delicious doughnuts, cookies and cakes to clients in different markets on Mondays and Thursdays. The sales range goes from 12000ugsh to 60000ugsh. They are based in Alebtong.
It was an exciting moment when David pulled out the first batch of freshly baked muffins from his Lytefire Oven in 2016, for a project with World Vision in Kenya. After that, David used the oven daily for years before moving on to new adventures. When we met, David was baking with an electric oven but the grid was so bad that he couldn’t develop the business properly. When the power was out he couldn’t bake, and with charcoal his product would be low-quality and his profit margins would be slim. With the launch of his solar bakery, David has been able to reduce his fuel costs and increase his output! The shiny Lytefire also attracted many visitors to the rural bakery, and so he decided to open up a small cafe to sell snacks and beverages to the interested crowd. With a clean energy source adapted to his needs, David had the opportunity to be a creative and productive baker as long as he wanted to. His enthusiasm has been such a great inspiration for the team!
Daphnée is setting up Au Pain Solaire, a solar bakery business at the Galaxi farm in Loroux Bottereau (Loire-Atlantique, France). The small solar bakery will complement the production of flour and goat cheese at the farm and in different farmer’s markets all around.
Florence and Michel own L’Epi Nature, their bakery in Epuisay (West France). They will start to use it from time to time and to promote low-tech and resilience in the region. Then progressively, they’ll work more and more from home, using their Lytefire and a wood oven to make yummy sourdough bread and brioches.
After 30 years working as a professional baker in Lyon, he created Barasol in 2023 ("Bar" means "bread" in the Breton language). He bakes with wood when the weather is bad and with solar every day of good weather (around 3-4 months / year), for a small batch. He sells breads and biscuits in his village and in two large markets, in Paimpol and Binic. He doesn’t bring his Lytefire Deluxe on trailer to the market yet, but it’s an option for the future. He also makes pizzas once a week. Denis works with ancient wheat flours and is passionate about developing new doughs that are more tolerant to temperature changes.
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As a rural baker in the Drôme region since 2021, Vincent Reynaud bakes organic sourdough bread using a long fermentation at room temperature for Brin de Levain. A light manual kneading guarantees more digestible gluten, and above all great preservation, for a minimum of 7 days. Rich in aroma, less salty, with low glycemic index, there is everything here to keep you healthy while enjoying yourself! Vincent got his Lytefire Deluxe Oven + Roaster in 2023 and he bakes 3-4 batches of 12 loaves per week, 2 days / week. His bread being delicious, he has now too many orders! The oven being no longer big enough, he will use his Lytefire as a back-up oven for baking and also mostly for making cookies and roasting.
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Graduated as baker in 2022, Violaine decided to create the Au Gré du Soleil bakery in her region. Initially tempted by the Lytefire Deluxe on a trailer, she wanted to move it only a few times per year to bring it from her home to a family plot. She finally turned to self-construction supported by Artisan Grégoire and the LowTech Lab in Grenoble. She carried out her crowdfunding campaign and, she realized that if necessary, her Lytefire without a trailer could be easily dismantled and stored in a small van. Consistency and respect for nature are strong values for Violaine. She is starting her bakery in 2024 and she will operate on direct orders and a few markets with her sourdough breads that are made the most local possible.
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