Do I need to know my consumption in kWh to choose a solar kit?

No. In an air-conditioned Togolese home, air conditioning accounts for most of the consumption. Counting your air conditioners is enough in nine cases out of ten: one air conditioner matches the Studio · 1 bedroom kit, two the Apartment · 2 bedrooms kit, three or four the 3-bedroom villa kit, five or six the 4 bedrooms kit, seven to nine the 6 bedrooms · small business kit. If you have your latest CEET electricity bill to hand, the kWh for the month divided by 30 gives your daily consumption and confirms the match.

I'm torn between two kit sizes, which one should I take?

Take the kit whose upper limit covers your inventory, never the one whose lower limit just barely reaches it. A water pump or booster pump, a chest freezer, or more than two large peak-load appliances mean you should go one size up. If you're not sure you've described your setup accurately, a smaller kit with a battery you can add within the year is less risky than defaulting to a larger kit: the whole range runs on 48 V, so a battery of the same model can be added without changing the inverter.

What happens if I add an air conditioner after installation?

Each kit is sold on a clearly stated daily consumption range. If the new air conditioner pushes the home outside that range, we add a battery of the same model within twelve months of installation, without changing the inverter. Beyond twelve months, the extension takes place after inspection of the battery already in place, following the manufacturer's rules.

Guide · Choosing your kit

Which solar kit for your home in Togo? Count your air conditioners.

Published 4 September 2026 · 5-minute read

In short. You don't need to know your consumption in kilowatt-hours. In a Togolese home, air conditioning dwarfs every other load: the number of air conditioners is enough to choose the size of the kit in nine cases out of ten. One air conditioner: Studio · 1 bedroom kit. Two: Apartment · 2 bedrooms kit. Three or four: 3-bedroom villa kit. Five or six: 4 bedrooms kit. Seven to nine: 6 bedrooms · small business kit. When in doubt, go one size up.

Why we don't ask for your kWh

Nobody in Lomé knows how much their appliances consume, and that's not a gap in their knowledge: the kilowatt-hour is the installer's unit, not the resident's. Questionnaires that open with "what is your daily consumption?" waste everyone's time and end up producing made-up numbers.

What you do know, on the other hand, is what you own — and you can count it without getting up from your chair. And it turns out that a single appliance decides almost everything: the air conditioner. With average temperatures around 38 °C, an air conditioner per bedroom isn't a luxury, it's the norm, and it runs at night, when the panels are no longer producing. It's the air conditioner that sizes the battery, and so the kit.

The correspondence table

Each AFRO-ENERGY kit covers a range of daily consumption, not a single figure. The ranges run into each other with no gaps: whatever your home, a kit matches it.

Your air conditioners	Kit	Covers	Battery	Panels
1 air conditioner	Studio · 1 bedroom	4 to 6.5 kWh/day	5.12 kWh	4 × 550 Wp
2 air conditioners	Apartment · 2 bedrooms	6.5 to 13 kWh/day	10.24 kWh	8 × 550 Wp
3 to 4 air conditioners	3-bedroom villa	13 to 20 kWh/day	15.36 kWh	12 × 550 Wp
5 to 6 air conditioners	4 bedrooms	20 to 26 kWh/day	20.48 kWh	15 × 550 Wp
7 to 9 air conditioners	6 bedrooms · small business	26 to 40 kWh/day	30.72 kWh	24 × 550 Wp

Beyond nine air conditioners or 40 kWh per day (hospitality, workshops, light industry), sizing is done on a custom quote.

These limits aren't a commercial choice: they come from the storage. About 70% of an air-conditioned home's consumption falls at night, and a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery is usable to 90% of its capacity. A kit's upper limit is its battery multiplied by 0.9 and divided by 0.7. The panel array follows, to recharge that upper limit during the day. The details are in the guide running an air conditioner overnight on solar.

Edge cases: when to go one size up

Counting air conditioners is almost always enough. Four situations call for going up a size:

A water pump or booster pump. It starts often, at any hour, and its current draw is abrupt.
A chest freezer. It counts double compared with a refrigerator: it runs day and night, whether the door is opened or not.
More than two large peak-load appliances used in the evening: iron, microwave, kettle, washing machine. It isn't the energy that's the problem, it's the power they all demand at the same time.
A 12,000 BTU or larger air-conditioned living room that runs in the afternoon on top of the bedrooms at night.

Between two kits

Take the one whose upper limit covers your inventory, never the one whose lower limit only just reaches it. A kit that constantly runs at its limit ages faster and has no room for any addition.

If you're not sure you've described your setup accurately

That's common, especially when ordering from abroad for a home you don't see every day. In that case, the right answer isn't to default to the larger kit, but to take the smaller kit with a battery you can add later. The whole range runs on 48 V: a battery of the same model can be added within twelve months without changing the inverter. A sizing mistake is corrected by adding a module, not by buying a new kit.

The six questions we'll ask you

In this order, and none of them require any calculation:

How many air conditioners, and what size? The size is printed on the indoor unit's nameplate: 9,000, 12,000 or 18,000 BTU. If you don't know: bedroom = 9,000, living room = 12,000.
How many refrigerators and freezers? A chest freezer counts double.
Is there a water pump or booster pump? A simple yes or no is enough.
Iron, microwave, kettle, washing machine: which ones, and at what time of day?
In the evening, between 7pm and 11pm, what runs at the same time? This is the question that sizes the inverter.
Optional: the amount or the kWh on your latest CEET electricity bill. The kWh for the month divided by 30 gives your daily consumption, and the match checks itself.

A photo of the electrical panel and one of the meter, sent by email, replace half of these questions and avoid misunderstandings.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to know my consumption in kWh to choose a solar kit?: No. Counting your air conditioners is enough in nine cases out of ten. If you have your latest CEET electricity bill, the kWh for the month divided by 30 confirm the match.
I'm torn between two sizes, which one should I take?: The one whose upper limit covers your inventory. A water pump or booster pump, a chest freezer, or more than two large peak-load appliances mean you should go one size up. If you're not sure you've described your setup accurately, prefer the smaller kit with a battery you can add within the year.
What happens if I add an air conditioner after installation?: If the home moves outside its range, we add a battery of the same model within twelve months, without changing the inverter. Beyond that, the extension takes place after inspection of the battery already in place, following the manufacturer's rules.