A solar kitchen replaces the firewood or charcoal bill with sunlight, but the first question every programme manager asks is the price. Rather than publish a number that is wrong for your site, here is what a Frontières Bay quote contains, what moves it, and how programmes pay for it.
Key facts
- Five formats: a hand-carried portable kit for a family, a trailer-mounted mobile kitchen for camps, and Community, School and Large fixed kitchens for 200–1,000 meals a day.
- Quotes are turnkey and fixed-price after a short site survey; no hidden installation or freight extras.
- Prices include equipment, sea freight to the nearest port, installation, training, remote monitoring and three years of maintenance and spares.
- A school burning about two tonnes of firewood a month typically spends 20–30% of its feeding budget on fuel — the saving that pays for the kitchen.
What is in the price
- Solar array (5–35 kWp) and lithium-iron-phosphate battery (10–50 kWh) with a hybrid inverter.
- Electric pressure cookers (20 L) and induction hobs, stainless prep benches, a solar freezer on the School and Large sizes.
- Civil works specification, installation by a local partner under FBE supervision, two days of operator training.
- Remote monitoring, a spares kit, a local-language operating guide and a three-year maintenance agreement.
What moves the number
- Size: a family kit, a mobile unit or a 1,000-meal kitchen are very different quotes.
- Inland transport: a site 600 km from the port costs more than one near it.
- Roof condition: a kitchen roof that can carry the panels is cheaper than a ground frame.
- Grid or generator backup: adding a grid connection through the hybrid inverter is a small cost; a new generator is not needed.
- Volume: five kitchens under one agreement cost less per kitchen than one.
How programmes pay for it
Most school-feeding and humanitarian programmes buy the kitchen from a capital or donor budget and redirect the firewood line to food. Mining and agribusiness companies fund kitchens for host communities from community-investment budgets. Development finance institutions and clean-cooking carbon programmes co-fund in several countries, and Frontières Bay helps structure applications.
Get a fixed-price proposal for your school or programme.
Talk to Frontières BayFrequently asked
Is the three-year maintenance really included?
Yes. Spares on site, remote monitoring and scheduled service visits are part of the turnkey price; a failed component does not end the programme.
Can we start with one kitchen and add more?
Yes. Most programmes pilot one or two kitchens for a term, review the usage data, then scale under a framework agreement.