Development of a Smart Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Hybrid Renewable Mini-grids

Hybrid renewable mini-grids have emerged as a viable solution for providing reliable, environmentally friendly electricity to remote communities. An affordable and grid-quality supply of energy can open new possibilities for socioeconomic progress. As part of a joint project between South Africa’s Eastern Cape province and Germany’s state of Lower Saxony a Photovoltaic (PV) hybrid mini-grid is developed in the municipality of Upper Blinkwater in Eastern Cape for a rural community of 70 households with 90 percent living off of social grants and no access to the main national grid. The aim of this work is to develop a smart Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (MEF) for hybrid renewable mini-grids by integrating cutting-edge technologies in a scalable platform of replicable solutions towards connecting the mini-grid with diverse stakeholders with enhanced observability of both generation and consumption profiles. The MEF provides the opportunity to streamline the flow of real-time energy data (generation, consumption, and storage) from the system to generate accurate and high-resolution data-driven load profiles for rural households. Simultaneously, the interrelation between energy access and social development will be studied and analyzed

Ice platelets below Weddell Sea landfast sea ice

Basal melt of ice shelves may lead to an accumulation of disc-shaped ice platelets underneath nearby sea ice, to form a sub-ice platelet layer. Here we present the seasonal cycle of sea ice attached to the Ekström Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the underlying platelet layer in 2012. Ice platelets emerged from the cavity and interacted with the fast-ice cover of Atka Bay as early as June. Episodic accumulations throughout winter and spring led to an average platelet-layer thickness of 4m by December 2012, with local maxima of up to 10 m. The additional buoyancy partly prevented surface flooding and snow-ice formation, despite a thick snow cover. Subsequent thinning of the platelet layer from December onwards was associated with an inflow of warm surface water. The combination of model studies with observed fast-ice thickness revealed an average ice-volume fraction in the platelet layer of 0.25+-0.1. We found that nearly half of the combined solid sea-ice and ice-platelet volume in this area is generated by heat transfer to the ocean rather than to the atmosphere. The total ice-platelet volume underlying Atka Bay fast ice was equivalent to more than one-fifth of the annual basal melt volume under the Ekström Ice Shelf

Field work on Atka Bay land-fast sea ice in 2012/13

Since 2010, we perform a regular monitoring of sea-ice properties on the land-fast ice of Atka Bay, Antarctica, as part of the international Antarctic Fast Ice Network (AFIN). Our activities mainly comprise regular drillings and EM-based sea-ice thickness transects every few weeks, as well as the deployment of several autonomous measuring stations. These regular AFIN measurements were complemented in 2012/13 by a two month field campaign (19 November 2012 to 9 January 2013) of four scientists and technicians in the framework of the project “Sea-Ice Mass Balance influenced by Ice Shelves” (SIMBIS). During the SIMBIS field campaign, we intensified our monitoring by using a variety of methods to investigate the physical properties of the sea ice, its snow cover and the processes affecting their mass- and energy balances at Atka Bay. This report summarizes our activities of AFIN and SIMBIS in 2012/13

Electrification of Urban Three-Wheeler Taxis in Tanzania: Combining the User’s Perspective and Technical Feasibility Challenges

This study assesses the feasibility of electric three-wheelers as moto-taxis in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from a socioeconomic and technical point of view. The analysis is based on three pillars: (i) the acceptance of users (the moto-taxi drivers) for adoption, (ii) the vehicle specifications incl. battery type and size, and (iii) the role of the charging infrastructure. Findings are based on data from empirical field-work; methods used are qualitative and quantitative data analysis and modelling. Main findings include that moto-taxi drivers, who we see as most important adopters, are open towards electric mobility. They request however that vehicles should have similar driving characteristics than their current fuel-vehicles. As the market is very price sensitive, keeping the vehicle cost is of high importance. A high potential to lower these costs is seen by offering opportunity charging spots around the city. If such an infrastructure is being implemented the combination with suitable, cost competitive vehicles makes the transformation of the vehicle market towards electrification possible

Field measurements on Atka Bay landfast sea ice in 2012

Basal melt of ice shelves may lead to an accumulation of disc-shaped ice platelets underneath nearby sea ice, to form a sub-ice platelet layer. Here we present the seasonal cycle of sea ice attached to the Ekström Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the underlying platelet layer in 2012. Ice platelets emerged from the cavity and interacted with the fast-ice cover of Atka Bay as early as June. Episodic accumulations throughout winter and spring led to an average platelet-layer thickness of 4 m by December 2012, with local maxima of up to 10 m. The additional buoyancy partly prevented surface flooding and snow-ice formation, despite a thick snow cover. Subsequent thinning of the platelet layer from December onwards was associated with an inflow of warm surface water. The combination of model studies with observed fast-ice thickness revealed an average ice-volume fraction in the platelet layer of 0.25 +/- 0.1. We found that nearly half of the combined solid sea-ice and ice-platelet volume in this area is generated by heat transfer to the ocean rather than to the atmosphere. The total ice-platelet volume underlying Atka Bay fast ice was equivalent to more than one-fifth of the annual basal melt volume under the Ekström Ice Shelf