Hybrid Power System Options for Off-Grid Rural Electrification in Northern Kenya

For domestic consumers in the rural areas of northern Kenya, as in other developing countries, the typical source of electrical supply is diesel generators. However, diesel generators are associated with both CO2 emissions, which adversely affect the environment and increase diesel fuel prices, which inflate the prices of consumer goods. The Kenya government has taken steps towards addressing this issue by proposing The Hybrid Mini-Grid Project, which involves the installation of 3 MW of wind and solar energy systems in facilities with existing diesel generators. However, this project has not yet been implemented. As a contribution to this effort, this study proposes, simulates and analyzes five different configurations of hybrid energy systems incorporating wind energy, solar energy and battery storage to replace the stand-alone diesel power systems servicing six remote villages in northern Kenya. If implemented, the systems proposed here would reduce Kenya’s dependency on diesel fuel, leading to reductions in its carbon footprint. This analysis confirms the feasibility of these hybrid systems with many configurations being profitable. A Multi-Attribute Trade-Off Analysis is employed to determine the best hybrid system configuration option that would reduce diesel fuel consumption and jointly minimize CO2 emissions and net present cost. This analysis determined that a wind-diesel-battery configuration consisting of two 500 kW turbines, 1200 kW diesel capacity and 95,040 Ah battery capacity is the best option to replace a 3200 kW stand-alone diesel system providing electricity to a village with a peak demand of 839 kW. It has the potential to reduce diesel fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 98.8%

Effect of feeding supplemented sweetpotato silage on pig performance in smallholder production systems in Uganda.

European UnionInternational Fund for Agricultural Developmen

The feeding component in rural and peri-urban smallholder pig systems in Uganda

In the last 30 years, Uganda has had a massive growth in pig population, from 190,000 in the late 90’s to 3.2 million pigs in 2008, and currently has the highest per capita consumption of pork in East Africa (3.4 kg year). The majority of Uganda’s pig farmers are smallholders (1.2 million households raise pigs), practicing low input/ low output systems. In the three districts of Kamuli, Masaka and Mukono, where the study was carried out, results of focus group discussions conducted in 35 villages showed that regardless of the setting, whether rural or peri-urban, the smallholder pig production systems are typical crop-livestock system, with high dependence on crop residues, i.e. sweet potato vines, cassava leaves, yam leaves, and Amaranth spp. for pig feeding. However, the relative contribution of those crop residues is strongly affected by rainfall seasonality, which in turn influences crop production. The bulk (>95 %) of crop residues used for feeding pigs is produced on farm. Trading of crop residues is minimal hence comprising only <2% hence they can be obtained from farms for free. Women and children are mostly responsible for pig feeding and management, as well as for collecting crop residues for pigs (85.8 and 78.6% of farms in rural and periurban settings, respectively). Kitchen leftovers, including banana peelings, provide 18–20% of the total ration, whereas forages (i.e., Napier grass) represented 20–28 %, and compounded feeds (commercial and home-mixed) 25–27 %, with maize bran as the main ingredient. The main feeding constraints identified by farmers are: dry season fodder shortages (crop residues and forages); risk of parasite infestation through forages, either grazed or cut and carried. In the case of concentrates, constraints include high cost of commercial feeds, price fluctuation of feed ingredients, and poor quality of purchased feeds. There is a need for enhancing knowledge on feeding strategies and fodder conservation among farmers, but also on proper feed formulation for farmers and feed stockists. The implementation of quality control of feeds available in the market is urgently needed