Design of a solar energy centre for providing lighting and income-generating activities for off-grid rural communities in Kenya

One of the biggest challenges in the developing world is the provision of affordable and reliable electricity access to rural and marginalized people where grid extension is prohibitively expensive. Many off-grid schemes to date have focused on household lighting with mixed success. Some of the greatest difficulties have been around affordability and sustainability of the service provided, with systems being abandoned or removed due to broken equipment or inability of the user to continue paying for the service. It has been reported that key to the success of the best programs has been the means to improve the economic prospects of the users. In this paper the design of a solar energy centre for a rural village in Kenya, that enables income-generating activities for the community in addition to basic lighting and mobile phone charging provision, will be reported. We have found that it is possible to use the energy centre model to provide power for activities that could offer a source of income for the community, at an affordable cost with equipment available in Kenya today. It is believed that this will allow the community to develop economically and therefore ensure the sustainability of the off-grid power supply

An assessment of biogas as a domestic energy source in rural Kenya: Developing a sustainable business model

Energy poverty in the majority of the rural households in Kenya is a threat to economic and social development; hence the availability of an affordable and reliable domestic energy source is important. This study investigated: the potential resources for biogas for cooking, suitable anaerobic digesters that could be deployed in rural households, and also the viability of a small community biogas business model. Conservative estimates of the business model parameters and sensitivity analysis revealed that there was adequate biogas potential in central and western Kenya while water scarcity affected other regions’ opportunities. Cattle manure was the predominant feedstock, although crop waste has possibilities to contribute to biogas production. Economically and technically, the inflatable tubular digester was found to be the most suitable type for biogas production in rural Kenya. Discounted cash flow analysis of the business model proved a profitable business to supply an affordable household energy at 0.55€/Kg of biogas, with projected household savings of 249€ annually. Labor cost was found to have high significance on the feasibility of the business model which was also sensitive to changes in biogas revenues. Kenya’s rural areas have significant biogas potential to reduce energy poverty, generate income and aid social development

Developing a low cost solar powered water pump for deployment in developing nations for agricultural purposes

Developing a low cost solar powered water pump for deployment in developing nations for agricultural purpose

Optimizing the use of inedible maize in the design of an ethanol production plant in Heilongjiang, China

This paper adapts the ethanol model developed by Aldonza and Blanchard by applying it to maize feedstock in China. Part of the reasoning for this is according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 20182, the proven oil reserves in China only accounted for 1.5% of the world reserves in 2017. Meanwhile, Chinese energy demand has soared as a result of rapid economic growth. Dependence on imported oil and serious environmental pollution have forced the government to give priority to energy security issues and actively develop its renewable energy industries. China is a populous country with around 40% of the population living in rural areas. It might be significantly important for the goal of sustainable energy to establish self-sufficient bioethanol manufacturing plants in areas with high agricultural output. This study will predict the potential of an inedible maize-based ethanol plant in a rural area of Heilongjiang Province, China, which can save on transportation costs as well as a benefiting from a large source of raw materials, consisting of degraded stored maize kernels and maize cobs. The estimated operating time is 20 years and the annual throughput of maize is 3650 tons. The prospective ethanol yield is 1800 litres/day with a yield of 0.18 litres per kilogram of maize kernels. Meanwhile, solar energy would be fully utilized to exchange heat with the puree to reach the chemical reaction temperature. The double enzyme process and three consecutive processes of fermentation is used in the ethanol production system. It is concluded that the plant model would recover investment funds in 6 years under government’s tax incentives. The sensitivity analysis for estimated cash flows indicated that the annual yield and retail price of ethanol to be the highest risks of this enterprise

Developing an open access monitoring device for off grid renewables

Electricity access is a key driver for developing a modern society. The use of locally generated renewable energy can overcome limitations of expensive grid infrastructure. However, there are still barriers to access particularly for the rural poor in the global south. When individuals or communities invest in electricity provision it is important to know how well the system is performing. Commercial monitoring systems have been developed for large scale renewable energy systems. The cost of these can outweigh the cost of a small decentralised renewable energy system. This paper describes the development of a low cost data logger that is going to be used to monitor the system performance of small photovoltaic nano-grids in Kenya and Bangladesh. The device performs within the expected range for the current, voltage, temperature and irradiance sensors. Data from the data logger device is sent via GPRS to a website where it can be accessed as real time graphical displays and data files

Cost benefit analyses for small scale biogas systems development in Ethiopia [Abstract]

In developing countries, anaerobic digestion offers a suitable solution to replace unsustainable utilization of traditional fuels. The full benefits can be gained when the biogas system is fully functional, which requires adequate efforts on the supply and on the demand sides. The National Biogas Programme in Ethiopia aims at developing a “commercially viable, market-oriented biogas sector in the country”. The factors for success and failures are analysed. Costs-benefits analyses are carried out on the supply and demand sides with sensitivity analysis at household level considering two scenario (“potential” and “to date”). The analysis highlights the high potential in economic terms, but the need to address challenges that are specific to the Ethiopian context. The biodigesters are still expensive for the households and not yet fully suited to the energy needs, and the constructors may not get sufficient benefits to remain actively involved in the sector. Biogas development is highly relevant in the Ethiopian context and these challenges are being addressed by the programme, with adequate solutions being put in place, but a pure commercial market model may not easily work at this stage

Maximizing the penetration levels of hybrid renewable energy systems in rural areas with demand side management approaches in achieving SDGs

Access to quality healthcare services is an integral part of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and reliable electricity access is a pre-requisite for improving human lives, enhancing healthcare delivery, education as well as other developmental growth within local communities. However, many rural locations far away from the grid centres have difficulties in accessing electricity, due to distance and cost of extension of grid to such areas, and this has resulted in the inability to provide basic amenities. Rural healthcare centres located in such places are unable to deliver their intended mandate, thus hindering the realization of SDG 3. Therefore, the innovative idea of this study is increasing the penetration of renewable energy technology while minimizing the cost by integrating the users’ perspective with demand side management (DSM) approaches, techno-economic analysis, and environmental impact assessment of hybrid energy system configuration, taking a health institution as the case study. To meet the considered rural healthcare facility’s initial average load demand of 20.58kWh/day, an optimum PV-Gen-battery hybrid system was selected using HOMER with cost of energy (COE) of $0.224/kWh, net present cost (NPC) of$61,917.6 and initial capital cost of $16,046.5. After the DSM measures were applied to reduce the peak and average demand, an optimum hybrid system was obtained, producing a COE of$0.166/kWh, NPC of $18,614.7 and initial capital cost of$10,070.8. The cost saving realized for the considered rural healthcare facility is $0.057/kWh, representing a 25.8% reduction from the current COE and a 70% reduction in Total NPC. On the other hand, the optimal configurations gave around a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions compare to a diesel-alone configuration. The work provides novel insights which may be applicable worldwide. It has the potential to significantly advance the development of high-quality and timely evidence to underpin current and future developments in the rural energy sector and contribute to the implementation of SDG3 and 7

A hybrid biogas system for Kolkata

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a global problem. Four processes for treatment include landfilling, incineration, recycling and composting the organic fraction. Landfilling can cause the release of the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. In many parts of the world, including the European Union, legislation to limit the amount of generated Organic Fraction Municipal Solid Wastes (OFMSW) going to landfill has been introduced. An alternative to landfilling is to anaerobically digest the OFMSW. This paper investigates the concept of a Hybrid Biomass System (HBS) consisting of solar thermal Flat Plat Collector (FPC) providing heat energy to the thermophilic (55oC) anaerobic digestion process, and the potential energy yield of hotel OFMSW in Kolkata. The methodology comprises development and assessment of a theoretical model representing the anaerobic digestion process for optimum biogas yield and TRNSYS simulation of a 5m2 and 10m2 FPC. Theoretical biogas production rates derived are 0.44m3/kgVS or 0.21m3 biogas/guest/day with a C/N ratio of 35:1. 5m2 and 10m2 FPC simulations maintained the thermophilic temperature of 55oC within -1.9 and +2.1. 10m2 FPC provides largest energy contribution at 11% of the annual energy requirement. In is concluded that FPCs can support thermophilic digester heating requirements with heat store or direct integration. In order to meet optimum biogas yield, legislation and policy is required to evolve the current waste management processes with emphasis on infrastructure development and source segregation

Assessing a rural electrification program in Malaysia: system performance analysis on 11 solar PV-diesel hybrid systems

In 2006, there was a significant numbers of schools in rural Sabah in Malaysia that had no access to 24-hours electricity. Extension of grid electricity networks becomes uneconomical because of the geographical conditions of these areas and the low electrical energy density demand of the population. Malaysia’s rural development policies, therefore, emphasizes on the need to improve the learning and living condition at the rural schools. The abundant solar energy resource in the region is used for providing alternative power supply for these schools. 160 schools in rural Sabah were installed with solar photovoltaic (PV)-diesel hybrid systems. Even though the systems have been in operation for some years, knowledge informing the systems performance is difficult to find. Thus, understanding the system operation is a highly valuable experience and lessons can be learned for implementation of the rural electrification program (REP). This paper describes the finding from a field study at 11 solar PV-diesel hybrid systems. It highlighted some parameters that define the reliability of a solar PV system. The solar PV systems installed at schools in rural Sabah were found to be reliable. They reduced dependency on the diesel fuel consumption and fully utilized clean energy from the sun. It is essential to have reliable solar PV system that can provide sufficient energy for the load demand

Micro-generation in conflict: The conditions necessary to power economic development in rural Afghanistan

Access to reliable electricity eludes many poor rural Afghan communities despite plentiful renewable resources. Micro-generation seems particularly well suited to Afghanistan’s mountainous, decentralised society but even with substantial investment since 2001 it has not lived up to expectations. Recognising the causes are likely to dwell in the human (rather than technical) domain, this study takes a qualitative, soft systems approach to deriving and validating the necessary conditions that might improve the success rate of micro-generation projects in enabling sustainable economic development. It acknowledges the governance limitations inherent in fragile states and the significance of the community as the most stable element of society, putting the latter at the centre of its thinking. Those conditions identified as critical are summarised as: a holistic approach that sees micro-generation as a component of broader economic development; an environment safe enough for project build and operation, and for the markets necessary for wealth creation; and external support to build community capacity to fund and maintain schemes through-life. These conditions are likely to have relevance for other fragile states; the next step is to develop them in the field before deployment as part of a comprehensive approach to poverty alleviation in Afghanistan and similar states