WHAT DO WE DO?
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The Need
Access to electric power is one of the main catalysts for the development of any community. Infrastructural necessities in the communications, healthcare, water and wastewater, agriculture, technology, and commercial sectors become virtually impossible to provide without energy. The challenge of rural electrification is intensified by the lack of successful financially, environmentally, and socially sustainable community-owned systems - systems which are simple enough to be replicated and implemented by local technicians with available local resources, yet still capable of generating sufficient power for basic electricity needs.
Addressing the problem
Over the past four years, our team at Purdue University, in collaboration with the African Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (ACREST) has established a locally sourced, locally fabricated micro-hydropower facility in the remote village of Bangang, Cameroon. With funding provided by EPA P3 Grant SU834723, our team successfully upgraded a locally built micro-hydropower facility using innovative design and fabrication methods, thereby increasing the plant’s power output by 300% while simultaneously reducing construction and operation costs.
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Ongoing issues
The micro-hydropower plant alone cannot satisfy the community’s annual demand for electricity. While during the rainy season the hydro-turbine produces 60 kW, the dry season power output drops below 5 kW. This energy drop severely hinders the ability of villagers to carry out basic day-to-day activities such as studying, reading, and writing after sunset without the use of expensive and environmentally destructive diesel generators – a virtual impossibility for this populace living on less than two dollars per day.
Next Steps
The team now looks to (a) design a hybrid renewable energy system, combining hydropower with other types of renewable energy (e.g., solar, wind, thermal, biomass) capable of reliably providing at least 30 kW to the community of Bangang throughout the year, (b) locally fabricate, implement, and evaluate the designed system, and (c) create an open-source knowledge center, in the form of both an online and a physical database, for the support of rural communities interested in replicating similar systems.
To fulfill the project’s objectives, the team of students will survey the available renewable energy sources in the project area. Alternative designs will be compared through a multi-criteria evaluation analysis, taking into account spatial (e.g., climate, local materials, and expertise) and financial constraints. By Spring 2015, the team will travel to the site to implement the project with the guidance and assistance of technicians at ACREST. The support of the Ford College Community Challenge will enable the team to cover the expenses of prototyping the designed hybrid system, including purchasing raw material and traveling to the site.
The proposed hybrid system will constitute a sustainable and efficient solution for the continuous and reliable electrification of the community of Bangang. Additionally, the technology will be easily transferable and scalable for other rural communities to locally reproduce throughout the developing world, thus supporting the independent development of off-grid remote areas.
To fulfill the project’s objectives, the team of students will survey the available renewable energy sources in the project area. Alternative designs will be compared through a multi-criteria evaluation analysis, taking into account spatial (e.g., climate, local materials, and expertise) and financial constraints. By Spring 2015, the team will travel to the site to implement the project with the guidance and assistance of technicians at ACREST. The support of the Ford College Community Challenge will enable the team to cover the expenses of prototyping the designed hybrid system, including purchasing raw material and traveling to the site.
The proposed hybrid system will constitute a sustainable and efficient solution for the continuous and reliable electrification of the community of Bangang. Additionally, the technology will be easily transferable and scalable for other rural communities to locally reproduce throughout the developing world, thus supporting the independent development of off-grid remote areas.