SOLAR FUTURE Plan for Solar Lighting in 10,000 Village Schools in Three African Countries Preben Maegaard 18 September 2015
The continent of Africa covers 20% of the total land area of our planet, With a population of over 1 billion accounting for about 15% of the world s total population. Lack of ENERGY is Lack of DEVELOPMENT And yet, in 13 of 54 African countries, the rate of electrification is 15% or less. Which means that only a minority of the inhabitants and in the rural areas virtually none have access to modern energy. With electricity, the dark hours open themselves up to new opportunities.
When families in the industrialized countries got electricity, our societies took action. One cannot expect that the poorest of the world s poor as individuals can afford to install electricity, even if they wanted to.
1999 Meeting with Alpha Konaré President of Mali
1999, Meeting with the Elder Council of thevillages
As adults, as mothers of these children, not least the girls education becomes possible when solar lighting in the village school opens the door for evening education in the late hours of the day, after the daily needs of subsistence living have been addressed.
What is a solar installation? Electrical supply for a village school consists of a 100 Watt photovoltaic module (the size is approximately 70 x 100cm), installed on the roof, a charge controller, a 100 Ah battery, cables, switches and 4 to 8 lamps in one or two classrooms. It takes about one day to install the whole system. The battery will last between 3 to 5 years. The durability of the solar cell panel is much longer, and can be over 20 years. Modern solar panels use the sun s light efficiently with about 15% turning into electricity. PV panels of 50 to 200 Watt capacity are produced by industrial mass production, particularly in China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Germany.
In the daytime, solar panel generates electricity and charges the battery In the evening, local people, especially women who work in daytime, can study using solar-powered lamp
LIGHT over AFRICA Mali Uganda Burkina Faso
SOLAR FUTURE Folkecenter s Plan for Solar Lighting in 10,000 Village Schools in Three African Countries
Folkecenter presents a plan for solar lighting in 10 000 villages in three African countries: Mali, Uganda and Burkina Faso. Never before in history has it been possible and economically realistic to supply large numbers of villages in un-served areas, with electrical lighting. Reliable solar cells and energy efficient LED lamps now allow many thousands of villages to obtain access to clean, modern energy. The experience, since 1998, achieved by the Nordic Folkecenter program: Light for African Schools has resulted in the successful installation of solar lighting in almost 300 schools in the above-mentioned African countries.
The experience since 1998, achieved by the Nordic Folkecenter initiative, Light for African Schools has resulted in the successful installation of solar lighting in about 300 schools in the three countries of Mali, Uganda and Burkina Faso. It has been documented that each school on average over the year, is being used regularly by 200 inhabitants of each of the villages women, men and school-aged children. With solar lighting in 10 000 additional schools, 2 million village inhabitants (10 000 x 200) will receive the tremendous benefits of having access to education and studies. Something that was earlier not achievable.
The 10 000 village schools program will have a duration of 3 years with approximately 3 300 schools per year in the three countries combined. In principle 5 electrician work teams are needed in each of the three countries. The work teams will be educated by, and have certificates, from the national committee.
Ownership: Experience from many rural solar electrification projects shows that local ownership and responsibility of the operation are necessary. Types of ownership with a primary interest in functionality of the installations will be the women s organizations of the local community, the board of the local school or the municipality. External ownership by government, utility companies or investors must be avoided.
Financing: Financing primarily has to come from foreign aid programs, bilateral, international or combinations of such, including support from foundations and/or charities with the aim to improve conditions of life in rural areas in Africa.
Organization: The Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy will establish a Village Solar Lighting Committee in each of the three countries mentioned, in close cooperation with its existing partners. The individual committees appoint regions in their country where the installations will be made. The regions must be relatively remote areas where grid supply with electricity is unlikely to take place within the coming 10-year period.
The solar lighting equipment: Each school will have the following equipment for lighting of 2 classrooms: 1 x 100 Watt PV panel 1 x charge controller 1 x 100 Ah sealed battery 10 x 10 W LED lighting armatures with special sockets 1 x on/off switch in each classroom The equipment used must be of a high standard from leading international manufacturers. Noname products cannot be approved.
Purchase of equipment: The solar PV installations are standardized and based on locally available components of an approved quality. Due to the significant quantities to be purchased, favourable prices of the equipment will be possible.. The local NGO coordinator will be motivated to obtain best possible purchases as the balance between EUR 1 000 per school installation and the costs acquired will be to the benefit of the NGO coordinator.
Installation: The concrete and practical installation of 10 000 village school PV installations requires the organization and education of local solar electricians. Experience from installation in 60 schools in Burkina Faso shows that one installation team is able to make (at least) 5 installations per week. Including delays, transport and vacations, one team can provide 200 schools per year with PV lighting.
The ENERGY SHOP
The ENERGY SHOP
Our partners: Mali Folkecenter
The first team of solar electricians is educated and has received their diplomas. The role model for the education in Mali is the education of Danish electricians at Askov Folk High School 100 years ago under professor Poul la Cour. This was a precondition for an early supply of electricity for the rural districts of Denmark. This made it attractive to live at in the country and not to move to the cities.
Our partners: JEEP Folkecenter, Uganda
Our partners: In the project Light in Africa, Energinord s customers have three options to donate to a solar-powered lamp called Little Sun in Uganda: (1) buy Light in Africa electricity, DKK 0.02 per sold kilowatt which allows to distribute two solar lamps on average per household a year; (2) pay DKK 100 to send a solar lamp to Uganda; (3) buy a solar lamp, which leads to both distribution of the solar lamp to locals and PV installation in Uganda (Energinord pays DKK 10 for each sale to install PV systems at schools & clinics). The number of solar lamps sent to Uganda: 28 500 More information: www.lysiafrika.dk www.energinord.dk
Our partners: Association Kologh Naba, Burkina Faso
«In our project, local people are responsible for system installation and maintenance.» Association Kologh Naba
The ENERGY SHOP
Donors/supporters/aid programs for solar lighting projects: Merkur Cooperative Bank CISU (Civil in Development) Danida (Danish International Development Agency) Energi Nord A/S Seniors Without Borders BØRNEfonden IsF Rioja Morila Mining Company Small Energy Enterprise Development (SEED) Supporters of Folkecenter Solar cells for Africa, Germany Solar cells for Africa, Spain Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy Preben Maegaard Jane Kruse Nicolaj Stenkjær Mechthild and Daron Miller Irja and Adrian von Bernstorff
Editorial Team Yoshinari Suzuki Preben Maegaard Jane Kruse Nicolaj Stenkjær Roshan A. Billimoria LAYOUT DESIGN Anna Krenz Yoshinari Suzuki LIGHT over AFRICA Published by: Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy, Denmark DKK 85 (EUR 12) + Shipping Hardcover, 64 pages Size: B5 (176 250 mm) ISBN:978-87-7778-002-8 Publication date: Aug. 2015