[ Power supply ]
Energy for rural Africa
Access to energy is indispensable in the battle against poverty. And yet, poor countries often lack the necessary infrastructure, particularly in sparsely populated areas. In four African pilot projects, InWEnt and the Cologne-based private-sector firm Energiebau are testing a concept to provide electricity from renewable sources; in addition, income will be generated locally.
Early this year, Michael Funcke-Bartz received good news from the US. Normally, he works for InWEnt in Africa, Latin America and Asia. But soon he will be travelling to Boston to accept a prize from Harvard University. The jury that grants the Roy Family Awards (see box) will honour a public-private partnership that InWEnt and Energiebau Solarstromsysteme of Cologne started to provide electricity from renewable energy sources to villages in poor countries. At the heart of the concept is a solar-hybrid system for “micro-grids” (also called “minigrids”). This particular system consists of solar panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity and generators that run on plant oil.
The approach is less expensive than expanding a central power grid, which many poor countries cannot afford to do. For instance, Tanzania has 2.5 times as much space as Germany, but only half the people. Many of those with access to electric power in rural areas depend on diesel generators. The fuel has to be imported and is expensive. While diesel costs as much in Africa as it does in Germany, Germans have much higher incomes on the average. In addition, the price of diesel keeps rising. As a result, people only consume power if absolutely necessary, such as for the refrigeration of medicine. Private homes in rural areas normally do not have electric power at all.
Funcke-Bartz knows the problem only too well, for this was the situation in the villages where InWEnt and Energiebau chose to launch their joint projects. In four locations in Tanzania, Ghana and Mali, they tested new ways of generating power over the past three years. The goal was to make energy affordable. “Diesel is much too expensive in the long run. And anyway, countries that import it lose that money for good,” explains Energiebau’s Bernd Wolff. In the Tanzanian towns of Mbinga and Kiuma, two education centres and a hospital with around 60 beds benefit from the new technology, among others. The new system also drives a water pump.
In Busunu, Ghana, besides a mission and a health centre, 50 families are now connected to a new micro-grid. They have access to electricity five hours a day at a flat rate of around 1.60 euros per month. Wolff is proud of these success stories. Until recently, these people only got light from old oil lamps in the evening, if at all. But such dim light did not allow children to do school homework or adults to do handicrafts. In Mbinga, the local carpenter also benefits from the new power supply, Funcke-Bartz says, because his craftsmen now use machines to do work that they used to do by hand.
The experts believe that their concept would prove useful elsewhere as well. After all, more than 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and some 1.5 billion worldwide have no access to electricity. “Our concept can be applied wherever people lack access to energy,” Funcke-Bartz explains. At the same time, local issues have to be taken into consideration, including cultural ones. In Mali, for example, residents of the village own the power generator. They financed it with a loan from a local bank and some support from a World Bank programme. In Ghana, a special organisation (RENERG) was founded to service solar-power systems. Energiebau trains local workers, who cooperate closely with staff in Cologne. Similar training will begin this year in Tanzania.
The solar-hybrid system developed by InWEnt and Energiebau consists of photovoltaics and diesel generators that have been retrofitted to run on jatropha oil. Solar energy covers the baseload. If more energy is needed, such as to operate machines or when the sun is not shining, the jatropha generator steps in. Solar power not consumed is stored in batteries. Combining the two technologies lowers the costs; a system run entirely on solar power would require additional expensive equipement.
The right plant
The vegetable oil used in the generators is produced locally. This biofuel should not be confused with biodiesel, which requires huge infrastructures for production and distribution. While it is true that oil can be made from a wide variety of plants, not all of these oils can be used to substitute for diesel. Like rapeseed (canola), jatropha is an especially good substitute. It can be grown locally, thereby reducing logistics problems. Moreover, oil production from these crops generates income and creates local jobs.
Jatropha is an especially good plant to grow in poor rural areas of Africa. To begin with, the plant grows on semi-arid soils; in addition, it is not a plant that people eat. In other words, oil production does not directly compete with food production, as is currently the case in Mexico. In that Central-American country, corn is increasingly being used to produce ethanol. In that case, greater ethanol demand in the US is driving up the price of corn for food in Mexico. Jatropha originally comes from Latin America and was used in Africa only for hedges until recently.
Jatropha plantations also have a pleasant side effect: they help prevent erosion. In addition, jatropha is a climate-neutral source of energy; the oil only releases the same amount of carbon dioxide as the plant absorbed during growth.
After harvesting the jatropha nuts, villagers can use simple equipment to press and filter the oil, which can then be used directly as a fuel in modified diesel generators without any further processing. One hectare (roughly 1.5 times the size of a football pitch) can produce one to two tons of nuts per annum. 200 to 400 litres of oil can be pressed out of these nuts. One litre of this oil is equivalent to one third of a kilowatt-hour. In the midterm, this alternative electrification strategy might not only provide light to dark rural areas, but also create local jobs and generate additional income. Claudia Isabel Rittel
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