KIANG OMBEJM HYBRID ENERGY KIOSK

Transcription

1 KIANG OMBJM HYBRID NRGY KIOSK A technology developed to support the UNIDO-Kenya Initiative of Rural nergy for Productive Use In off-grid rural areas of Africa OFFIC OF H UNIDO RPRSNAIV FOR KNYA AND RIRA United Nations Office at Nairobi, Gigiri, P. O. Box 41609, GPO, Nairobi, Kenya elephone: ( ) , ; Fax: ( ) mail: office.kenya@unido.org

2 HYBRID NRGY KIOSK IN KIANG OMB he Kiang ombe nergy Kiosk is located in Kerugoya area which lies 150 km north east of Nairobi. his is an agriculturally productive area that is located on the slopes of Mt. Kenya. he main economic activity in the area is small scale farming of tea, coffee, banana, vegetables and other fruits. UNIDO Involvement he Kibae community always had the dream of using the local resource of stream water and a 12 m waterfall to produce energy. In the year 2004, they initiated activities to make this a reality, and built a powerhouse and a temporary weir with a water intake structure. hey however did not have a hydro turbine. It is then that they approached the government s Ministry of nergy. arly last year, UNIDO was requested by the Ministry of nergy to assist this community by providing a hydro turbine. At around the same time UNIDO developed the nergy Kiosk model and decided instead of just providing the community with a hydro turbine, to develop a full fledged nergy Kiosk. Within a few months, with the help of the Kibae community, UNIDO could develop a model nergy Kiosk. he nergy he nergy Kiosk is powered by a 2.5 kw hybrid Solar PV cum Pico-hydro unit. his means that power is generated from 2 different renewable energy sources namely solar power and hydro power. he solar unit produces 500 W, while the hydro unit consists of two 1 kw hydro turbines that produce 2000 W. he Hydro unit is as illustrated below:

3 Intake Pipe nergy Kiosk Water from powerhouse back to the stream Water from the local stream called Mukengeria, which originates from the slopes of Mt. Kenya is partly diverted through pipes and directed to drive the two hydro turbines. he electricity is evacuated to the energy kiosk by two feeder cables. Once at the kiosk, the electricity is stabilized by a simple electrical charge and controller system as illustrated below.

4 Unstable Input V from Hydro-urbines Battery Chargers B A R I S S INVRR Stable Output 220V o Applications As seen, power from each independent feeder lines is fed to a battery charging unit where it charges deep cycle batteries. he batteries then supply the power to an inverter system that gives a stable 240V 50 Hz power that is similar to the normal Kenyan grid power. herefore, the hydro systems which run 24 hrs a day are constantly charging the batteries, which in turn supply constant power to the nergy Kiosk. On the other hand, the solar panels are connected to a similar charge and control unit where batteries are charged and power drawn when needed though an inverter system as illustrated below.

5 Solar Panels Unstable 12V DC B A Charge Controller INVRR Stable Output R 220V I o Applications S At Kibae, the nergy Kiosk is mainly a Service nergy Kiosk. his is because the 2.5 kw power is not adequate enough for high energy/power activities. Nonetheless, the services provided have a large and positive impact to this community. nergy Use Among the services provided include: LD Lamp recharging facility his is one of the main services provided by the Kiosk. Low energy consuming LD lamps are being introduced to the community. hese lamps are replacing kerosene lamps which are the main source of lighting for most rural communities in Kenya and the Kibae community. hese lamps have a big advantage over the kerosene lamps in that: hey offer clean non polluting light; thus they reduce indoor household pollution and contribute towards mitigation of global warming by reducing CO 2 production.

6 hese lamps are also cheaper to operate than kerosene lamps. A typical household with 3 kerosene lamps consumes at least 15 litres of kerosene per month, which at the current price of kerosene at Ksh 65/litre, translates to Ksh 975/month for lighting alone! Compare this to Ksh 20 for one recharge of one LD lamp battery and considering 1 recharge per week, this translates to 20x5 weeks which is Ksh 100 per month/lamp or Ksh 300/month for the household as the lighting expense. herefore, a family will save Ksh 675 per month on lighting and have brighter, cleaner, better quality and ready to light lamps. he lamps have also been taken to the nearby Kiangwenyi primary school. hese lamps are circulated among the students, whereby each student gets a chance to carry the rechargeable lamps home for a week. he aim is to have students demonstrate to their homes the new technology and hopefully have their parents buy the lamps later. At the same time, during this time, the students get to enjoy the benefits of good quality lighting. Other services offered include: Car battery recharging Mobile phone recharging Computer services and computer training. Internet services. here is also a community center which has a Satellite V and DVD video players. At this center, the community is able to access worldwide news through international news networks such as BBC, CNN, SKY etc, apart from entertainment and sports coverage. he center also makes money by charging a fee for videos/movies. he center will remain as a recreation and meeting place for the community. Income to nergy Kiosk he nergy Kiosk is projected to serve 300 households. ach household gets 3 LD lamps which they will charge as and when required at the nergy Kiosk. hese households are expected to have around 200 mobile phones and 30 car batteries.

7 stimated income per week from the energy kiosk is as follows: Number of Items No. of Charges per week Income per charge (Ksh) otal Income per week (Ksh) LD Lamps ,000 Mobile Phones ,000 Car Batteries ,500 Other Services 5,000 otal Income 28,500 As indicated above, the energy kiosk makes a good income and is sustainable. he Future he community plans to increase the services provided at the energy Kiosk. hese include: Hair Plaiting and clipping facility Photocopying and printing services. Mobile phone services like airtime sale and M-Pesa mobile money transfer. Fresh juice squeezing he nergy Kiosk is projected to serve 300 households and if the services above are introduced, this can increase to over 750 households in about 3 months. For more information: