Developing a smart solar energy platform for families and fleet operators

为家庭和车队运营商开发智能太阳能平台

• 批准号: 10048381
• 金额: $ 26.1万
• 依托单位: OPEN ENERGY LABS LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10048381
• 关键词: Developing; smart; solar; energy; platform

The number of people without access to electricity in Africa dropped from almost 860 million in 2018 to 770 million in 2019 (IEA et al., 2021). However, without more sustained efforts, it is predicted that 650 million people will still live without access to electricity in 2030, despite universal access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity by 2030 being a key Sustainable Development Goal (United Nations, 2015). Grid expansion is necessary, but unconnected individuals remain difficult to reach as they're mainly rural, poor and marginalised. Not only this, but those connected via off-grid solar technology are facing issues with the lifespan of their systems. A study carried out in Kenya found that Nearly one-fifth of solar products stopped working within 18 months despite a 25-year predicted lifespan, with the majority of these products, being kept unfixed in the home (Cross and Murray,2018). Therefore, presenting issues with the maintenance and lifespan of current solar home systems.Solar Home Systems are stand-alone units that include a photovoltaic panel (electricity generator), a battery and charge controller (energy storage and distribution), and electrical appliances (the energy load), providing at a minimum "Tier 1" electricity access for task lighting and phone charging (ESMAP, 2015). Solar panels with 1 -- 10 W output can be used to power lights to replace kerosene lamps in households. However, deployed solar panel systems have high failure rates (Feron, 2016); for example, reported failure rates of 65% in Laos (IRENA, 2014). These high failure rates result from a lack of maintenance or after-sales service, and harsh operating conditions (Van Diessen, 2008).With funding from Innovate UK, Open Energy Labs (UK SME), Fam Studios (UK Innovation agency), will develop a MVP smartphone application/hardware to support remote/rural users to control, monitor, maintain and expand the functionality of a Solar Home System (SHS). Whilst also developing a strategy to support HE/FE students to become fleet entrepreneurs that can maintain/repair any type/brand of SHS. Thereby directly lowering the barrier to the uptake of renewable energy technology in Rwanda and sub-Saharan Africa; namely, lowering the skill level required for people to design, install, operate, manage, and maintain household systems. We will assess the feasibility of this innovation during this project with the aim of developing an alpha prototype to use for further testing.

非洲无法使用电力的人数从2018年的近8.6亿人下降到2019年的7.7亿人(国际能源署等人，2021年)。然而，如果没有更持续的努力，预计到2030年仍将有6.5亿人生活在没有电的情况下，尽管到2030年普遍获得负担得起、可靠和可持续的电力是关键的可持续发展目标(联合国，2015年)。电网扩张是必要的，但没有联网的个人仍然很难接触到，因为他们主要是农村、贫穷和被边缘化的人。不仅如此，那些通过离网太阳能技术连接的公司也面临着系统寿命的问题。在肯尼亚进行的一项研究发现，尽管预计寿命为25年，但近五分之一的太阳能产品在18个月内停止工作，其中大多数产品没有固定在家里(Cross和Murray，2018)。太阳能家用系统是独立的装置，包括一个光伏电池板(发电机)、一个电池和充电控制器(能量储存和分配)以及电器(能量负载)，至少为任务照明和电话充电提供“第一层”电力接入(ESMAP，2015)。输出功率为1-10W的太阳能电池板可以用来为家庭中的灯供电，以取代煤油灯。然而，部署的太阳能电池板系统有很高的故障率(Feron，2016)；例如，老挝报告的故障率为65%(IRENA，2014)。这些高故障率的原因是缺乏维护或售后服务，以及恶劣的操作条件(Van Diessen，2008)。在Innovate UK、Open Energy Labs(UK SME)和Fam Studios(英国创新机构)的资助下，将开发MVP智能手机应用程序/硬件，以支持远程/农村用户控制、监控、维护和扩展太阳能家庭系统(SHS)的功能。同时还制定了一项战略，支持HE/FE学生成为能够维护/维修任何类型/品牌SHS的船队企业家。从而直接降低卢旺达和撒哈拉以南非洲地区采用可再生能源技术的障碍；即降低人们设计、安装、操作、管理和维护家庭系统所需的技能水平。我们将在这个项目中评估这一创新的可行性，目的是开发一个用于进一步测试的阿尔法原型。