Innovative Mobile Minigrid-scale Service and Storage for Rapid Scaling of Rural Energy Access in Kenya

创新的移动微电网规模服务和存储，可快速扩大肯尼亚农村能源接入

• 批准号: 75522
• 金额: $ 13.25万
• 依托单位: SMART VILLAGES RESEARCH GROUP LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=75522
• 关键词: Innovative; Mobile; Minigrid; scale; Service

In order for rural communities in the developing world to access productive uses like welding or flour milling, they require access to minigrid-scale power (typically \>10kwp). Yet minigrids are notoriously commercially unsustainable, due to the capital expenditure required, and difficulties in efficiently matching loads and supply throughout the day and week. One particular problem we have noticed in our work in rural development throughout East Africa is that very high power loads, like milling machines, are sometimes only used 1 or 2 days a week in mid-size communities, contributing precisely to that uneven load profile.To facilitate energy access and access to these productive uses in more small and mid-size communities in Africa, we are proposing to develop and test a mobile "minigrid" scale energy access solution.By installing 10kw of rapidly deployable solar power in a trailer, we would create a solution which could be driven to a different village each day, offering not only the high-power occasional services like flour milling or welding, but also a range of other productive uses like battery charging, printing and photocopying that might not usually be available in those communities.For mobility, the weight of the trailer will be critical, with the storage technology making the greatest contribution. Therefore we will be working with UK Li-Ion battery partner Aceleron for them to further develop their innovative 2nd-life batteries from small-scale units to much larger minigrid-scale storage, at the 15-20kWh level. These batteries are contructed by Aceleron in Kenya from local e-waste, for unrivalled environmental sustainability in a battery.The integrated battery/mobility solution will provide productive-level energy access to communities that would otherwise not be able to justify the cost/power of their own minigrid, while at the same time providing a reliably high load-factor for the equipment, allowing efficient utilisation and payback potential from the mobile minigrid operator.While community productive services providers are likely to be the most significant market for the innovation, we will also investigate other more niche uses for the same technology anywhere that requires rapid access to temporary power, for example to deploy it to disaster areas or refugee camps, or as a backup for equipment failure in permanent minigrids.

为了使发展中国家的农村社区获得生产用途，如焊接或面粉加工，他们需要获得小型电网规模的电力（通常为10kwp）。然而，由于所需的资本支出，以及在全天和每周有效匹配负载和供应方面的困难，迷你电网在商业上是出了名的不可持续的。我们在东非农村发展工作中注意到的一个特别问题是，非常高的电力负荷，比如铣床，有时在中等规模的社区每周只使用1到2天，这恰恰导致了负荷分布的不均匀。为了促进非洲更多中小型社区的能源获取和这些生产性用途的利用，我们提议开发和测试一种移动“微型电网”规模的能源获取解决方案。通过在拖车上安装10千瓦的可快速部署的太阳能，我们将创造一个解决方案，每天可以开车到不同的村庄，不仅提供高功率的偶尔服务，如面粉研磨或焊接，还提供一系列其他生产性用途，如电池充电，打印和复印，这些在这些社区通常是不可用的。对于移动性来说，拖车的重量将是至关重要的，而存储技术将做出最大的贡献。因此，我们将与英国锂离子电池合作伙伴acceleron合作，帮助他们进一步开发创新的二次寿命电池，从小型单元到更大的小型电网规模存储，达到15-20kWh的水平。这些电池是由肯尼亚的加速器公司用当地的电子垃圾制造的，具有无与伦比的环境可持续性。集成的电池/移动解决方案将为社区提供生产力水平的能源接入，否则这些社区将无法证明自己的小型电网的成本/功率是合理的，同时为设备提供可靠的高负载系数，允许移动小型电网运营商有效利用和回报潜力。虽然社区生产性服务提供商可能是这项创新最重要的市场，但我们也将研究同样技术在任何需要快速获得临时电力的地方的其他更小范围用途，例如将其部署到灾区或难民营，或者作为永久性小型电网设备故障的备份。