Productive Use of DC Solar Power in Africa to Improve the Quality of Rural Life

非洲高效利用直流太阳能改善农村生活质量

• 批准号: EP/T005424/1
• 负责人: Richard Blanchard
• 金额: $ 19.72万
• 依托单位: Loughborough University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FT005424%2F1
• 关键词: Productive; Use; DC; Solar; Power

Experience shows Africans in rural settings value outcomes (e.g., light, TV, refrigeration, productive use of power, water pumping and irrigation, agri-processing) & not simply access to electricity. Because of the high rates of poverty in rural Africa and the cultural inhibition to saving, access to energy is of no value unless appliances and equipment are included in a PAYG or leasing plan. This project provides the R&D to create a complete range of high-efficiency, appliances (generally DC), and equipment that match these PAYG controlled Solar/battery Power Systems (SPS). The concept is design to create jobs, improve incomes, and expand the local economy. This will focus on the productive use of power that increases the productivity and value add for rural smallholders and micro-enterprises. An innovative business concept of leasing (with no deposit) Businesses-in-a-BoxTM (BinaB) has been developed. Each BinaB will comprise of 3 aspects:Physical hardware comprising high-efficiency DC end-use equipment coupled to a modular and upgradeable PAYG solar power system sized to meet the required duty cycle and sharing commonality of parts.A business model demonstrating economic viability both for African business and the Distributed Energy Services Company (Africa Power and SAfP) (DESCO) leasing the systemsSupport services including as appropriate: training, business expertise (e.g. agronomist for drip feed irrigation), access to relevant business inputs, complete on-going maintenance, and refurbishment.The plan is to source, adapt and/or develop equipment that meets the specification and test for viability. Prototypes will be deployed to Tanzania to test the business model and develop the required service packages in conjunction with relevant business partners. This will involve running equipment tests and economic models in multiple iterations of size and ways of use, product improvements, with the expectation that we will produce working PROTOTYPES for 4-6 businesses systems, with full business model evaluations for both customers and the DESCO. Around 50-100 BETA test units will be manufactured and field trialed and reported with sufficiently innovative designs be protected by patents, design rights, copyright, and/or trademarks.In addition, the range of solar power systems (SPS) will be extended. A unique feature of these series is that systems can be field upgraded by adding multiple PV panels, expanding the size of the box, inserting a larger battery, and approximately every second upgrade adding daughter control boards to handle the increased power draw and currents. This keeps the small systems low cost, whilst having full capability at larger systems with maximum re-use of the smaller systems components. Systems will be designed and tested with 50-100 BETA trial systems for each of the sizes developed. Furthermore, the PAYG system will have new apps and software packages delivered with full specification & user manual documents. As well as the BinaB systems, upgradable domestic solar home systems, making use of the extended range of SPS, will be developed with lower costs by sourcing efficient, cheap but robust appliances (small fridges, fans, lights, mosquito repellents), low maintenance batteries and denser packaging to reduce shipping costs. Prototypes will be manufactured in different size configurations (100-200) for BETA field trials in Tanzania.All the above new products will increase the revenue and profitability (and Energy Access in SSA) of the DESCO's in Africa including Africa Power's subsidiary companies including increased sales of its PAYG software and support services. Africa Power (UK) sources all the products for its subsidiaries with appropriate transfer pricing, thus increasing revenue and profits in UK. Cost reductions can be used to increase sales by attracting a poorer demographic or increase profits or a combination thereof.

经验表明，农村地区的非洲人重视成果(例如，光、电视、冷藏、电力的生产性利用、抽水和灌溉、农业加工)，而不仅仅是获得电力。由于非洲农村的高贫困率和对储蓄的文化抑制，除非将家用电器和设备纳入按年付款或租赁计划，否则获得能源没有任何价值。该项目提供研发，以创造完整的高能效、家用电器(一般为直流)和设备，以匹配这些PYG控制的太阳能/电池电力系统(SPS)。这一概念旨在创造就业机会，提高收入，并扩大当地经济。这将侧重于对电力的生产性利用，从而提高农村小农和微型企业的生产率和附加值。开发了一种创新的商业概念，即租赁(无需押金)企业-in-a-BoxTM(BinaB)。每个BinaB将包括3个方面：物理硬件，包括与模块化和可升级的PYG太阳能发电系统相连接的高效DC终端设备，其大小符合所需的工作周期并共享部件。证明非洲业务和租用系统的分布式能源服务公司(African Power And SAfP)(Desco)经济可行性的商业模式适当地包括：培训、业务专业知识(例如滴灌农艺师)、获得相关业务投入、完成持续维护和翻新。计划是寻找、调整和/或开发符合规格和可行性测试的设备。原型将被部署到坦桑尼亚，以测试业务模式，并与相关业务伙伴一起开发所需的一揽子服务。这将涉及在规模和使用方式、产品改进的多次迭代中运行设备测试和经济模型，期望我们将为4-6个业务系统生产工作原型，并为客户和Desco进行全面的商业模式评估。将生产约50-100个测试版，并进行现场试验和报告，充分创新的设计将受到专利、设计权、版权和/或商标的保护。此外，太阳能发电系统(SP)的范围将扩大。这些系列的一个独特功能是，可以通过添加多个光伏电池板、扩大机箱尺寸、插入更大的电池，以及大约每隔一秒就添加子控制板来处理增加的功率和电流来对系统进行现场升级。这保持了小型系统的低成本，同时在大型系统中具有完全的能力，并最大限度地重复使用较小的系统组件。系统的设计和测试将使用50-100个测试版系统，适用于每种开发的规模。此外，现收现付系统将提供新的应用程序和软件包，以及完整的规范和用户手册文档。除了BinaB系统外，还将通过采购高效、廉价但坚固耐用的电器(小冰箱、风扇、电灯、驱蚊剂)、低维护电池和更密集的包装来降低运输成本，从而以更低的成本开发可升级的家用太阳能家用系统，利用SPS的扩展范围。样机将以不同的尺寸配置(100-200)在坦桑尼亚进行现场试验。所有上述新产品都将增加Desco在非洲的收入和盈利能力(以及SSA中的Energy Access)，包括African Power的子公司，包括增加其Payg软件和支持服务的销售。非洲电力(英国)以适当的转让定价为其子公司采购所有产品，从而增加了在英国的收入和利润。降低成本可以通过吸引更贫困的人群来增加销售额，也可以通过增加利润或两者的组合来实现。

项目成果

Pre-feasibility methodology to compare productive uses of energy supplied by stand-alone solar photovoltaic systems: A Tanzanian case study

• DOI: 10.1016/j.esd.2022.08.018
• 发表时间: 2022-10
• 期刊: Energy for Sustainable Development
• 影响因子: 5.5
• 作者: M. Little;R. Blanchard