FusionGrid research project has focused on the realisation and impact of solar-powered electricity, connectivity and digital services (ECDS) in underserved communities, often in remote and rural locations. The results of the research have produced academic and practical knowledge on the setup and influence of ECDS infrastructure to the livelihood of such communities.
Community-Empowered Electricity and Connectivity
The installation, operation, and maintentance of community-operated electricity and connectivity needs to be less complex than before. The technologies need to be designed in a user-centred manner for “plug and play” operation that suits remote and rural communities and match the skills of the community members.
The research work in Fusion Grid has explored a concept for community-installable and manageable electricity and connectivity infrastructure. The aim has been to elaborate on affordable CAPEX and OPEX compared to traditional ways to implement electricity and connectivity for distant communities. Developments in these aspects would enable greater scalability of such foundational information society infrastructure.
About
The FusionGrid project has piloted solar-powered electricity microgrid with 4G/LTE connectivity to deliver mobile digital services for citizens in under-served and remote communities. The off-grid microgrid pilot has been implemented in Oniipa, Namibia, in collaboration with the Oniipa Town Council (OTC). Five residential houses in a previously non-electrified region were introduced with off-grid solar-power electricity in December 2019.
External articles / links:
Fusion Grid: Better lives in sparsely populated areas (Business Finland)
Blog
Fusion Grid Pilot Setup Week in Namibia, December 2019
Antti Pinomaa, D.Sc.(Tech.), Post-doc Researcher, LUT University So after 50 laps of one year long marathon we were on our last rounds in the end of November. Next week was the scheduled trip to Oniipa, Namibia, preparations for the trip was made, components for the pilot system packed to three suit cases of the research …
Continue reading “Fusion Grid Pilot Setup Week in Namibia, December 2019”
Energy Arrangements in Northern Namibia: Surroundings scanning trip to rural areas during the Namibia trip vol. 2. part 2. (week 2)
Antti Pinomaa, D. Sc. (Tech.), Post-doc Researcher, LUT University After arriving back to Windhoek, the next day Wednesday 5th December 2018, the Fusion Grid research group visited Embassy of Finland as were invited to the Finnish independence day reception. The Ambassador of Finland, Ms. Pirkko-Liisa Kyöstilä announced that the next independence day reception will be …
Flowers and Wedding Decoration Business – Enabled by Solar Electricity and WIFI Access to Internet
Mrs. Julia Elago, Oniipa “The energy supplied has contributed a lot to my small lucrative business of decorating wedding flowers, buckets, and graduation flowers by supplying power to my hot melt glue gun. How did this assist or benefit me? Well it has enabled me to produce a lot of products and of quality within …
Contact
The participants in the FusionGrid project are Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT, Aalto University, Green Energy Finland GEF, and University Properties of Finland SYK Oy. Technology providers for the project are Nokia, Nordkapp and Solar Finland.
The Fusion Grid project collaborates with Namibia University of Science and Technology NUST. The pilot implementation of the Fusion Grid project has been set up in Oniipa, Namibia, in collaboration with the Oniipa Town Council OTC.
Contact persons
Dr. Antti Pinomaa, Fusion Grid project manager, LUT University, antti.pinomaa@lut.fi
Prof. Marko Nieminen, Aalto University, marko.nieminen@aalto.fi