The FusionGrid research project has its focus on the definition, construction and introduction of solar-powered electricity together with mobile connectivity (4G/LTE) and digital services for remote and under-served communities. It aims at developing a community-run solution that can support various types of livelihood-improving services for the members of the community supporting entrepreneurship, e-Government, e-learning, healthcare, and other services and functions that leverage improved livelihood.
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 group persons (utility box, battery box, solar PV box, tools, wires, bettery cables, circuit breakers, box-computers, etc.), pilot components (panels sponsored by Solar Finland with cables delivered from Finland, inverter and batteries ordered from markets in Namibia and South Africa) were told to be ready in Namibia end ready waiting for us.
We started the trip Friday 29th November 2019 by gathering to Helsinki airport with the plan to get the hardware to the plane cargo. First set back came when we went to check-in and the bags weight were measured. One bag exceeded the weight limit and we needed to do rearrangements to distribute the weight to other bags. Prof. Nieminen took battery cables and back metal plates to his carry on bag so we got in. We flew via Doha to Windhoek and in Doha airport our solution when distributing the hardware to carry-on bags stroke bag. The terminal offices in security check spotted something in Prof. Nieminen’s bag and asked where are you heading to, and as the answer was a “no-stay-in-Qatar”, but a travel all the way to Namibia, there was no problem. Go there with you stuff.
So we got loose. During the another long flight to Namibia, we felt bad how much we again produce CO2 emissions to air and wanted to compensate that. So instead of taking the flight meal with meat, we took the vege-version, and felt less environment criminal.
The next obstacle was our arrival to Windhoek and the transillumination checking all the bags coming to the country. And we had lot of iron and components there. We were fortunate to have Dr. Karin Fröhlich, a native Namibian with cultural understanding and language ability with us in addition to the invitation letter from our the local technical university NUST describing our collaborative piloting plans. So, after all, we were able to enter the country.
First day in Namibia Saturday 30th November we got invited by Prof. Erkki Sutinen from University of Turku, who is currently living in Windhoek, to have a dinner at his house and discussed about possible research collaboration in future. Next day Sunday 1st of December we started our trip to Oniipa and drove there via Etosha National Park, stayed a night at a lodge in Okaukuejo, and next morning drove through the Etosha National Park to Oniipa, where we arrived Monday 2nd December. Next morning Tuesday 3rd December we started the piloting project first by visiting the Oniipa Town Council office where we meet the beneficiaries first time, and plan the week. After that we visited the site, plan the routes for the underground cables between the houses, and then went to a warehouse of local transport company, where the solar panels and cables from Finland were. So all looked good as can be seen in figure below.
Unfortunately, this was the part for the good news, as we heard that the inverter and the batteries, similar what we have in the laboratory pilot system at LUT University campus, had not arrived, are stuck in the customs or else. And we heard that the supplier of the goods will look some alternative and temporary inverter and batteries to the site. Moreover, the solar panel mounting brackets were not there yet. But it was promised that those should arrive there next day. So we went to buy the Wifi router to serve the connectivity part of the concept. We heard there should be 3G mobile network coverage at the pilot site, and due to some changes in the project consortium and delays caused by that we did not have the Nokia Kuha BTS with us. In the evening in the hotel lobby, we supply voltage to the utility box comprising terminals to the maximum-power-point tracker (MPPT) inverter unit, and the five AC outputs via energy meters and controllable loads to each customers, with the local server in having all the monitoring and control algorithms in, and this way together with the 3/4G router we had finally found see that does the system connect and become online visible to the cloud. And it did, just like that out-of-the-box as planned. So, after all some good news after having some setbacks earlier during the day.
Next day Wednesday 4th December only two days before the Finnish independence day, we took the power cables with us and went to the site. The beneficiaries had started the digging the ditches for the cables between the houses and finalized that in afternoon. We were already calling off the day, when it started raining and we decided that now or never as after rain the ditches would have been full of water. So the underground cabling was started that day in rain. After several hours all the cables between the houses were in the ground and we started burying them. All the work was done jointly us participating to the cabling work together with the beneficiaries and the surrounding community. After a long and wet day, we could finish for that day. And doing that the very same day was the right call, as it rained heavily also afterwards. And yes, the inverter and battery didn’t arrive that day and we kept waiting.
Thursday 5th December, we got a call from OTC office that the battery and inverter and the mounting system for the panels had arrived. So we got those to our hands finally. Moreover, during that day the panels and those mounting system were installed on the roof of the main house. Now as we got the inverter and batteries, only things not clear were, uncertainty of the temporary components and how those could be integrated to our control system. The other thing was that we need a lockable casing for all of these components to run those with compliance of electrical safety regulations. There was one welder for the job and we went to met him and give specification and dimensions for the case. Should be ready for the next day. Sure thing.
In the evening we tried to get access to the temporary inverter and battery, but it became clear that we couldn’t as there were not the correct data cables with the devices and that the battery and the inverter were not compatible in terms of connecting those together. There were four LEDs in the battery indicating the state of charge level of the battery. Thus, and after many tries it became clear that basically we cannot get anything out of the inverter with this very short time window, and only information we get out of the system is the energy consumption readings. We just had to assume that the battery would be full each day then, if we could be able to get the system up and running. Moreover, the solar panel total power and the battery capacity was half of the planned one due to smaller battery and the inverter could only withstand six panels in one string to be connected to it.
Next morning Friday 6th December, the big day to launch the pilot system according to the set plan, we went to the site with high hopes. The local electricians were doing the cable terminations to each house switchboards and the internal wirings, and the protective earth cable and anchoring installations. Each house got few sockets and light bulbs. So everything looked good, but then when we went to see the casing for the components, it was not yet ready, and moreover it was build like wrong and opposite way, but we were told it will be ready afternoon. Thus we carry all our components to the site and waited there the casing to arrive. It finally came but it was so late, getting dark, and without electricity and light, or local work force, it was no good idea to start the work that evening. Besides there were people living in the main house and going to work next day early in the morning. So we missed our initial plan, but decided to have new try next day.
Next day 7th December, we went to do the job. The day was full of challenges, delays, waiting for tools and electrician, missing components to attach the panels, and list continues. Also the press was called already to the site to do news to the national TV. We needed to postpone the schedule for that few times. Finally in the evening, when I was fasten with screws, the very last one, press car drove to the house yard, but luckily before they go in we could test that the light bulb is switched on and it did. Then right after that have recoreded talk to reporter of what we are doing here, give short introduction to our project and present the just installed pilot system. After they have left, the system commissioning was done by electrician who also finalise the installations in the houses, and we went to a dinner but came back to the site and it was very nice to see the lights in each of these five house on. We also visited each house to see the feelings, and those were very positive. So we did something very concrete here, provide electricity to the community for the first time, electricity something considered self-evident for majority of people living in the developed countries. And add to providing a internet access. So mission accomplished, and late that evening I took a cold beer.
Sunday 8th December, we packed our bags and leaved our hotel, but went to see the site on our way. We found out that the electricity had run out from the batteries and not charged by the solar panels. So we needed to call the electrician back to check the things, and it became clear he had connected the panels in a wrong way, differently what we had told. So he fixed the connections and the batteries started to charge. Also at the same time we did some final system checks of our control system and those worked well. However, this last minute hassle caused four our delay to our schedule and it was dark when we arrived to Windhoek the same late evening. But luckily we went to check the site and the system, as now we could leave the country with peace of mind knowing the system is in operation. When sitting next morning in a plane heading home back to Finland, and looking back the whole and very long week, it anyway was worth it, as now we have the system up and running and only one day before the planned day. This was one of the main milestones and outcomes to the Fusion Grid project as now we were able to start collecting the user experience data from the electricity use, and base on those develop the system further. Over and out.
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 held in Oniipa, where Finnish missionaries started their work 150 years ago. In that reception we had a fruitful discussion with the Mayor of Oniipa, Mr. Mannetjies Kambonde, together with the CEO of Oniipa Town Council Mr. Junias Jakob. The discussion made clear that Oniipa, as a town in the middle of active development, was very interested about our Fusion Grid concept. We received an invitation to Oniipa Town to meet with the Oniipa town council and discuss the topic in more detail. This was agreed as part of the existing plan to start the next expedition toward Northern Namibia during this same trip.
On the next day we had a meeting with Prof. Pio Lumaga and visited the NUST Innovation Design Lab. Prof. Pio Lumaga’s lab could be a good place to do the first setup in Namibia for testing different features and digital services of the Fusion Grid pilot, to run the first tests before going forward to ‘real’ pilot system. After that we went to visit Thomas Mueller from the Rainmaker company, as we met Rainmaker company representative during the first trip to Namibia April. Rainmaker is developing services for tourism and hospitality. They are connected to 300 lodges (out of total ~3000) around the country, and are working on to add the connectivity part to lodges as a business trigger. One lodge was found to be close to Oniipa that could act as a potential pilot site. Rainmaker appeared having interest in our concept and research project, and could provide assistance on the connectivity side with the Nokia Kuha base station. Thomas expressed deep insights about Namibian IT scene and about the communication network statuses in Namibia. Solutions for backhaul can be created via satellite for instance. Rainmaker has connections to mobile network operators, and can be of help in e.g. getting the frequency to showcase and proof-of-concept project.
On Friday 7th December, the 2nd trip started from Windhoek to to Oniipa. We had scheduled a meeting with the mayor of Oniipa and the city council to introduce the Fusion Grid project and concept. Oniipa has just turned (upgraded) from village to town. The town council and the mayor expressed high interest toward Fusion Grid project , progressing quickly towards an agreement to get the Fusion Grid for piloting in Oniipa as soon as possible. We agree the discussions to continue at the end of January 2019 when the mayor is coming to Finland for over a week. Target is to have Fusion Grid pilot up and running and showcased in Oniipa by the next Finnish independence day 6th December 2019. Realistic goal, but work should be started right away. The cost to connect customer to the national utility grid there in areas far from the secondary substations could be as high as 20 000 NB (Nored Grid). Thus, it would be economically more feasible and beneficial to have centralized solar home system in one of the houses in Oniipa, and distribute energy from that to own house and to houses next to it. This could provide new business (trade between the peers), and by this way decrease ones payments. OTC has long term plans for land use as part of town development plan. From the viewpoint of electricity, the plan is that within upcoming 10 years the whole town would be covered with electricity.
In the late afternoon, there was a visit to a Ongula lodge, which operates as training center for surrounding community scheduled. The lodge was not that far away from Oniipa. The location was given by Thomas Mueller. Rainmaker has plans on providing connectivity to the lodge, and further develop the lodge off-grid power system, to serve the increased need for electricity. There were available mobile networks MTC, MTN, Telecom Namibia network, MTN better than Telecom. MTN has fixed monthly payments via satellite connection.
Saturday 8th December the expedition was divided to two as there were too many locations to visit and too little time. Our group drove west from Oniipa to Opuwo to visit a remote local community that has health clinic powered by off-grid system. Our host and contact person to take us to this community was Abraham from Namibia Energy Institute (NEI). Abraham told us the community is just around the corner not far from Opuwo, but it took almost two hours to drive there. Distances seem to be relative. There were panels and batteries used for village health clinic. Lead-Acid batteries, few were already replaced, old ones in the back of the warehouse. Diesel generator to back-up the system. Electricity was used for clinic and personnel’s homes. There it became very clear that there are risks when going to visit these remote locations and talk about that we have this project where the idea is to provide off-grid electricity to remote locations, it generates also the expectations and initial promise that electricity in a form of a pilot system is to be provided to that exact community. And this is the negative thing as one don’t want to give empty promises. But it just proves there are evident need for affordable electricity and lot of remote communities, which most probably will never get the grid connection as utility grids wont reach these areas. Saturday evening we drove back to Opuwo, dropped Abraham there and drove to Sesfontein, where we met again the other half of the other half of the divided research team.
On Sunday 9th, lead by Ms. Helvi Ileka of NEI, we drove from Sesfontein to to Purros area and visited a lodge and the local community. There was a satellite backhaul and a wifi provided to lodge customers, tourists, arranged on a pay-as-you-go basis. Additionally, there was also a mobile school in Purros. The Purros Lodge had used their first set of batteries between 2006-2018. The 48 batteries were arranged in two sets connected in parallel. The old batteries were stored in the back of the warehouse, with no transport to further processing arranged yet. In general, transport is a challenge to these remote locations. The diesel tanks for the diesel generator were connected to the power system for a backup.
The closest lodge “Orubembe” is a 5-to-6-hours drive from Purros lodge. Thererefore, one does not want to have a broken tire while travelling from one lodge to another.
In Purros we experienced a slightly odd atmosphere as we didn’t want to give “empty” promises to the local community to have electricity, but we still wanted to hear about the needs and expectations towards electricity. Therefore, we needed to open up discussion about the Fusion Grid project, too.
We left Purros and the lodge in afternoon and took also two boys to the back of our pick-up car and dropped to their own village, in the middle between Sesfontein and Purros, as they needed a lift from the Purros lodge, where they were on training / working period. This was a practical example how people move and travel between locations in remote areas. There is nothing close to public transport.
On Monday 10th December we drove back to Windhoek, a whole day drive, and started to preparing to our own travel back to home.
As a whole, the trip can be found to be a success. We got the information what we were looking for and even more: improved findings and understanding on the surroundings in such distant locations for off-grid electricity provisioning. Furthermore, we found the very potential site for the pilot in Oniipa with the Town Council backing this goal. Eventually, it was agreed that a pilot system would be delivered there and launched by the next Finnish independence day, the 6th of December 2019. This was considered a challenging plan, but also decided in the project plan. So we started running towards that goal, which turned out to be an interesting marathon with the duration of a year.
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 a short period as there’s no need of melting glues with candles which might consume much time. Another thing is that I make use of Wi-Fi to market and advertise my products, in this way I earn something for myself especially during this period of pandemic existence.”
Online Learning for Neighborhood Children in the Community during the Covid-19 Lockdown
Mr. Phillemon Awene and Mrs. Maria Awene, Oniipa
“We are very thankful for the Fusion Grid in our neighborhood. We are not among electricity beneficiaries in the project but of the Wi-Fi (Guest-access); Due to Covid-19, grade 0-9 does not longer attend face-to-face classes. However, our children were among the few children registered with the Ministry of Education for online learning, because we have the guest access WiFi. It was always marvellous, sometimes we have challenges of slow Internet especially when downloading learning materials but the Wi-Fi at hand, it was awesome.
We have electricity at home but due to some shortcomings of the supplier, we wish we had a solar to cover us in times of blackouts. If any opportunity would arise in the future, we would obviously take the solar, too.”
Electricityspotting in Namibia: Brief retrospective on the 1st trip to rural sites with electricity, vol. 2. part 1. (week 1)
Antti Pinomaa, D.Sc.(Tech.), Post-doc researcher, LUT University
The Fusion Grid project research group made a set of trips and visits to different parts of Northern Namibia in December 2018 as a part of market analysis research and scanning of surroundings for existing electricity arrangements. This was one of the main parts in regards of dimensioning and design the pilot system to be fitted to the Namibian context. The other main reason for the trip was to search a place for the Fusion Grid pilot system.
Our first group of researchers arrived to Namibia Monday 1st December 2018, and we started our field trip with a meeting with NUST professors. The aim was to clearly tell about the project in understandable form, discover the co-operation possibilities regarding joint research activities around the Fusion Grid project and concept, and talk about the funding and open calls for our Namibian partners. There was the SAIS2 research and innovation funding call open, but that is another story. Also we discussed about possible locations for the pilot system in Namibia with and through their contacts.
Next morning, Sunday 2nd of December, we started our trip from Windhoek to North to place called Nhoma. We travelled with our collaborators from Namibia Energy Institute (NEI), who we had met in our first trip to Namibia April 2018. In Nhoma, there were three schools, which were about to get electrified with solar – battery-based off-grid solutions, and we went to follow the commissioning of those schools. The half year rural electrification project was at its finalizing stage. The grades in these there schools varied between grades 1-7. It was over one day drive from Windhoek to the sites. So nice road trip at the same time. We arrived there around noon Monday 3rd December. The schools were electrified with solar panels and energy storages consisting of Li-ion (LiFePO4) batteries. The system power dimensions varied from 12 kWh to 65 kWh energy capacity in battery, and from 12 panels to over 70 panels per school. So we can talk about mid-scale off-grid electricity network. The project was monitored by NEI and the commissioning was done by hired subcontractor company.
What was remarkable, was that there was no internet connectivity at all at the sites, and only one year maintenance contract were included in the agreement. We had a satellite phone with us and we tested that and were able to make a satellite phone call to our researcher colleagues, who had just arrived to Namibia. So even that is rather expensive with high costs that is one way to arrange the backhaul connectivity to the internet, the thing Nokia Private-LTE network would need as well in such remote location, in the middle of nothing. Regarding the maintenance issues there was uncertainty what is the case after that one year. Get one to wonder, what if some fault comes to the system, how the information of that will be relayed to knowledge of the company taking care of the system maintenance. Other main remark was, that there was no detailed level introduction to the system, its maintenance; who will take care of the system locally (basic maintenance tasks), and what are the benefits for the community (light for safety and education, power for PCs etc.). Those remained unclear as we needed to continue our trip and needed to arrive to Tsumkwe before the sunset. However, this was one weak point of this kind of off-grid systems; how to manage and handle with the maintenance tasks and in cost efficient way. It’s rather expensive to send someone to fix some basic problem and without connectivity to the site, the remote support the locals to carry out the basic system maintenance tasks is impossible.
Next Day Tuesday 4th December we left the Tsumkwe lodge, but again we had some issues with the poor internet connectivity. It was difficult to check out from the lodge we stayed as we did not have cash and tried to pay with credit and eventually after several tries and connection failures were able to check out. Tsumkwe area had very low speed and unreliable 2G mobile network connectivity. On the other hand it was quite relaxing to spent the few days there in middle of nowhere, being disconnected from the world and without access to internet. Even emails or the email box didn’t synchronize due to poor connectivitiy.
The main reason to go to Tsumkwe was to visit the Tsumkwe off-grid hybrid PV-battery-diesel generator mini-grid system of 350 kW that had been established in 2012. The mini-grid systems diesel generators were run every day from 6 to 10 p.m. to charge the lead-acid batteries for the night time energy consumption.
There were 996 panels in the PV power plant, two big halls full of lead-acid batteries. The mini-grid covered 3 km radius and the power was delivered to customers with 11 kV medium-voltage distribution system and with standard 11kV/230~400 V AC low-voltage grid. The off-grid power system and the distribution network was under similar to SCADA system that is common in Finland, and basic warning and other critical fault data are relayed to central monitoring room via satellite connection the Tsumkwe station had in use.
The off-grid itself had created new jobs to Tsumkwe, as there were three men taking care of the power plant security 24/7, the power plant is secured with tall fence and barber wire, as we were told that the local people think that if the mini-grid is for the community, and for the community members it is the same thing whether the panel is in the power plant of at end-customer own house roof.
We heard from the person taking care of the off-grid maintenance and operations that when the off-grid was decided to be installed to Tsumkwe, he had to go from door to door to discuss with locals and introducing that electricity access will be provided in near future, it brings this and that benefits and that the electricity comes with price. He told that it took 6 months to get the trust of the locals ensuring and confirming that access to electricity will change the way of life in the community. This is part of the acceptance of new technology and issues and challenges related to that. And he was local to tell the story to locals. So one can wonder what is the case if someone outsider goes there to try to do the same thing. This experience emphasises the importance of community engagement and trust. Trust needs to be there and also the things are needed to be explained in understandable common sense way.
Another finding was the electricity selling buying concept: Local people came to the off-grid main office to buy tokens of electricity with cash. They get a ticket with a code, which they feed in to their home energy meter, and electricity was again available. This could be done more straightforward way and with less time consuming.
The Tsumkwe off-grid power plant is illustrated in the figure below.
One practical example of the impact getting the electricity was so loud and clear, when we visited the local restaurant, which was also local small butcher’s. After getting the access to electricity, the restaurant could have really scaled up the business as they could store the meat in cold in the freezers and fridges, get and be able to serve more customers, get more business activity in a form of a revenue. Start getting more supplies and groceries stored with cold chain remained. The impact is very visible in the figure below.
Before leaving we also visited the local radio station, which was established when the electricity access was introduced in the area. Radio appeared as a very important information channel to Namibians with a long and strong history. For many, radio is the main source of local and national timely information.
After that visit, we drove from Tsumkwe directly to south on a rather direct road that took us to the main road to west and to Windhoek. After getting from the 500 km gravel road to the main road with asphalt, the front wheel tire blew and we needed to have a quick pit stop to change the tire. Fortunately we were not that close to the area of the lions. Finally, after the long day in the darkening night we arrived back to Windhoek to our hotel. Our first field trip in the search of a pilot site was behind us with the following findings:
- Backhaul connectivity in rural areas is a challenge (case-by-case)
- Community inclusion and local maintenance of the system are key issues for sustainability
- Fit the services to the need (case-by-case)
- Business models are critical, stakeholder incentives need to be understood properly
- Access to electricity Expected impact: Increased livelihood for under-served areas and communities