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