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| Solar Installation in North West Cameroon |
The International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) announced that the 3rd edition of the
International Off-Grid Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition
(IOREC), will take place in Nairobi, Kenya on 30 September and 1 October
2016. IOREC is the premier global platform for sharing experience and
best practices for stand-alone and mini-grid renewable energy systems.
In view of that, in
the coming years the most significant opportunities for micro-grids
will be for rural electrification across sub-Saharan Africa according to
a regional sales director for APR Energy, Mark Makanda. He said, in a
region where approximately 600 million people lack access to
electricity, micro-grids are beginning to provide energy to areas long
perceived as too difficult or uneconomic to connect to a national grid.
"There have been a
substantial number of micro-grid applications in sub-Saharan Africa so
far," Makanda added, citing examples of Malawi and in Namibia
micro-grids have the potential to become the building blocks of a larger
distributed grid where power supply is significantly less than the
demand. "Bringing electricity to these rural areas now means that they
have access to proper medical care, lighting for schools, modern
irrigation methods and sanitation, " he said.
The installation of
micro-grids in remote sub-Saharan communities is also providing an
essential tool for local economic development by introducing electricity
to new commercial activities and revenue generation. Southern Africa
has already produced a number of successful micro-grid installations,
such as the infamous Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned,
as well as the island of Ascension in the middle of the Atlantic, both
run on micro-grid systems. "We are also seeing many applications in the
industrial sector.
Two examples are
the Zwartkop and Thabazimbi Chrome mines in South Africa, which are
powered by gas-diesel hybrid micro-grids. This solution combines solar
technology with high-speed reciprocating engines to offer the
sustainable benefits of renewables and the reliability of conventional
back-up power," he said. The backbone of these micro-grids consists of
mobile power modules that are the size of a trailer and can easily be
transported to remote areas via air, road or sea.
Once on-site, they
can be up and running within 30 to 90 days. These modular plants also
are easily scalable to accommodate local power needs, and can be quickly
ramped up or down according to demand. These plants also offer economic
advantages, since they require minimal capital investment, with the
main cost considerations being the land and fuel.
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