Pre-electrification of Selected Rural Villages in Madagascar
Background
The project PERER (Promotion of rural electrification through renewable energies) aims to improve the capacity of the Rural Electrification Agency ADER and local private operators to define, plan and implement rural electrification projects, focussing on small hydropower. In 2010 a public-private-partnership (PPP) project was initiated by PERER regarding the pre-electrification of remote villages with solar power.
The current rural electrification scheme in Madagascar is based on privately operated insular systems. ADER grants investment subsidies to the private operators who recover their part of the investments and the operation and maintenance costs by contributions of beneficiaries. This scheme has proven successful e.g. for hydropower projects but does not work in large parts of Madagascar where water resources are scarce. For these areas solar power presents a possible alternative. However, there were no established schemes in Madagascar how to apply the private sector approach to a (pre-) electrification with solar energy.
The idea of the PPP project is to electrify the social infrastructure (key public services) and link this to the provision of electricity to selected private households with sufficient purchase power. With the support of SolarWorld (provision of panels) and TRITEC (technical planning, training, provision of solar equipment) 2 villages of Southern Madagascar were already pre-electrified in October 2011, 2-4 more villages will be (pre-)electrified in 2012 with the additional financing of ADER and a mining company.
The following services are now available in the pre-electrified villages:
- Electricity for social infrastructure provided by independent small PV systems
- Solar battery charging station (SBCS) for households with sufficient purchase power
- Solar lanterns (provided by the social company ToughStuff) for renting per night or for instalment purchase also for poorer households
Cost, Financing and Business Models
Fee for Service
All systems are run on a fee-for-service basis, meaning that even public services pay tariffs to the private operator.
Cross-financing
The income generated with the battery charging and lantern rental covers the costs for maintenance of the charging stations themselves and the PV systems for the social infrastructure. It also allows for a reasonable profit for the private operator. The contribution asked from the public users (local government, schools) are so low that they can only cover replacement cost of batteries and are not enough to ensure benefits for the private service provider.
Blocked bank account for battery replacement
The private service providers sign a contract with the mayor and ADER. The money allocated to battery replacement for the systems at the social infrastructure has to be regularly placed on a blocked bank account. Access to the account by the private operators is monitored by ADER.
Tariffs
- Social Infrastructure: € 5 / 100Wp x month
(The tariff for the social infrastructure had to be based on the capacity of the system (kW) as the energy consumption (kWh) is not measured.) - Battery charging: € 3 / month battery rental plus € 0.50 per charging
- Solar lamp rental: € 0.07 per night (compared to 10€cents for a candle)
Configuration of the systems (exemplary village of Mahaboboka with 4700 inhabitants) and investment costs
|
Infrastructure |
Element |
Investment Costs [€] * |
|
Health center |
Panel: SolarWorld, 24V, 520Wp |
936 |
|
Charge controller: Moringstar Tristar, 12V, 30A |
79 | |
|
Converter: KACO KI 1000, 24V, 1000W |
819 | |
|
Battery: AGM, Rolls, 12V, 960Ah (4 x 240 Ah) |
2 651 | |
|
Cables, accessories |
164 | |
|
Total |
4 650 | |
|
Administration offices |
Panel: SolarWorld, 12V 260Wp |
468 |
|
Charge controller: Moringstar Prostar, 12V, 30A |
79 | |
|
Converter: KACO KI 1000, 12V, 1000W |
784 | |
|
Battery: AGM, Rolls, 12V, 480Ah (2 x 240 Ah) |
1 326 | |
|
Cables, accessories |
75 | |
|
TOTAL |
2 732 | |
|
Secondary School |
Panel: SolarWorld, 12V, 50Wp |
90 |
|
Charge controller: Moringstar Prostar, 12V, 15A |
59 | |
|
Converter: KACO KI 250, 12V, 250W |
177 | |
|
Battery : Gel, SOLAR TECHNOLOGIE, 12V, 100 Ah |
258 | |
|
Cables, accessories |
52 | |
|
TOTAL |
636 | |
|
Primary School |
Panel: SolarWorld, 12V, 130Wp |
234 |
|
Charge controller: Moringstar Prostar, 12V, 15A |
59 | |
|
Converter: KACO KI 1000, 12V, 1000W |
784 | |
|
Battery : Gel, SOLAR TECHNOLOGIE, 12V, 200 Ah (2 x 100 Ah) |
515 | |
|
Cables, accessories |
58 | |
|
TOTAL |
1 650 | |
|
Public Lighting |
Lighting point: 8 x ecoliGhts, Ecostar, |
10 400 |
|
Battery Charging Station |
Panel: 5 x SolarWorld, 12V, 80Wp |
520 |
|
Charge controller: 5 x Morningstar SHS, 12V, 10A |
105 | |
|
Cables, accessories |
140 | |
|
Battery : 6 x Gel, SOLAR TECHNOLOGIE, 12V, 55 Ah |
834 | |
|
TOTAL |
1 598 | |
|
Total |
|
21 666 |
Financing
The investment costs (without costs of planning and installation) were financed by the European partners (GIZ, SolarWorld, TRITEC). The Malagasy private partners participated in the project with in-kind contribution for planning and installation, in-kind and cash contributions for the protection of the PV systems (boxes, etc.) and investment in solar lanterns and further batteries for renting.
