The Energy Centre Model - An Approach to Village Scale Energy Supply

The Energy Centre Model - An Approach to Village Scale Energy Supply

Presenter: Charles Muchunku, (Camco Advisory Services (K) Ltd, Kenya)

Overview

A model for off-grid, village scale power supply has been developed through the Solar Transitions research project, led by the University of Oslo. Through a participatory approach the project developed an energy centre model which became operational on March 20th, 2012. The model creates affordable and accessible basic lighting and electricity services for off-grid households and businesses through a financially sustainable design. It is designed to be operated by local residents on commercial principles. Today, it provides lighting and other services to about 150 households. The paper describes and rationalizes the model and shares experiences from the first 1½ years of operation. The financial performance is documented and suggestions are provided on how the model could be improved.

Main Issues Discussed

• Kenya based org
• Rural regions, 80% 0f population lives on 20% of the land
o The converse of this is that 20% of the project is on 80% of the land
o This means low population density
o Mini-grid is not a viable model
 There are simply not the numbers of people
• So a 2kW system was decided upon- Charging station of sorts
• Figuring out how to transfer ownership after the payback period
o Incorporated a Community Based Org (CBO)
• They got some community buy in, by charging a fee to become a member
• Institutional and Operations Framework
o They had a bookkeeper
o Technician
o IT manager (for photocopying, computers, etc.)
• The organization in charge was community based
o They were charged with managing
o If they did poorly, they were required to surrender the system and give it to someone else
• How things Fared
o Initially, things were slow
o People felt cheated for not being able to exploit full charge
 Issue was explained--the deal with saving the batteries--and translated into more usership
• Some services were being subsidized by other

Questions Posed

 IRR for sharing with investors
o Didn’t really use that approach
 Interest in creating a cell phone specific application?
o Seems no. The cost, even for a simple SHS system is cost restrictive.