Browsing by Author "Ronoh, G."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    An M&E mobile based application for Pico PV lighting solutions for the “Kerosene Free Kenya” project
    (Small PV-Applications Rural, ) Da Silva, Izael; Da Silva, I. P; Ronoh, G.; Maina, D. N
    This paper describes the use of a mobile based application used as a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tool to a pilot project supported by the National Council for Science and Technology of Kenya (NCST) which seeks to research best practices and lessons learned in the dissemination of Pico PV systems to rural households in Kenya. In order to overcome the affordability barrier a microfinance institution (MFI) was brought into the system, to properly handle the challenge of access to finance while Lighting Africa will provide standards for the products to be distributed. Many of such pilot system have been used in practically all countries of East Africa. The novelty of the present one is the use of an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) mobile based tool to collect and transmit data. This will make the analysis of the product quality, user experience and faults much simpler and given the two ways relationship between the researchers and the users, consumer satisfaction and product improvement is envisaged to happen in a to date unprecedented manner. As the clients are distributed in a known geographical region, the researchers have provided for the training of technicians to handle repairs and battery replacement locally. As the duration of the project is 2 years, it is expected that the follow up of product performance and life span will be measured way beyond its payback period.
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    Diffusion of solar energy technologies in rural Africa: Trends in Kenya and the LUAV experience in Uganda
    Da Silva, I.P.; Batte, G; Ondraczek, J; Ronoh, G.; Ouma, C.A. ; Da Silva, Izael
    The diffusion of Modern Energy Technologies Africa has been found to be very low especially for solar energy systems. The installed solar PV capacity in Africa is a major issue of concern globally. This low trend in technology adoption is of interest because Africa enjoys some of the best solar radiation levels in the world averaging between 4 – 6 kWh/m2/day for most of the year. It was initially speculated that the low uptake of solar technology was associated with the continent’s high poverty levels and limitations in technical capacity as well as awareness; nevertheless, the introduction of Mobile Telephony Technology (MTT) has cast some doubt on those speculations due to the rapid assimilation and diffusion of the technology in several African countries. The paper elaborates on the approach taken by a successful MET business model known as the Lighting-up-a-village (LUAV), designed by an energy company, Barefoot Power (BFP), in Uganda. This model has been used to distribute micro solar home systems in rural Uganda and exhibited a rapid uptake rate that resulted in the establishment of 18 LUAV projects in a span of 12 months. Through the LUAV program, more than 3000 households took up the technology securing their own independent power generation hub. The success factors noted in the LUAV business model were identified and highlighted so as to present recommendations on the key factors that can possibly drive a rapid adoption of METs.
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    Reducing Carbon Emissions in a Third Level Educational Institution in Sub-Sahara Africa
    (Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2015) Da Silva, I. P.; Ronoh, G.; Ouma, C.; Jerono, C.; Da Silva, Izael
    The effort to reduce carbon emissions as the arguably most prevalent cause of global warming has been a positive trend in most African countries. One of the most successful strategies towards reaching that goal is the shift from fossil fuel power generation to renewable sources of energy such as wind, hydro, geothermal and solar. As Kenya sits on the equator it enjoys an all year round insolation between 5 and 6 kW/m2/day which is more than double of the average insulation in Germany, a country where solar energy is widely used. Taking advantage of a green line of financial support created by the French Government, Strathmore University embarked in a project to install a 600 kW roof-top, grid connected solar PV system to cater for its electricity needs. Having as a background of the newly instituted Feed-in-Tariff regulation, the system is designed to produce more than the required self-consumption such that the extra power can be sold to the utility via a PPA (power purchase agreement) and the revenue used to pay for the electricity used by the university at night. This paper describes the whole process from the technical, regulatory, educational and financial aspect highlighting the positive and negative events along the path such that it can be useful for other private sector institutions interested in greening their sources of energy, invest in renewable energy and thus reduce their operation costs. The authors have written this work having in mind not only countries in Africa but all other countries which sit in the so called “solar belt”.
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    The impact of the SERC based solar PV outreach training program in Kenya
    (Strathmore Energy Research Center, 2016-06-23) Silva, I. P.; Ronoh, G.; Nalubega, T.; Njogu, M.; Da Silva, Izael
    In this paper it is described how Strathmore Energy Research Centre developed an outreach project funded by USAID, National Science Foundation (NSF) to empower technical institutions to offer solar courses hence creating a pool of qualified technicians spread throughout the geography of the country. Presently the situation is that Kenya has around 1000 solar technicians working in the market with no formal solar PV training or accreditation. The National Industrial Training Authority NITA, which regulates nonacademic skills or craft based training, was helped by this project to develop a PV solar curriculum at three levels (T1/T2/T3) which empowers from craft level technicians to engineers to deal with design, installation and maintenance of PV systems from solar lantern up to utility size level. ERC, the Energy Regulatory Commission for Kenya has supported the initiative as technicians once trained can be accredited by and thus further strength the industry. By June 2016, which is the end of the program, Kenya is to have 1800 accredited technical personnel near almost every major town in the country. The paper describes the positive and negative aspects of this venture.