Update on Kibae Energy Kiosk in Kiriyaga, Kenya

KIBAE HYBRID ENERGY KIOSK.

(Kirinyaga District, Kenya)

Introduction

 
The Kibae Energy Kiosk is located in Kerugoya area which
lies 150Km N.E of Nairobi. 

This is an agriculturally productive area that is located
on the slopes of Mt. Kenya.

The main economic activity in the area is small scale farming
of tea, bananas, coffee, vegetables and fruits.

The Intervention.

The Kibae community always had the dream of using the
local resource of stream water anda 12M waterfall to produce energy.

In the year 2004, they embarked in activities to make this
a reality and built a powerhouse and a temporary weir and intake.

They however did not have a hydro turbine.It is then that they
approached the government’s Ministry of Energy.

Early last year UNIDO was requested by the Ministry of Energy
to assist this community by providing a hydro turbine and other
technical support.

At around the same time UNIDO had developed the 
Energy Kiosk model and decided instead of just
providing the community with a hydro turbine,
to develop a fully fledged Energy Kiosk.

Within a few months, with the help of the Kibae community,
UNIDO has developed a model Energy Kiosk in this area.

The Energy

The Energy Kiosk is powered by a 2.5 KW hybrid Solar- Pico-hydro unit.

This means that power is generated from 2 different
renewable energy sources namely solar power and small hydro-power.

The solar unit produces 500W while the Pico-hydro unit consists of
two 1KW hydro turbines that produce a total of 2000W.

How is power produced from the Pico-hydro unit? 

 See the illustration below.

Water from the local stream called Mukengeria, which
originates from the slopes of Mt. Kenya is dammed by a
small weir and part of the water diverted to drive the two hydro turbines. 

Water, after driving the turbines is returned to the stream.

The electricity is evacuated to the energy kiosk by two transmission cables. 

Once at the kiosk, the electricity is stabilized by a simple
electrical charge and controller system as illustrated below.

As seen, power from each independent transmission system is fed to
a battery charging unit where it charged deep cycle batteries.
The batteries then supply the power to an inverter system that converts
it into stable 240V 50HZ power that is similar to the normal Kenyan grid power.

Therefore, the hydro systems which run 24 hrs a day are constantly
the batteries which in turn supply constant power to the Energy Kiosk.

On the other hand, the solar panels are connected to a similar charge
and control unit where batteries are charged and power drawn when
needed though an inverter system as illustrated below.

Therefore the above two systems are combined into one hybrid
system (as illustrated below) that is connected to a 3.6KW inverter. 

Therefore the Kiosk can draw up-to 3.6 KW of power at any time.

 
Energy Use

The power at the Kibae Energy Kiosk is by two main centers;
The Industrial center and the community center.

1. Industrial Center.

This center houses manufacturing micro-enterprises.

 Currently they consist of:

·        Soap making enterprise

·        Juice processing enterprise

·        Maize milling enterprise

·        Poultry hatchery

2. Community Center

This consists of community-based enterprises including:

·        LED lamp and mobile phone recharging facility/enterprise.

·        Community hall that has Satellite TV and Video facility that
charges for its services.

·        Internet service and Computer learning facility.

·        Hair clipping enterprise.

 The Impact on The Community.

Among the enterprises with the largest social impact is the
lamp recharging facility.

This is because the LED lamps being used are Low Energy
Consumption lamps that are being introduced to the community
to replace kerosene lamps that are the main source of lighting
in most rural communities in Kenya like the Kibae community.

 These lamps have a big advantage over the kerosene lamps in that:

·        They are clean non-polluting lamps that reduce indoor
household pollution.

·        Reduces CO2 emission to the atmosphere thus
reducing global warming. 

·        They have better light quality compared to kerosene lamps

·        These lamps are cheaper to operate than kerosene lamps
(over a 1 year period see calculation below). 

A typical household has 3 kerosene lamps that consume at least 15liters of
kerosene per month. At the current price of kerosene of Kshs 70/liter.
This translates to Kshs 1050/month for lighting alone! 

Compare this to Kshs 20 paid for recharging 1 LED lamp.
The lamps need to recharged once per week, this translates
to 20x3 lamps x 4 weeks which is Kshs 240 per month
as the lighting bill.

Therefore an average rural family will save Kshs 810 per month
on lighting for, cleaner and better quality light.

For a whole year, the family would save Kshs 810x12= 9,720 on energy alone.

Considering the cost of 1 LED lamp is Kshs 2,000, the cost of
3 lamps is Kshs 6,000, the savings they make would be enough to
buy 3 lamps and have Kshs 3,720 left over.

The lamps have also been taken to nearby primary schools.

These lamps circulate within the students whereby each student
gets a chance to carry a rechargeable lamp home for a week, and
then return it to be taken by another student the following week.

The aim is to have students go to their homes and demonstrate
the new technology there and hopefully have their parents get
interested and buy the lamps. 

At the same time, during this time the students get to
enjoy the benefits of good quality lighting.

 Income to Energy Kiosk

The Energy Kiosk is projected to serve 300 households.
The aim is to get each household to have 3 LED lamps, which
they will recharge at the Energy Kiosk.

We estimate these households to have 200 mobile phones and 30 car batteries.

In addition each enterprise supported by the Energy Kiosk pays
for its own electricity (Which is metered individually).
It also pays for a monthly rent for space occupied

 Estimated income per week from to the community center of the
energy kiosk is as follows;

1. Community Center

				Number of Items		Charged how many times per month			Income per charge (Kshs)	Income per month (Kshs)
LED Lamps				900		4			10	36,000
Mobile Phones				200		8			10	16,000
Car Batteries				30		4			50	6,000
Other Services
Internet and Computer										8000
TV Video Facility										9000
Hair clipping										2000
Rent and electricity sales										4000
Total Income										81,000

2. Industrial Center.

As for the industrial center, within the first month of its operation, the
following was the actual income generated.

Enterprise	Income per month(Kshs)
Soap Making	6,000
Maize milling	3,000
Juice making	2,000
Poultry incubator	- (Starting operation)
Total Income	11,000

As can be seen above, the energy kiosk can and does make
good income that ensures its sustainability

The Future

The community plans to increase the enterprises and services
supported by the energy Kiosk.

These include;

·        Hair Plaiting and salon facility

·        Photocopying and printing services.

·        Mobile phone services like airtime sale and
M-Pesa mobile money transfer.

 And many others…

Currently, the Energy Kiosk is projected to serve 300 households
when more enterprises and services are introduced, this can increase
to over 500 household in a about 3 months.

 The Kibae Energy kiosk has demonstrated that the Energy Kiosk Model
is truly workable and sustainable. 

 Therefore the Energy Kiosks can be replicated countrywide and beyond
as off-the-grid energy centers in rural areas, which use hybrid renewable
energy for productive use

.