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

.

Transformer vandalization can become a big problem for Kenyan development

Last week, the transformer near our energy kiosk at Kamahuha was vandalized. Some bad guys pulled down the transformer and removed everything there was. They seemed interested in two things: the coolant inside the transformer and the copper wire. Below are pictures taken at the scene by the UNIDO energy kiosk team. It really was nasty.



Today, when visiting another energy kiosk in Kiangombe, we came across another vandalized transformer. This one only had the coolant removed - it was not completely destroyed. In both cases we were told that it will take atleast one year before the transformers are replaced.



It is said that the coolant is sold to metal fabricators who use it to cool their welding machines. The copper is recycled and sold into the local market. Either way, this trend will most probably reverse all the gains of the rural electrification program in Kenya. The vandals are well versed with high power installation technology, hence it is feared that the staff or former staff of the power companies might be involved in this mayhem

RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAMME

Introduction

Energy supply is central to achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction. It affects all aspects of development and none of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be achieved without major improvement in the quality and quantity of energy services particularly in developing countries. United Nations Industrial Development Organization's (UNIDO's) efforts in providing energy for sustainable development support achievement of the MDGs, especially MDG 1; reducing by half the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015.

Through an integrated approach, UNIDO works to help the population in rural areas to develop their local capacity by providing knowledge-based advisory services for expanding access to energy services. The population in rural areas relies exclusively on biomass-wood and charcoal for cooking and heating which causes indoor pollution. Unfortunately, women and children are now spending more time and money to access basic energy services. Based on work with other organizations in Kenya like Ministry of Energy, Kenya Industrial Research Institute etc, UNIDO has identified clear need to harness and develop the synergy of energy development organizations to enhance the use of technology that generates income and contribute to reduction of poverty in the rural areas. Decentralized technologies such as renewable energy technologies for use by small scale enterprises, for commercial production have an important role to play in community development in the rural areas.


The Programme

Currently, UNIDO's rural energy initiative is to support the set up of viable and self sustainable energy kiosks in selected rural areas that are off-grid to promote productive activities and stimulate economic growth. This is through provision of technical assistance, capacity building and use of appropriate energy technologies.

An energy kiosk is defined as a shop where people from the rural areas can locally buy the power produced from various sources for services like lighting, mobile charging, soldering and agro-food processing activities among others. The self-sustainable energy kiosks in the rural communities will be implemented using renewable energy technologies like micro-hydro, anaerobic digester, biomass gasification, wind, solar, and straight vegetable oil e.g. sunflower. Apart from generation of power, UNIDO has also expanded its range of technologies from replacing hurricane lamps with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps which help in reducing indoor pollution.

The programme has so far established energy kiosks in areas that are off grid, far from existing energy sources, to facilitate sustainable livelihoods and stimulate economic growth (see projects).

Aim

UNIDO's Energy and Environment Programme aims to reduce poverty through sustainable industrial growth and contribute to poverty reduction by enhancing the opportunity for productivity through increasing access to a range of appropriate technology options to substitute polluting fuels for cleaner fuels to introduce renewable energy.

Projects

Currently, we have projects in the following regions,

1. Kamahuha Energy Kiosk

This project is located in a banana buying center in the Kamahuha area in Muranga South District. The Kamahuha site uses banana waste from the centre to run a Biogas digester that generates 12 KVA. The digester uses 20% diesel and 80% biogas.

The energy generated is used for productive purposes within the energy kiosk. Here the productive activities include fruit juice processing, yoghurt making, flour milling, ICT services and a recharging facility for lamps mobile phones and car batteries.


2. Kiang’ombe Hybrid Energy Kiosk

This project is located in the Kiangombe area which is located 4km east of Kerugoya town. Within this area lies a small village called Kibai which straddles the Mukengeria River.

At one of the small waterfalls, UNIDO in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and the local community have put up a microhydro power generation facility that produces about 2KW of electric power.

This power is taken to an energy kiosk where it is combined with 0.5 KW of solar power. The combined (Hybrid) energy is used to run various services within the energy kiosk.

Among the services at Kibai energy kiosk is a recharging facility where locals recharge their mobile phones, car batteries and LED rechargeable lamps (that are replacing conventionally used kerosene lamps). Also, the energy kiosk serves an industrial facility that houses several small manufacturing enterprises that include; a flour mill, fruit juice processor, liquid soap processor and a poultry incubator and hatchery.

The energy kiosk project is being implemented by UNIDO, Ministry of Energy (Renewable Energy dept) and the participating communities. The first phase of the community Micro-hydro Power Project in the Kirinyaga area began in early 2007 and it is expected that by completion the project will generate 18KW of power within a 10 km radius. The community members contribute free labor for digging the canals building the weir, powerhouse and kiosk buildings.

The power generated will be owned by the local community and “sold” to the community as the above-mentioned services (provided by the various enterprises).

These projects act as tools for learning and understanding the practical problems associated with the energy policy in relation to decentralized energy schemes. It has contribution to the recognition of training of component manufacturers of turbines as a priority for the country.

Light Emitting Diode lamps

The Energy Kiosks will provide energy services to rural communities where an alternative to kerosene lamps will be replaced by Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps to eliminate toxic indoor pollution caused by carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. It will also reduce fire hazards caused naked flames. This will improve quality of life by reducing incidence of respiratory and ophthalmic illnesses among the populations particularly women and children.


Benefits of LED lamps
Energy Efficiency, Long Life -some LEDs are projected to produce a long service life of about 100,000 hours, Range of Colors -LEDs are available in a range of colors , including white light,
No UV Emissions/Little Infrared - LEDs produce no UV radiation and little heat, making them ideal for illuminating objects, such as works of art, that are sensitive to UV light.
Durability LEDs are highly rugged. They feature no filament that can be damaged due to shock and vibrations. They are subject to heat, however, and being overdriven by the power supply.
Small Size/Design Flexibility, lights instantly, can be easily dimmed, silent operation, low-voltage power supply (increased safety)- it reduces indoor pollution, LEDs are portable and rechargeable.

Applications

• The amount of power generated will determine the applications as shown below;-
• Lighting
• Charging: car batteries, rechargeable lamps, rechargeable gadgets and mobile phones,
• ICT services email, internet and computer training, Steel fabrication,
• Sewing
• Woodwork.

- DISCLAIMER -
The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Often these articles come from sources outside UNIDO; statements and opinions expressed in these articles are solely those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization. UNIDO assumes no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the content and links to other sites and any other items accessed from or via this website. UNIDO shall not be liable for any incident or damages resulting from use of this material.

UNIDO NEWSLETTER Issue # 4 : January- March 2008

UNIDO NEWSLETTER Issue # 4 January- March 2008

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