10086869Rural Offgrid Dairy Value Chain for Energy Access and Income GenerationClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKMilk is traditionally a woman's asset in the Maasai culture of Northern Tanzania. But traditionally, other than for immediate consumption, milk was not valuable, since it would go off very quickly in the intense heat of the day. Seeking to change the fortune of women in the community, STI4D's Tanzanian partner organisation, community NGO OMASI, started local offgrid dairy businesses throughout the Maasai region some 15 years ago. The results were remarkable. From a position of having relatively little family 'bargaining power', women who sold their milk to the dairy were suddenly empowered and were appreciated in their families. They were able to sell their milk and buy family essentials in nearby shops, rather than needing to ask their husbands or fathers for the money to do so. They were able to invest some of the funds in school fees for their children. And suddenly the men in the community were in the position of asking their wives for money, rather than the other way round. In order to operate, the dairies are critically dependent on reliable power. The twin chiller units in the dairy consumer 10kW each, and the heaters for cheese and yoghurt making consume up to 50kW when operating at high volumes. Each dairy was therefore powered by a 63kW diesel generator. Cost and reliability of power are now the biggest issues keeping them from re-opening. The dairies need reliable power since so much capital is tied up in maturing product like cheese, or stored product like yoghurt, which will quickly spoil if refrigeration fails. The grid supply is notoriously unreliable throughout the region, so even the few dairies that are connected, cannot rely on continuity of connection. Restarting operations is therefore a risk. Clean energy, eg in minigrids, is known to be more reliable as a power source, but it is very hard to power a load as large and as variable as a dairy from a minigrid. Peak demand is high, but overall load factor would vary so much as to make traditional minigrid technology uneconomical. Together, STI4D and OMASI intend to develop new technology to more cost-effectively provide clean and reliable power to the dairies, and allow them to begin operations again in a long-term sustainable model. The same technology approach will also be appropriate for many other high-power productive use anchor loads in communities, and could be used to cost-effectively complement local minigrids.