Demand Side Renewables for Agricultural Base Load Energy (DeSiRABLE)

hrough our previous Energy Catalyst Round 4 project, EVERESST DC, we established that DC energy services, centred around an Anchor Base Load can provide better value energy provision than diesel systems. In addition, such provisions also open up large numbers of energy access opportunities to support rural development enhancing growth and eradication poverty. However, in such applications each system is to some degree bespoke, depending on the Anchor Base Load and local community's requirements.

Within this project we aim to develop renewable energy technology platforms to support agricultural loads and provide additional energy services to enhance local enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. Further, a toolbox that will allow us to quickly and accurately determine cost effective solutions including, system size and additional energy services for rural communities will be developed. Within the toolbox, these platforms will be integrated with a DC micro grid system that can support each of these opportunities, tailoring them to specific needs.

Such integrated systems, designed for high autonomy in order to deliver a reliability of energy services surpassing that provided by diesel, designed to also create spare capacity during times of high renewable energy availability, e.g. solar irradiation. Engaging the local community to make best use of this spare capacity represents a "leapfrogging" adoption of demand side response, an approach to energy management only now being trialled in many developed counties including the UK.

here are approximately 1.2 Billion people without access to reliable modern electricity services with the majority living in sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. This research is geared to develop technologies and processes that are appropriately designed to benefit these people in an environmentally sound and resource efficient manner.

DESIRABLE directly addresses productive agribusiness through the MCC (its anchor business) alongside secondary businesses and services facilitated by an excess of electricity generation. We see a DESIRABLE MCC as a focal point for the community, the provision of services such as Wi-Fi and battery charging being open to all, regardless of income, age or gender. To promote the DESIRABLE MCC as a community hub we see free Wi-Fi as a key tool to drive footfall, enterprise and inclusive use. The high reliability of the DESIRABLE MCC reduces risk to milk producers, ensuring that they will always be able to sell to the MCC and make a return. At present this risk is felt acutest by the smallest, poorest producer. At present, many MCCs suffer loss of their client base due to cooling system failures, hence, once a farmer customer is lost they do not return.

The University of Southampton (UoS) through their Energy for Development (e4D) programme (www.energy.soton.ac.uk) in Uganda and Kenya have been undertaking longitudinal micro-grid intervention studies for the past seven years. The provision of electricity for productive use alongside household level services (lighting, mobile phone charging etc) is observed to invigorate communities. In Kitonyoni, the first e4D intervention, UoS observed a doubling of the number of businesses in the village, alongside increased school attendance and enhanced maternal health services provision [1].

The UoS micro grid interventions have also been studied in terms of their potential impact on entrepreneurship, which is key to the success of DESIRABLE. UoS have observed that social structure loss (which was an issue in Rwanda) when accompanied by a large loss in household income hinders entry into entrepreneurship, but a small loss enables entry. When social structure loss is accompanied by a change in family stability that causes a woman to become the head of the household, it increases entry. Finally, when social structure loss is accompanied by access to communal resources (as with DESIREABLE), it increases entry [2].

[1] Essendi H. (2015) Infrastructural challenges to better health in maternity facilities in rural Kenya: community and healthworker perceptions, Reproductive Health, vol 12, issue 1, p103
[2] George G. et al (2015) Social structure, reasonable gain, and entrepreneurship in Africa, Strategic management journal, vol 37, issue 6, pp 1118-1131