Self-sufficient, network-independent solar electricity supply for village in Tanzania finished.

Luxembourg, 2 december 2011. Rural Electrification in Africa.
Since 2010 our 20 ft IPS® technique center, with a 21 kWp large solar plant, supplies with electric current around the clock a village with 1.500 inhabitants, a hospital with 40 beds, a nun convention and a parish! Far away in the western mountains of Tanzania at the border to Rwanda, the whole area had never a chance to receive ever a binding to the public electricity supply. Electricity however is the engine for the development of rural regions and makes economic progress only possible.The availability of light and communication improve the quality of life and e.g. prevent the migration from the land and their negative effects.
With support of the Luxembourgish Ministry, the aid organization AMU (www.amu.lu) assigned the SOLARtec (www.solartec.lu) to the production of a solar supported power supply to the rural electrification of a complete village. Developed and produced in Luxembourg the solar hybrid energy system proves that electrical current supplies are possible in meshed nets. Heart of the energy concept of the SOLARtec is the mobile IPS® technique container. From there the main stream cables (8 lines) were laid into the soil, attached to the main distributor cabinets and connected to a radial loop network. The advantage: small cable diameters = simple handling. The special building method of the mobile IPS® technique center guarantees low and continuous interior temperatures, also during strong sun exposure at extreme locations. The dust proof and multi-level venting system flows around the inserted components with air-conditioned interior air, whereby optimal operating conditions are reached. Thus the working life of the battery plants of up to 10 years becomes possible. High-quality solar modules, specially designed by SOLARtec, and tiltable floor racks produce direct current from the sun and lead this over a ground cable into the technique center. There it is stored either in the battery plant or converted directly from inverters into electrical alternating current and fed into the backbone network. Thus normal commercial electrical appliances without expensive re-equipment can be operated. The IPS® stores solar energy in battery plants, converts this into alternating current, regulates, steers and distributes automatically with an high-efficient energy management the electric current to individual electric circuits. The IPS® concept uses during bad weather phases a „back-up“ system. This can be an existing external Diesel generator or an optionally available internal load generator. The general concept of the IPS® makes it possible that the conventional generators contribute only to a maximum of 3 to 7% to the covering of the annual energy requirement. This saves to a large extend fuel and costs and reduces the CO2-emmission. The entire plant data can be supervised from the distance over a standardised modem (GPRS). Substantial characteristic of the IPS® technology is their reliable functioning by the redundant execution of special components and the easy handling. After a short briefing the users of a IPS® solution are able to operate their power supply independently. Transport takes place by sea and overland route to the places of work. The customer-oriented „plug & play “ principle makes the immediate use of the IPS® systems possible and this without time and cost-intensive connection activity. In the course of the overall project, all work was accomplished by the local population and the training program enables a selected group to accomplish coming extension measures themselves.

SOLARtec s.àr.l was created 2001 in Luxembourg. The internationally working company conceives, plans and installs European-wide net-feeding solar plants.
World-wide it realizes self-sufficient, network-independent energy supplies. SOLARtec is the specialist for reliable and permanent current supplies in the rural electrification. To its main developments belongs the IPS® energy container, the remote maintenance system IPS® control and further applications under the label IndependentPowerSystem.

SOLARtec s.à.r.l.
14, rue de Fischbach
L-7391 Blaschette / Luxembourg
Tel : +352 33 00 23
Fax : +352 33 66 68
www.solartec.lu
Press contact : Marianne Schnell
m.schnell@solartec.lu

This release was published on openPR.