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In the sub-Saharan region of Africa, only one-tenth of the rural population has electricity available. In Rwanda, the residents of remote villages completely live in darkness by night. This inspired a group of students from London who built an “energy canteen†on the African continent and will use this as a starting point to start their own entrepreneurship.
Founded in 2008, e.quinox is a project initiated by the UK student team and is the name of the student’s non-profit organization. They are using a centralized solar charging station and a portable battery box in the hands of villagers to provide electricity support to rural communities in Rwanda.
The e.quinox team found that in rural communities, lighting is usually provided by kerosene lamps and candles. Unfortunately, these products have a long supply chain, and when they reach the end user, the price is also doubled. In addition, residents burning these substances indoors will also produce toxic fumes.
When a few students from the Imperial College of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at London's Imperial College (ICL) built their first “energy canteen†in the Garcko area of ​​Rwanda, everything started to look different.
With the central solar charging station, local villagers can recharge their battery boxes at a small cost. This battery compartment contains a gel-based lead-acid battery, and two LED lights, 12V output. The latest version also includes a built-in 65W inverter. The charged battery box can provide 230V AC power for some small appliances, such as radios and mobile phone chargers. In addition, the Central Solar Power Station can also provide power for larger community appliances such as water purifiers.
Due to the promotion of low-cost renewable energy applications in developing countries, the e.quinox team’s “energy canteen†was seen and awarded a cash prize in the “Ecomagination Challenge†launched by GE last year.
GE's “Green Challenge†is an open innovation competition aimed at promoting clean energy. During the competition, GE and its partners have reached a total of US$134 million in investment agreements and commercial cooperation agreements with the winners.
The student's "energy canteen" brought light to a distant, dark Rwandan village. But their ambition is obviously more than that.
According to the Rwandan Ministry of Energy, only 6% of the 9.7 million Rwandan residents can be connected to the grid, but the government’s goal is to increase this figure to 16% by 2012. In accordance with the vision of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda in 2020, one of their reconstruction plans calls for raising the average annual income of Rwanda from today's $290 to about $900, close to the per capita income of a middle-income country. No matter what else, this requires Rwanda to increase its power access by 35% from its current level.
Christopher Hopper, chairman of the e.quinox project, boldly predicted that the e.quinox model is the only viable method for electrification in developing countries. "Usually when people think about "electrification," they always come up with some very Western methods," he said. “This may be a national grid or a small community microgrid. Although technically you can do this, it is usually not feasible. It is very costly to maintain the system and the cost.
“So, what we are trying to do is not only to provide technical solutions, but also to show that it is economically feasible. We hope to prove that this can be achieved within five years of economic return,†said Hope.
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