Eosol Solar Project

Challenge

EWB has partnered with EOSOL, which gathered funds to deveolp a 60kW solar mini-grid in the village of Andavadoaka (Madagascar), in order to enhance it, so that it can provide reliable and safe electricity supply to the local community in the upcoming decades, on a 24/7 basis.  Additionally, as the income of the project is currently limited and not economically sustainable on a commercial level, the shareholders of EOSOL have agreed to make the project  available for research with the aim of allowing different stakeholders in the off-grid electrification sector to gain know-how, and to allow the sharing of lessons between the  project partners.

Goals

The goal of the four year project is to assure that:

• All connections will have a 24/7 reliable electricity supply.
• A working payment system based on mobile technology is installed.
• The downtime of the plant will be (maximum 10 days out of 365 days per year) after the 2nd year of the beginning of the project.
• The mounting system, cabling, batteries, inverters and controlling system will be installed according to European safety and best practice standards.
• Operation and maintenance (O&M) guidelines are set up, such that  the O&M work can be continued by the local staff.

The goals for EWB are:

• To learn and understand the building, working and maintenance of a mini-grid
• Understand the payment system and how people use this
• How such a project  is setup, with respect to local rules and legislation, licenses, etc.
• To understand the impact on society of introducing a mini-grid.
• The financial mechanisms how such a project can be realized
• How such a project can be built and maintained locally in a sustainable manner
• Understand institutional mechanisms including any type of corruption that might exist in the country.