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Report 4 (of 5): Sun Slate
- Dominican Republic
Introduction
Approximately 400,000 rural households
in the Dominican Republic lack access to grid electricity.
Increasing demand for electricity throughout the country,
particularly in poor rural areas, has meant finding
alternative sources of power. Now, thanks to a national
scheme, funded by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) Small Grant Programme and the national government,
and with training provided by local organisations,
more than 600 rural homes in 18 provinces are using
solar power to provide electricity for televisions,
radios and lighting. The scheme provides specialised
training and establishes micro- enterprise to sell,
install and maintain PV systems.
The remote village of Sabana Mula
is one community benefiting from the scheme. Using
the power of the sun, this community is able to pump
water from the village well and light its school as
well as individual houses. Yet this is no ordinary
scheme. The community of Sabana Mula is showing that
they have a big part to play. Seed money is provided
by the Small Grants Programme, co- funded by the national
government, but the communities themselves have implemented
a revolving fund to ensure that everyone gets the
technology they so desperately need.
Solar Power in the Dominican Republic
The Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad
(CDE), the main electricity supply company in the
Dominican Republic, currently provides only half the
nation's electricity requirements. Without any electricity,
poor rural communities lack the ability to stop urban
migration, as many people feel cut off from the outside
world. Young people in particular have been migrating
to the cities in order to access basic amenities.
Traditional use of kerosene for lighting and cooking
is expensive and causes health problems too.
The Small Grants Programme of the
UNDP financed the first 17 home systems and the community
formed a revolving fund to help pay for others. For
each solar panel, a deposit of approximately US$115
is needed, together with monthly payments of US$6
per month. An investment like this may take up to
three years to pay off, but each solar home system
(SHS) is guaranteed to last for 25 years. ADESOL,
a national non-governmental organisation (NGO) trained
and sponsored a local entrepreneur from Sabana Mula
to sell solar panels to the community as well as providing
technical assistance and training to the beneficiaries.
Elsewhere, ADESOL, together with other NGOs, has been
training a new group of entrepreneurs in PV technologies,
creating self- sustaining businesses where none existed
before.
Typical home using solar energy
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Training of beneficiaries
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Benefits of Solar Power
Solar power has many benefits over
traditional fossil fuels like kerosene and diesel.
- It is environmentally friendly
as PV systems produce no harmful pollution and so
contribute to reducing the impact of 'greenhouse
gases' that damage the atmosphere.
- It can improve health as fumes
from kerosene lamps in poorly ventilated houses
are a serious health problem in much of the world
where electric light is unavailable.
- It helps to extend the working
day as electricity provides lighting into the evening.
- It can stem urban migration by
improving the quality of life through electrification
at the rural household and village level.
- It is entirely safe unlike kerosene
lamps that are a serious fire hazard, killing and
injuring tens of thousands of people each year.
Kerosene, diesel fuel and gasoline stored for lamps
and small generators are also a safety threat.
- It can help improve literacy because
people can read after dark more easily than by candle
or lamplight. More time can be spent on schoolwork
and eyesight is safeguarded when children study
by electric light.
- With television and radio, people
previously cut off from electronic information,
education, and entertainment can become better informed
about the outside world without leaving the home.
- It effectively conserves energy
because it saves costly conventional power for urban
areas, market areas, and industrial and commercial
uses.
- It reduces maintenance as kerosene
lamps and diesel generators must be filled several
times per day. In rural areas, purchasing and transporting
of kerosene or diesel fuel is often both difficult
and expensive. Diesel generators require periodic
maintenance and have a short lifespan. Car batteries,
used to power televisions, must otherwise be transported
miles for recharging. Solar panels require no fuel,
and will last for up to 25 years with minimal servicing.
- It helps to improve living standards
by creating jobs and business opportunities based
on an appropriate technology in a decentralised
marketplace. As much as 90 per cent of the export
earnings of some developing countries are used to
pay for imported oil, most of it for power generation.
In the long term and on a larger scale, capital
saved on large power plants can be invested in health,
education, economic development, and industry.
Solar Technology - the Basics
You do not have to be an engineer
to install, operate and maintain a PV system. However,
understanding the basics is very useful when determining
whether it is an appropriate technology for user needs.
Photovoltaic cells
Figure 1. A photovoltaic cell © Florida Solar
Energy Center
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Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert sunlight
directly into electricity. A photovoltaic cell or solar
cell is usually made from silicon, which is manufactured
from sand. A thin semiconductor wafer is specially treated
to form an electric field, positive on one side and
negative on the other. When light energy from the sun
hits the cell, electrons are knocked loose from the
atoms in the semiconductor material. This creates an
electric current. Typically, each cell can generate
approximately 1 watt of electricity.
Modules or arrays
Figure 2. Photovoltaic cells, module, panels and
arrays © Florida Solar Energy Center
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Photovoltaic modules or arrays (often
called solar panels) are made up of a number of cells
connected together and mounted in a support frame that
protects the cells from the environment. Modules are
designed to supply electricity at a certain voltage,
usually 12 volts. PV modules are very reliable and durable
and usually come with a guarantee of between 20 and
30 years.
Power output
PV is measured in units of peak watts
(Wp). A peak watt refers to the power output of the
module under 'peak sun' conditions, considered to
be 1000 watts per square metre.
PV systems
Figure 3. A basic PV system © Florida Solar Energy
Center
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Although a PV array produces power when
exposed to sunlight, a number of other components are
required to conduct, control, convert, distribute, and
store the energy produced by the array.
Depending on the requirements of the
system, the system may include a dc-ac power inverter,
battery bank, system and battery controller, and/or
auxiliary energy sources. In addition, an assortment
of balance of system (BOS) hardware, including wiring,
over-current, surge protection and disconnect devices,
and other power processing equipment may also be included.
Batteries are generally used in PV
systems for the purpose of storing energy produced
by the PV array during the day, to supply electricity
as needed during the night and periods of cloudy weather.
A charge controller is often used to control the flow
of current to and from the battery to protect it from
overcharge, overdischarge, or other control functions.
The charge controller may also monitor the operational
status of the system.
PV Applications
PV technology is used to provide everyday
services for homes and communities including water
pumping, lighting, communications and refrigeration.
PV systems also supply electric power for many productive
uses ranging from lighting workshops to powering machinery.
In the Dominican Republic, PV technology is mainly
used for home systems and for water pumping.
Solar Home Systems
Solar Home Systems (SHS) are 12-volt
direct-current (dc) stand-alone systems that use PV
to electrify small rural homes. Each SHS includes
a PV module, a battery, a charge controller, wiring,
fluorescent lights, and outlets for other appliances.
A standard small SHS can operate several lights, a
television, a radio or cassette player, and a small
fan.
Water pumping
Water pumping is one of the simplest
and most appropriate uses for photovoltaic technology.
Water for irrigation, drinking, stock watering and
domestic uses can be supplied by a PV powered pumping
system. Most PV pumping systems have the added advantage
of storing water for use when the sun is not shining.
This removes the need for batteries, reducing overall
system costs too.
The Future
The school in Sabana Mula utilising solar power
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In the Dominican Republic, the solar
electrification scheme has provided many benefits to
the communities involved, bringing social amenities
such as schools and clinics and so indirectly improving
community health and education sectors, as well as providing
their homes with power.
Solar PV is affordable to an increasing
number of off-grid rural populations in developing
countries. For home lighting, the cost of an SHS is
comparable to a family's average monthly expenditure
for candles, kerosene or dry-cell batteries. A family
with an SHS no longer needs to purchase expensive
dry-cell batteries to operate radios, which nearly
every family has. As the photovoltaic industry matures
and the infrastructure expands, more companies will
be able to offer financing schemes direct to their
customers.
Images taken by Adolfo Luciano, Sabana
Mula Community Council Leader
For further information, please contact:
Information on solar power
The Solar Electric Light
Fund (SELF)
1775 K Street, NW Suite 595
Washington, DC 20006
USA
Tel: 202-234-7265
Fax: 202-328-9512
E-mail: solarlight@self.org
Website: http://www.self.org/
The Solar Electric Light Fund,
Inc. (SELF) is a non-profit charitable organisation.
SELF seeks to communities and governments
in the acquisition, financing and installation
of decentralised household solar electric
systems in the developing world. |
Websites
http://www.villagebanking.org/
The Foundation for International Community Assistance
(FINCA) provides financial services to the world's
poorest families so they can create their own jobs,
raise household incomes, and improve their standard
of living. We deliver these services through a global
network of locally managed, self-supporting institutions.
http://www.solarbuzz.com/
The Solarbuzz website allows you to connect to solar
energy companies worldwide, search solar energy links
by topic and utilise a very informative guide to solar
energy. All countries are listed.
http://www.homepower.com/
Home Power Magazine
http://www.pv-uk.org.uk/
British Photovoltaic Association
www.nrel.gov/ncpv
U.S. National Centre for Photovoltaics
http://www.case.gov.au/
International Centre for Application of Solar Energy
http://www.solstice.crest.org/
Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology
http://www.iea-pvps.org/
International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems
Programme
http://www.mysolar.com/
Independent site operated by ECOFYS BV, Utrecht, Netherlands
http://www.wire.ises.org/
ISES's World-wide Information System for Renewable
Energy
Further reading
Books with underlined titles can be
downloaded for free by clicking on them. Others can
be ordered from the relevant address.
FAO Books
Solar
photovoltaics for sustainable agriculture and rural
development
Also available in Spanish
B. van Campen, D. Guidi and G. Best
Environment and Natural Resources Working Paper No.
2, FAO, 2000
Solar photovoltaic systems, through
their flexibility in use, offer unique chances for
the energy sector to provide 'packages' of energy
services to remote rural areas such as for rural health
care, education, communication, agriculture, lighting
and water supply. It is hoped that this document contributes
to the generation of ideas and discussions among the
different institutions involved in providing these
services to rural areas and thereby to an informed
decision on the PV technology option.
The main aim of this study is, therefore,
to contribute to a better understanding of the potential
impact and of the limitations of PV systems on sustainable
agriculture and rural development (SARD), especially
concerning income- generating activities.
ITDG Publishing Books
Financing Renewable Energy Projects:
A guide for development workers
Gregory, Silveira, Derrick, Cowley, Allinson and Paish
UK£15.95, ITDG Publishing, 1997, ISBN: 1853393878
EarthPrint Books
Profiting from sunshine - passive
solar building in the mountains: collection of papers
on national workshops in China, India, Nepal and Pakistan
US$20, ICIMOD, 2000, ISBN: 9291150991
This document is an output from
a project funded by the UK Department for International
Development (DFID) and the European Commission (EC)
for the benefit of developing countries. The views
expressed are not necessarily those of DFID or the
EC.
Acknowledgements
ITDG would like to thank Alberto
Sanchez and Stephen Gitonga for input into this paper.
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