Electricity and Control August 2020

ENERGY MANAGEMENT + THE INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT

Another mini-grid for Idjwi Island, DRC

Clean energy provider SustainSolar and mini-grid developer Equatorial Power have joined forces to establish another solar mini-grid on Idjwi Island on Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The first solar mini-grid established on Idjwi Island in 2019 serves over 304 households and small businesses.

D espite the challenges of the Covid-19 lockdown, Cape Town based SustainSolar, an Africa-focused solar photovoltaic (PV) off-grid system integrator and provider of turnkey solutions for rural electrification, recently started working on a containerised off-grid solar- battery power system to be delivered to Idjwi Island. Equatorial Power, a Uganda-based mini-grid developer that has pioneered off-grid electrification and its productive use in the region, already owns and operates a solar mini- grid on Idjwi Island. Installed in 2019 it serves over 304 households and small businesses. With the new mini-grid development about 30 km from the first site, Equatorial Power will connect an industrial hub and supplementary systems to support growth of agricultural value chains on Idjwi Island – including industrial park ice, local shop refrigerators, egg incubation and juice making – with over 20 new connections at the south of the island.

Equatorial Power chose a Sustain Compact™ system due to SustainSolar’s turnkey offering, which includes door- to-door logistics to delivery on site, as well as installation and commissioning. “SustainSolar’s plug-and-play solution significantly reduces the operational complexity around sourcing and installing the power generation unit. This leaves our team with more time to focus on the distribution and metering infrastructure and serving customers sooner,” says Abishek Bharadwaj, Chief Technical Officer of Equatorial Power. The Sustain Compact™ is a 20-foot rugged contain- er, equipped with SMA solar and battery inverters and SolarMD batteries with an initial capacity of 29.7 kWp PV and 88.8 kWh lithium-ion battery storage. The equipment is all pre-installed and tested, ready for commissioning on site within a matter of hours. The mounting structure com- ponents to be installed on top of the container and in two

14 Electricity + Control AUGUST 2020