solar village chbar chros (cambodia) · solar village chbar chros (cambodia) a project of stiftung...

Solar Village Chbar Chros

(Cambodia)

A project of

Stiftung Solarenergie - Solar Energy Foundation

in cooperation with CamKids, NRG Solutions und Sevea

November 2015 - January 2016


The project in summary:

First solar village in Cambodia: Solar electrification of an entire village of 112 households.

Alleviation of poverty by improving the work, income and communication situation

Financial sustainability: Inhabitants are to pay a monthly flat rate for solar system. Thus sustainability of the solar system is guaranteed.

Maintenance and service will be guaranteed by local technicians. This is also a support for the local solar craft.

Continuation and development of the work of Stiftung Solarenergie in Ethiopia which have supplied Ethiopian villages with solar power since 2004.

The Concept of Solar Villages In order to be able to make a long-term contribution towards alleviating poverty, the Stiftung So-larenergie has decided not to provide isolated and scattered schools, health stations or huts with solar energy. Instead, the Stiftung Solarenergie pursued a policy of concentrated and comprehensive sup-port to supply entire villages. Since 2004, the Stiftung Solarenergie has provided four entire villages with solar power in Ethiopia:

- Kechemober: 150 inhabitants

- Rema: 6,000 inhabitants (movie about Rema: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4jv0xlbuQs)

- Dire: 4,000 inhabitants

- Arso Amba: 4.500 inhabitants

In all solar villages households as well as all public buildings (schools, health stations and churches) are provided with solar power. Furthermore, solar water pumps, water disinfection systems and street lamps were also installed. Long-term success was ensured by two factors: on the one hand by local technicians who are on-site and responsible for the maintenance and servicing and on the other hand by a monthly flat rate the inhabitants have to pay.


The Aim of Solar Villages

By the supply of a full village with solar energy we want to show that decentralized solar technology is able to initiate an economic and social development and in which way this is done.

It is the responsibility of the foundation to accompany this development and provide or find solar so-lutions for the growing energy need.

The solar villages also support local trade. Essential in their implementation is the cooperation with a local company, which takes care of the installation as well as it provides maintenance and service in the subsequent years. This happens with the support of learned assistants of the villages themselves.

As part of the project all households just get a basic supply of solar power therefore the solar company is the first contact person concerning the expansion of their solar supply or other requirements.

The Stiftung Solarenergie has received several international awards for this long-term approach to-wards village development.

Chbar Chros Village – the initial Situation

Chbar Chros is a village situated 70 km in the west of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh in the Krang Chek com-mune. This village has 112 households with 6 persons in average per house-hold. Furthermore there is a primary school and a health station, both are not only responsible for the village Chbar Chros but also for several neigh-boring villages.

With only a few exceptions the fami-lies live on rice farming, but since the rice harvest is often not enough to meet their annual needs nearly all families require an additional income: many often single family members work in factories to support their families at home. Others run small business at home to earn extra income e.g.: shops with articles for the daily need or tailoring of clothes.

Chbar Chros


The houses are mostly built on stilts in the typical Cambodian style. They have their main room in the 1th floor, which serves as the bedroom at the same time. The area under the house serves as the kitchen, there the household members like to stay during the day (see picture below). The main reason for this spatial division is that the unbearable heat in closed rooms, a result of the tropical climate in Cambodia. The open room on the floor provides the chance for cooling-down by the flow of fresh air and gentle breezes. Also one can find many poorer huts, which constitute out of one single room.

A traditional living room with two floors


A small Shop

Chbar Chros has no access to the power grid. Currently the inhabitants only use old car batteries in order to generate power for a lamp or mobile charging. The batteries are in the main room of the house and do not contain any technical safety protection to prevent short circuits or opening by chil-dren for instance.


The inhabitants usually get up at 4:30 a.m. and go to bed around 9 p.m. They use the lamp light in average three hours in the evening and one hour in the morning.

If the battery is low they are recharged in a battery charging station with a diesel generator. The battery is brought there usually in the morning and collected at the end of the afternoon once it is fully charged. In this time- and cost-consuming way most of the families charge their batteries

Old car battery for power supply Charging station with diesel generator

Also the households have usually small mobile lanterns, which are run by dry cells. The cheap dry cell batteries are changed every week and thrown away around the households or in the forest. Recycling does not take place at all.

Overall, a household spends around $115/year (~$10/month) for all its energy expenses.

Project Principles

Providing solar energy to a village presents particular technical, logistical and organizational chal-lenges. The experiences from the other solar villages lead to the following project principles:

The project has to be oriented towards the real needs of the inhabitants. Its planning and realization requires their active participation.

The Stiftung Solarenergie provides the solar systems. In terms of a sustainable development the villagers have to finance the operation of the system.

The main focus is on the operations management:

- Technically: Supply of replacement parts; possibility of service and maintenance by trained, local personnel.

- Socio-culturally: Integration of solar energy in users’ everyday life.

- Financially: Establishment of a reliable payment-system, which ensures costs for service and maintenance as well as replacement purchase by the users.


Technical solution

Requirement People should have light for at least 4 hours per day at their disposal. Furthermore charging of mobile phones should be possible.

Solution Solar-Home-Systems that consist out of a solar module with an output of 50 Wp, 2-3 powerful LED-lamps, a charge controller with the SunControl-Payment-System for the management of the monthly payments, maintenance-free gel batteries (17Ah), a sturdy case to protect the battery.

Quality control and assembling in Phnom Penh

First the components of the solar energy system were checked for their proper function in the head office of our partner NRG Solution in Phnom Penh. After that the single components were assembled into complete Solar-Home-Systems.

Agreement with the villagers

In close cooperation with our partner CamKids, which attends Chbar Chros village as a charity for a long time, various meetings with the villagers were hold in order to explain the function of the solar system, their possibilities as well as the terms for the installation:

The solar systems provide sufficient electricity for 2-3 LED and charging of the mobile phone.

The price to be paid once a month is caculated that even the poorest family of the village is able to afford a system. In this way we want to ensure that every household in the village has the possibility for a basic supply with solar energy.

If a household needs more light or wants to connect further devices (fans, radio, TV) this can be applied subsequently, but the price for this additional application is not subsidized.


Top and bottom left: explanation of solar system; bottom right: Plan of the village for the installation.

Installation

The technical installation was made professionally and promptly by the solar technicians of our pro-ject partner NRG Solutions. They spent a lot of time to make the families become familiar with the function of the solar system. Just if the families know the capabilities and limitations exactly they can use them to their satisfaction. In the course of the installation by NRG Solutions it quickly became obvious that two of the village’s farmers are supportive of a trouble-free conduct of the operation. Both of them are also employed as guards of the village community. They were very helpful during the installation of the solar sys-tems and were trained for smaller technical work duties.


One of the teams after a successful installation in one of the houses


Top and bottom: Introduction in the use of solar power


Feedback

The feedback of the families – after a short while already – were impressive: They all talked about the change of their living conditions and their attitude towards life. Not only with regards to their ex-panded possibilities to do work in the evening or early in the morning; also due to the fact that the very time-consuming transport of the car batteries to the charging station is no longer necessary re-sults in more life quality. And last but not least, the sense of security has been increased substantially because light shines in every house in the village, not just in a few.

During the first community public meeting after the installation of the solar systems the families could just not stop to explain our local partners how much easier their daily life became and that they were particularly happy to have the chance to contact them in case of any trouble.

The head of the community wrote in January 2016, two month after the installation: “When I walk through the village in the evening and talk to the villagers, I can see how happy and pleased they are with the new light. They say that the village is just like a proper town now because every house has light in the evening, thanks to their access to solar energy.”

We will accompany the future development of the village and evaluate in an impact assessment the further changes. For this purpose we closely work together with Sevea, a very experienced organisa-tion, which has conducted many of “Impact Assesments” so far. The organisation which is based in Phnom Penh has recorded the situation during the installation and summed that up in an elaborate report. Every 6 months another assessment will be performed to evaluate the outcomes overtime.


Both solar helper of the village (left) talking to the team leader of NRG Solutions (right)

Sustainability

Our partner NRG Solutions is responsible for service and maintenance of the solar systems. The em-ployees can call on assistance of helpers of the village, who make sure a smooth contact with the villagers and prompt information about potential problems. Also important is the further cooperation with CamKids as the charity which accompanies the village comprehensively in its development. In close coordination with CamKids we will implement further solar installations. Due to the installation of the solar village the Cambodian solar company has not only gathered many experiences but has also now a reference project which is relevant for further development of the company. Furthermore the employees of NRG Solutions were able to gain the confidence of the villag-ers of Chbar Chros by their cooperative collaboration with them. This is essential for continuing their activities in this region, creating local work places and providing further families with solar energy.

Film


A Cambodian film team has made a film about the solar village Chbar Chros, which can be watched online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWIpI9F5nbU&feature=youtu.be

My Thanks:

The successful implementation of the solar village Chbar Chros would have not been possible without the support of various persons and organisations. Above all:

CamKids is a Cambodian NGO helping children in Cambodia who are either poor or whose parents are not there for them. Their role is to understand the needs of the targeted community and to identify how to integrate solutions in the community. This is what they have already done in Chbar Chros for years with the development of education in-frastructures. They are the local presence of the project in the village. www.camkids.org

NRG Solutions is a Cambodian social enterprise providing sustainable and affordable energy to rural areas. In this project, their role is to install Solar Home Systems in the households, and put in place a reliable service for the operation and maintenance of the systems. www.nrg-renewables.com

Sevea is an international operating consulting company based in

Phnom Penh. It was already engaged in the planning and preparation process of the project. The responsibility of Sevea is to perform an im-pact assessment during the following years to show the developments activated and initiated through solar energy.

www.seveaconsulting.com

Here I would particularly like to thank the Stiftung Sonnige Aussichten, which has made with its do-nation the realization of the first solar village in Cambodia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWIpI9F5nbU&feature=youtu.be


What are the next steps in Chbar Chros?

The equipment with solar energy is currently in process:

A solar fridge used for storing medicine and vaccine

Permanently installed solar lamps for the treatment rooms and accommodation facilities

Solar run fans

Portable solar lamps for potential home visits

Solar TV for staff trainings

Solar charging device for batteries in order to run small medical equipment

Two street lights as safety light to illuminate the area around the health station sufficiently.

The installation of the relevant solar systems will be carried out in February/March 2016.

Director of Stiftung Solarenergie Harald Schützeichel with the health care worker in Chbar Chros

Further projects, which are still in the planning stage, relate to solar irrigation systems and safety lamps for households.

Merzhausen, in February 2016

Dr. Harald Schützeichel Director of the Stiftung Solarenergie – Solar Energy Foundation

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