SOLAR TODAY®
JULy/AUGUST 2011
VOL. 25, NO. 6
Working with local partners,
this renewable energy advocate helped
bring light to remote villages.
text and photos by DAVID G. hILL, Ph.D.
and Southeast Asia. Critical to our fundraising
efforts, HLF had identified Nele Bazzar, in the
Solukhumbu district of eastern Nepal, as a candidate site for a health post solar installation.
After arriving in Nepal in early August,
ahead of the kids, I met with HLF staff and representatives from several solar market suppliers based in Kathmandu. We worked to clarify
the number of projects, the size and location of
each, the equipment to be ordered, schedules
and travel logistics.
We started with two broad objectives: to
complete at least one household project in
Lahachowk, and to complete at least one health
post installation in Nele Bazzar. The possibilities
we considered included larger-capacity systems
to support lighting and vaccine refrigeration at
health posts, and systems sufficient to support
computers and lighting at schools.
Modular and self-contained, photovoltaic
systems offer an increasingly attractive option for
rural electrification. Nepal, in addition to being
blessed with a wealth of hydropower potential,
also has a very good solar resource. The areas
we worked in have solar resources equivalent
to sunny areas in Colorado, Texas and much of
California. (Nepal receives an average 5 to 6 kilo-
watt-hours per square meter per day for flat-plate
south-facing systems at latitude tilt, according to
swera.unep.net. U.S. data from nrel.gov/rredc.)
By late August, working closely with HLF
Program Manager yadav Gurung, we had plans
to install three relatively small (lighting-only)
solar systems at health posts in the Solukhumbu
district. Mason and I would also work independently to install two household-scale systems
near Lahachowk.
By selecting relatively small-scale projects
(maximum system size 80 watts, with 10 fluorescent lamps), we were able, with a modest overall
budget, to provide five communities with basic
lighting services that will benefit thousands of
people each year. For communities around the
globe without access to electricity, even single-module, 12-volt systems with less than 100
watts of total capacity each can offer important
economic and social benefits. In Nepal, basic
lighting systems at health posts enable evening
education, clinics and emergency services and
better visibility in low daylight conditions. Small
household systems also contribute to improved
health by helping to prevent accidents, improving indoor air quality (over commonly used
unventilated kerosene lights), providing light for
education and charging radios and cell phones.
With our plans in place and Mason freshly
arrived from his summer job in the United
States, we were ready to start. The day before
departing Kathmandu, we met with representatives from Lotus Energy ( lotusenergy.com/le)
to review the system designs and participate in
some basic training that HLF provides before
the start of each project. Lotus is a market leader
in providing renewable and particularly photovoltaic energy to Nepal, and it was the supplier
and designer of the health post systems we were
installing. Lotus and other solar providers have
their roots in rural electrification, but backup
Looking down the Solu Khola River Valley toward
Tingla — the first installation site.
David G. hill, Ph.D., is a managing consultant at Vermont Energy Investment Corp. VEIC is a 25-year-old
nonprofit organization committed to reducing the
environmental and economic costs of energy. Today,
with more than 200 employees, VEIC operates energy-efficiency utilities in Vermont, Ohio and Washington,
D.C., and provides energy-efficiency and renewable
energy consulting services throughout North America
and beyond. Learn more at veic.org. Hill has been a
member of the American Solar Energy Society board
of directors since 2008 and is the current chair-elect.
By selecting relatively
small-scale projects, Hill and
his teenaged son were able,
with a modest budget, to
provide five communities
with basic lighting services
that will benefit thousands
of people each year.
