Project Location Client

Solar Hybrid Power for Rural School Electrification

Tanzania, Africa

Kisokwe Primary School

Kisokwe village is located in Mazae Ward, Mpwapwa District, Dodoma Region, Tanzania. Dodoma Region is centrally positioned on the Tanzanian mainland. Kisokwe Primary School, which educates about 800 pupils, is the public primary school in Kisokwe village and faces major challenges in its facilities and infrastructure. Among the challenges are a lack of electricity in the school and teacher/staff quarters and no integration of computers and technology in the curriculum delivery. The lack of electricity directly inhibits the effective learning and education of the children. Safety during after-dark hours and extracurricular and after-school offerings are also jeopardized by the lack of lighting and electricity.

 

Needs at Kisokwe School

With electricity, schools can integrate information, communications, and technology in the delivery of their curriculums, offer adult education after school hours, provide lighting to classrooms, staff offices, and teacher housing, and offer an energy station to the community to allow them to use the electricity for phone charging and other productive uses. While the school is not far from electrical lines, Kisokwe Primary School has received no funding over the years to connect to them. It became important to install a solar-powered system that provides clean energy at a cheaper rate. Many public primary schools, like Kisokwe Primary School, aim to install these kinds of systems to harness the abundant power of the sun to provide electricity for the school.

 

Kisokwe School students

Zerobase

To address these challenges, ZeroBase designed a new hybrid power product called the K-SERIES. The K-SERIES was specifically designed for rural electrification applications and is the first of its kind in the area. The compact system included a solar array that is stationary overhead and an enclosed power management unit with industry-leading r energy storage. Since the K-SERIES will be exposed to children regularly, safety was highly important when designing and installing it, and the K-SERIES was equipped with multiple safety notices and locks. The system is easy to operate and requires minimal maintenance.

 

Zerobase K-Series

Installation & Commissioning

ZeroBase staff members, along with local partner Sustenersol, installed and commissioned the system in Tanzania. Installing the K-SERIES on site took one day, and on October 22, 2015, the K-SERIES was unveiled and commissioned in a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by school and government officials alike. Parents and family members also traveled long distances to attend the ceremony. The children enjoyed creating and performing a dramatic skit to demonstrate the importance of safety measures required when near the system.

 

K-Series Kisokwe School ribbon-cutting ceremony

The delivery, installation, and training with the K-SERIES were a success. The Kisokwe Primary School and the surrounding community have been using it to light classrooms, extend school operating hours, and power electric teaching equipment such as projectors.

K-SERIES Hybrid System Features
  • Small footprint, minimal maintenance
  • 5.0 kW continuous power output
  • Digital-quality power
  • 1.26 kW of integrated solar PV

 

The ZeroBase hybrid system can provide consistent, reliable, uninterrupted power for:

  • Lighting
  • Technology and communications
  • Nighttime classes, power & lighting needs
  • Community charging opportunities
  • Recreational activities

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