Providing Energy Access: Solévolt Off-Grid Solar System Phase One

In Wae Sano Village, a co-operative which produces traditional herbal medicine known as jamu, faces difficulties in meeting growing market demand because they can not mechanize production due to the village’s lack of electricity.

Project Type

  • Experimentation

THE PROBLEM

With no electricity, the Tungku Mose co-operative in Wae Sano Village can not upgrade its technology and remains dependant on manual processes. Furthermore, it is difficult for the group to connect with buyers, especially those outside of Wae Sano, as the nearest phone signal is 2.5 km away, which limits sales.

Tungku Mose’s productivity would be increased greatly if there was an electricity source that could power lights, a grating machine and a telephone signal router, all of which will aid their production processes and meet growing demands.

THE SOLUTION

Solévolt’s Enterprise energy system is a solar powered, off-grid electricity generator and energy storage system. It has the capacity of a 1.2kWh lithium-ion battery and can generate power of up to 500 watts, enough to power a home and small business.

We want to test the Solévolt Enterprise system’s capacity to power lights, a grating machine and a telephone signal router in an unelectrified village and test whether energy access will result in any corresponding increase in business productivity for the Tungku Mose group.

We will work with Pak Servas, a representative of the Tungku Mose group, to collect data on the following indicators for one month:

  • The capacity of solar system to power lights, a grating machine and telephone signal router;
  • The consumption of electricity per day by the Tungku Mose group; and
  • The hours per day needed to charge the solar system to meet output needs.

We will also ask Pak Servas about the system’s ease of use and the required technical knowledge and maintenance. Additionally, we will collect data on production capacity and products sold before and after using the Solévolt system to see if electricity provision has assisted Tungku Mose in expanding its business.

THE EXPECTED IMPACT

We are helping traditional herbal medicine producer in Wae Sano Village who currently faces production limitations due to a lack of electricity and phone signal. This project is one of Kopernik’s experimentation projects, a series of small-scale, low-investment tests of simple ideas with the potential to reduce poverty.


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THE PROJECT RESULT

The results of this experiment proved that the Solévolt Enterprise off-grid system has sufficient capacity to power lights, a grating machine, and a cellular signal router in Wae Sano Village. The average power consumption for this village was still very low at 164Wh, indicating the product could be used for more high-capacity appliances.

For the Tungku Mose group, the Solévolt off-grid system helped to reduce the grating time for turmeric by making an electric grater accessible. Their members can reduce their weekly processing time by up to 72 percent and potentially increase their production by 3.5 times. Unfortunately we were unable to determine a realistic increase in sales by the group, as only a few members had begun to use the grater machine due to initial installation errors. The fact that the cellular signal router did not work also meant it did not have the desired effect of increasing sales further afield by having access to telephone orders. We still hope to rectify this with an adjustment in its installation.

Apart from the potential benefits to the Tungku Mose group, the technology actually had a much larger and an unexpected impact on the village in general. The village office reduced their gasoline consumption as they no longer needed to power a diesel generator or go to Labuan Bajo to print and copy important documents, which resulted in a desire to purchase the product for long-term ownership. The village officer also reported an increase in the villager’s satisfaction in their services because of this technology.

PROJECT COST

Type
Description
Amount

Project Implementation & Technology

Costs associated with project coordination and the technology

$4,057

Monitoring & Evaluation

Costs associated with data collection and analysis

$1,205

Administration Fee

Cost of transferring payments internationally, processing online donations (5%) and a contribution to Kopernik's operational costs (15%)

$1,137

Total $6,399

This project is managed by Kopernik Solutions and implemented by PT Kopernik on behalf of our client.