Aptech Africa recently designed, supplied, installed and commissioned a hybrid solar system for sustainable income in a dairy project at Migina milk collection centre in Kiboga district in Uganda for Heifer International. The system is hybrid with ground mounted 41.04kWp of solar panels and 163.2kWh of lithium-ion BYD battery storage integrated with a diesel generator. The system is connected to a Victron Quattro 48V/15000VA that has two AC inputs and outputs also allowing an additional power source like the main grid to be connected whenever required. The site has three inverters to make a three-phase system to match the generator supply as well as the load requirement to be supplied by three phase power sources. The installation also has additional technology of four Victron smart solar RS MPPT 450/200A, this charge controller has maximum power point capabilities even in cases of partial shading and has four MPPTs per device. Both technologies allow for remote monitoring through the cerbo GX which is installed on site to communicate the Battery SOC, PV generated power, Generator supplied power as well as fault detection capability which assists in allowing early problem solving and preventing future damage to installed equipment. This can all be seen through the VRM portal for Victron and locally through Victron connect app that can be used both on phone and laptop.
The site was selected because currently its off grid and the cooperative utilizes generator power supply to run the milk coolers which is too expensive for daily operations thus it was important to have stable, reliable and cheaper power at this site because it is where all cattle farmers within this region collect their milk for cooling and preserving until when the milk processing industry like Jesa come to pick the milk for value addition.
The client used to spend a lot of money on fuel for two generators that run the milk coolers hence daily operations of the plant were expensive meaning that the milk purchased from farmers also had to be cheaper to cover these costs.
Additionally, the cooperative used to spend a lot on servicing the generators, repairing as well as breakdowns which usually necessitated to call, transport and facilitate the mechanic from Kampala which is the capital city far from the diary. Therefore, during this period, the diary could face losses whenever milk got spoilt due to lack of cooling.
The project is now tapping into productive use of energy and this effect is realized by farmers deep in the village. It’s a living example of what solar can do in this era to a large extent and we hope other diaries can look at the same initiative and save the environment in terms of carbon reduction from solely relying on generator fuels.
Aptech Africa worked beyond limit to ensure that the client achieved their set goal to have a more reliable/dependable power supply source for their loads. Aptech installed the system in the limited amount of time possible and the cooperative started benefiting from the project as soon as it was complete in a period of only two weeks.
Currently over 200 farmers supply milk to Migina milk collection center and this will greatly change their lifestyle and living standards due to ability to have additional income from their milk.
Additionally, when the generators break down, milk quality is affected and sometimes the milk is spoilt, the buyers sometimes reject the milk due to poor quality and hence farmers will gain by maintaining the milk quality and hence their sales price.
Initially, powering the milk coolers was based on high cost of purchasing fuel/diesel where cooperatives spent up to 40% of their revenue to support the generators (they have been greatly affected during seasons of high fuel costs) which in turn reduces their margin and profit.
With availability of solar power, the farmers are now being able to chill the milk consistently throughout the day and milk quality is not be affected. Good quality milk is purchased at higher price by the buyers and this is expected to increase profit for farmers.
The total fuel consumption for the Cooperatives is 65-70 liters of diesel per day. This translates to up to 1,950ltrs per month and 23,725ltrs per year.
The use of solar system for this site will save up to 60ltrs per day and 1800ltrs per month translating to 21,900ltrs per year.
The farmers through the cooperative continue getting together to share even other developmental ideas like how to get clean water for their cattle and pasture in order to get more milk from them. The ability of farmers to work more in groups is commendable and it increases their social capital.
There is continued skill and knowledge transfer about solar system installation from Aptech Africa to the cooperative electricians and therefore more social transformations will be realized.
