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Highlights from Young Scientists Tanzania’s award ceremony in Dar, 2016 Congratulations this years winners, Diana & Nadhra. They will be traveling to visit I..
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Over €1,000 raised for Solar Power in Malawi Hospital
On the 5th February, over €1,000 was raised by IMERC at a table quiz in aid of Solar Without Frontiers, a charitable foundation committed to introducing solar technologies in developing countries to save lives. The money will be used to fund a solar installation at the Mulanje Mission Hospital in Malawi.
The event was the result of a joint effort headed by Lieutenant Mike Brunicardi of the Irish Maritime and Energy Research Cluster (IMERC) based in Ringaskiddy, and Solar Without Frontiers. IMERC is a joint initiative of the Cork Institute of Technology, the Irish Naval Service and University College cork whose vision is to promote Ireland as a world-renowned research and development location.
The quiz was a resounding success with sixteen teams and over eighty people filling The Monkstown Inn, Monkstown, Co. Cork. The money raised on the night will go towards covering the travel costs for Solar Without Frontiers volunteers, who later this month shall travel to Malawi to install a solar power system at the Mulanje Mission Hospital. The cost of this travel is €4,000 and volunteers shall be taking unpaid leave in order to travel as well as providing their services for free.
One of the volunteers, John Walsh, an energy engineer with Cork County Council said, “The first priority is provision of lights and power to the paediatric ward and maternity department. Once the installation is complete the Mulanje Mission Hospital will no longer suffer daily blackouts and we will have directly assisted in reduction of the infant mortality rate.”
Lt Mike Brunicardi added, “It is a huge honour for IMERC to assist Solar Without Frontiers with such an important and beneficial project. Ireland has a lot of engineering and scientific expertise in the renewable energy industry and it is heartening to see it being deployed where it is sorely needed.” IMERC and Solar Without Frontiers extend a final thank you to all the people who made the event a resounding success. Lives will be saved as a direct result of the contributions made by everybody involved. The medical team at Mulanje Mission Hospital in Malawai extended congratulations to the partnership. This solar installation project will help to save lives by providing a secure power supply to frontline services at the hospital.
Should you wish to donate to the worthy cause, please visit www.solarwithoutfrontiers.com and click on ‘Donate Online’.
For information on IMERC go to www.imerc.ie or contact Cormac Mc Garry & Ciarán McCarthy – admin@imerc.ie.
The success of the night saw a grand total of €1,011 being raised. The prize for the winning team was €100 cash and many others won generously sponsored spot prizes . Many thanks to The Monkstown Inn for their hospitality and for donating a spot prize, The Monk Fish and Chips who provided finger food, Barry Collins Super Value of Carrigaline who donated a generous hamper, Leisureworld Bishopstown who provided two free passes, Murray & Associates Naval Architects who contributed towards the event, and numerous individuals who donated spot prizes.
Irish energy consultants bring free solar to Africa
Irish charity Solar Without Frontiers has installed a solar power system to supply free electricity to a school in Tanzania.
The charity, based in County Cork was set up by a group of energy consultants with the aim of bringing solar energy to disadvantaged communities in Africa.
The St Benedict school provides affordable education to 500 secondary pupils. The school established an IT room to teach pupils computer skills with the help of another Irish charity, Camara.
However, the power supply from the existing diesel generators proved insufficient and too costly to make full use of the facility.
The school raised funds to purchase of a 3.5 kW solar power system combining 20 large solar PV panels and a 1.2 tonne battery system to store the electricity produced.
Solar Without Frontiers volunteers, Tim Hehir, a commandant in the Defence Forces Corps of Engineers, and Fritz Raake, managing director of Solaris travelled to Tanzania to install the solar power system.
The computer room and a number of lights at the school are now being supplied reliably and at no fuel cost with solar electricity.
Tim Hehir said: “It was a privilege to be able to apply my knowledge and training to such a worthy cause.
“Africa’s vast size and inadequate electrical infrastructure should be seen as an opportunity for them to bypass fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation and implement renewable energy technologies on a wide scale.”
Solar Without Frontiers is also supporting the uptake of portable solar lights in Kenya through a local micro-finance project as a cheaper and cleaner alternative to kerosene lamps.
You can find out more about the charity’s projects at their website. Alison Brown.
Two volunteers of Irish charity Solar Without Frontiers have just come back from their mission to Songea, in Southern Tanzania, where they installed a solar power system to supply free electricity to an IT education facility at Hanga Abbey. Hanga Abbey, a vibrant Benedictine community, is home to a 500 pupil secondary school which provides high-quality and affordable education to the boys and girls of this rural area. In 2009, students and monks at Glenstal Abbey (Co. Limerick) mobilised resources in collaboration with another Irish charity, Camara, to establish a computer room and give IT courses at Hanga. According to John O’Callaghan, principal instigator of the project at Glenstal Abbey, “the project allows the students at St Benedict school to learn computing skills and connect to the wider world through the Internet, despite their actual physical isolation in a remote part of Tanzania.”
However, the existing power supply from the existing diesel generators proved insufficient and too costly to make full use of this essential facility. In response, John O’Callaghan approached Solar Without Frontiers last year for assistance in using solar energy to solve the problem. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is ideal for providing electricity in remote areas without access to the mains grid as it is robust and simple in operation. Solar radiation is also plentiful in Africa; it is for example about 2.5 times higher in Songea than in Dublin. John and his students embarked on a fund-raising effort which allowed the purchase of a 3.5 kW solar power system combining 20 large solar PV panels and a 1.2 tonne battery system to store the electricity produced. The solar system, designed and sourced with the assistance of Solar Without Frontiers, finally arrived at Hanga at the end of 2010.
The next step was for two volunteers of Solar Without Frontiers, Tim Hehir, a Commandant in the Defence Forces Corps of Engineers, and Fritz Raake, managing director of Solaris, to travel to Tanzania for the installation of the solar power system. The two lads, who have raised the necessary funds for flights and visas personally and with the help of their colleagues at Solar Without Frontiers, arrived at Hanga on 9 March 2011 after a 1000 km journey from Dar Es Salaam. Over the course of a week, they managed with the help of school pupils and monks to assemble the large solar array, the power control equipment and the batteries on the grounds of the school. The computer room and a number of lights at the school are now being supplied reliably and at no fuel cost with solar electricity, while the old diesel generator was kept in place as a back-up. Overall, the project is a huge success for everyone involved and enables the school pupils to maximise the use of their IT facility.
Tim Hehir comments: “it was a privilege to be able to apply my knowledge and training to such a worthy cause. I look forward to participating in similar projects in the future. Africa’s vast size and inadequate electrical infrastructure should be seen as an opportunity for them to bypass fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation and implement renewable energy technologies on a wide scale. This is analogous to how Africa skipped the whole fixed line method of communications and went straight to mobile phone networks.”
Solar Without Frontiers is also supporting the uptake of portable solar lights in Kenya through a local micro-finance project as a cheaper and cleaner alternative to kerosene lamps, thereby supporting better quality of life for rural families off the grid.
Solar Without Frontiers would like to thank all individual and corporate donors, including Bord Gais, for their generous donations and contributions to their solar project in Tanzania.
Editor’s note
Solar Without Frontiers was set up by a group of volunteers and solar energy enthusiasts with the aim of Solar Without Frontiers is to bring solar power to disadvantaged communities in Africa. For further information, please visit www.solarwithoutfrontiers.com. Solar Without Frontiers is calling for donations to support further projects in Africa, including the provision of solar lights to families and communities through microfinance.
