- Outline
A large theological seminary with over 100 students living on the compound with their families. Approx. 50 family homes, 10 teacher houses and 20 school and community buildings need to be served.
Currently, the power supply is provided by two old diesel generators located down on the coast in the town of Gagidu. Shortest distance is about 5-6 km, wirelines follow the shortest path across the jungle. Public power supply is highly unreliable with several blackouts per day due to fuel shortage and network overload. - Specific challenges
Logaweng seminary is located on top of a hillside, therefore there are no water sources directly on the compound but only further down the hill. Water needs to be pumped from the well up to the central water tank to be distributed to the houses. During blackout periods no fresh water can be pumped to the houses and needs to be carried manually from the well. Much time is being spent on basic survival tasks rather than study and learning.
Finschhafen area has no road access, all solar equipment needs to be brought in by ship and be reloaded to a truck for the final drive up to the station. No suitable shops for tools and other materials are available in Finschhafen. Very careful planning is needed to bring all required tools and materials from Lae.
Shipping wharf and road conditions have been assessed, a suitable site for the solar power house has been identified on the campus. Estimations for energy consumption have been done for dimensioning of the planned solar system - Planned solution
We are considering installation of a solar station with approx. 50 kW power and battery storage capacity to keep the compound fully powered for at least 1 full day. This will ensure power supply throughout the night hours and can also compensate a rainy day with less solar energy provided by the sun.
The “haus bung” is one of the more recently constructed buildings on the campus and has a large and shade-free roof with a robust supporting steel frame. It is also located centrally within the campus with school-houses nearby and residential houses stretching out equally far to both sides. This makes an almost ideal position from a perspective of mechanical stability, electrical suitability and it is located on the main footpath across the campus. This is also good from a security perspective.
A suitable room for placing the power electronic equipment (inverters and battery storage) is available within the same building, however, it is currently being used by other community groups.
A distribution network will connect the power-house and the campus and deliver the power along the existing power poles to several distribution boxes close to the user’s homes. The distribution boxes will hold the energy meters for each residential house and measure the consumed energy over time. Electrical energy is a very valuable resource and the community deserves to understand how much has been produced and how much and where has it been consumed. - Estimated completion date
If all goes well, we expect to complete the installation of the system in the second half of 2025. - Required resources
The planned solar solution will utilize the large roof of the envisaged “haus bung”, which provides enough space for approx. 130 solar panels, allowing a power production of approx. 50 Kilowatt during full sunshine hours.
The community shall provide 4-6 young persons, boys and girls equally, who shall be trained on the basic skills needed to operate, maintain and repair the solar system during its expected lifetime of 15-20 years und good maintenance conditions.
This local technical team will attend the SolSol “Engineering School” courses to learn and to understand how a solar systems works and how to keep it in good health condition. This includes basic training on installation of the components, maintenance, regular quality controls and administration and recording of the energy meters distributed throughout the campus grounds.
