Choice of energy source for Bafila

We started this project thinking that all we needed was a river and voila, we have electricity. We explored the possibility of a micro hydropower plant and drafted a linear plan for the project. As usual, things never go according to the plan. It turns out, the river we identified is headless and apparently very lazy. We reached out to experts to assess the possibility of a micro hydropower plant based on information available on the river. We were blessed by their experiences and knowledge on the subject. If you are planning a similar project, we advise you to join their forum (www.microhydropower.net), they are very helpful. But just a warning, learn how to ask the right questions. These experts are mostly engineers and if you are not clear in your questions, you will be overwhelmed with questions and information overload. Anyway, you are warned.

The key challenge for our project now is to find a way around the "head" issue. From information provided by the experts and internet search, we have prioritized our preference of the available solutions as illustrated in the picture above.

We believe that the most suitable solution is the in-stream tidal current. We chose this for various reasons, more importantly cost and reliability. It appears that this is the most cost effective, environment friendly and reliable available solution at this time. This solution is also more appropriate for coastal towns in developing countries. Here is a video demonstration .

The turbines can be installed without changing the natural landscape of the village. Tidal turbines also do not require heavy civil works to build a dam, which reduces the cost of the project.

A demonstration project for tidal turbine was recently completed on the east river in New York city (http://verdantpower.com/what-initiative/).

Our next goal is to first learn as much as we can on the tidal current and look closely on the technical possibility of implementing this solution in bafila and the amount of energy that can be harnessed. Once we are comfortable, we will assess whether or not to purchase a built turbine or build one locally. The step after that will be to get into action.

If on the other hand another issue rears its ugly head that we cannot overcome, we will look at River In-stream Energy Conversion (RISEC) and water wheel technologies.

If all these three technologies fail, we will fall back on biodiesel. From our reasearch, there are two possibilities for biodiesel in the village. The first is palm oil, which is abondant there and the second is jatropha. We are not considering these solutions at this time because of their environmental impacts and the potential difficulty of selling the idea to the village. The economy of Bafila is that of subsistance agriculture. It will be though to tell people there to give up their palm oil for electricity. As for Jatropha, it will require alot of effort to motivate people (and keep them motivated) to cultivate the plant. They are not familiar with this plant.

Additionally, using biodiesel will require a significant capital investment to buy the generators, which need to be replaced every 5 years or so. We do consider this option as our last resort at this time because we know that it has worked for another village (Garalo) in a neighbooring country Mali. Mali is a landlocked country, the choice for biodiesel is therefore clear for that village. Below is a video of the biodiesel implementation in Garalo. You can see in this video how electricity is changing lives in this village.

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