Problem analyses
Back in 2000 several goals, concerning poverty, education health and the environment were determined with the prospect to be achieved in 2015. These goals are called the millennium goals. One way to decrease poverty is to help people get access to electricity easier. Currently 1.3 billion people (20% percent of the world population) do not have access to electricity. They have to live with very poor lighting, underdeveloped health care, poor education and limited possibilities to make a living. FRES tries to help achieving these millennium goals by providing electricity to households and small businesses in Africa, mostly generated by solar power.
One of the areas in which they operate is Uganda. Around 30% of its population (34 million people) lives in poverty. Only 15% of all inhabitants have access to electricity, in the rural areas it is even lower, 7% of the people, who do not live near cities, have access to electricity.
FRES helps the people in Uganda by establishing local commercial companies that provide affordable and reliable access to electricity services. FRES companies sell electricity as a service by installing Solar Home System (SHS) in rural areas. These SHS´s consist of three main components, a photovoltaic solar panel, a regulator and a battery. The battery is the most expensive and vulnerable part. Besides, due to high temperatures and dry weather the battery´s performance is far from optimal. Its life time is far shorter than that of the other components. In fact, it is even lower than it was expected to be in the Sub Saharan conditions. The expected lifetime is 7-8 years whereas in Uganda the batteries only last 4 to 5 years. The expected lifetime is based on the performances of batteries from the same type placed in a similar environment as in Uganda, namely in Burkina Faso.
The replacement of malfunctioning batteries causes the local FRES companies (unnecessary) work and expenses. A lot of progress can be made when the batteries would have a longer life cycle. The overall objective of our project is to provide clear recommendations on how FRES companies can improve the lifecycle. These improvements are both technical and social related.