Name of the students Olivier Nijhout (TN), Özal Yilmaz(WB) and Guus Evers(TN)
Place
Still unknown
Supervisors In the Netherlands, Linda Kamp from the TU Delft and Caroline Nijland form FRES In Uganda Moses Mugabe
Objectives
The overall objective is to provide clear recommendations on how FRES companies can improve the lifecycle performance of the batteries in its SHS. Specific objectives include:
(i) Benchmarking the typical loads (appliances and hours of use) used by customers for each SHS service level
(ii) Contrasting the quantity of electricity needed to power the appliances identified with the electricity currently supplied by FRES companies, for each customer segment
(iii) Analysing key risk factors which diminish battery performance, in particular:
- Customer tampering
- System overloading and control systems
- Customer relationships
- FRESCO environment
(iv) Recommending practical steps to mitigate key risk factors, including technical and non-technical solutions.
- what is the best adjustment (parameters) of the Steca charge controller in conjunction with the battery and under which circumstances ( which adjustments are the best for the customer; which adjustments are the best for the battery)
(v) Recommendations for the best battery size and type for each service level (S1, S2, S3, S4)
Research questions
The research question are arranged in the same way as the objectives.
(i) What kind of appliances do the local people in Uganda use during which part of the day? How long do they use these devices ? What are the typical loads of these appliances ? What service level do these users have?
(ii) Do the system of the service levels supply enough capacity for the users?
(iii) What are the principles physical processes happening in a battery? What is the specific battery type of the battery that FRES uses for the Solar Home System(SHS)? Are the systems installed properly by the technician? How carful do the FRES companies deal with the different components of the SHS? Has the customer been tempering with the SHS? How does the customer use the SHS, especially the battery?
(iv) What are the key risk factors that are harmful for the lifetime of the battery? How can we neutralize these risks? How does the charge controller work? Which adjustments can be made on Steca charge controller? How does these adjustments influence the whole system ?
(v) What kind of battery type are there used in Uganda for the SHS? Which battery is used the most in each services level? What are the differences between each service level?
Learning goals
In the end we hope to have a better understanding of the causes which mitigate the battery lifetime of the SHS so clear recommendations can be made to FRES to enhance this lifetime. Apart from this goal that concerns the objectives of the company we have several other goals we want to reach during our stay abroad. A good collaboration between the three of us. A good understanding of the culture in Uganda. Knowing how the SHS works and which factors influence it’s performance. Getting a clear view of the company structure of FRES.
Content and activities
Again our activities are listed the same way as the objectives.
Objective 1: Benchmarking the typical loads used by customers for each SHS service level
To get an overall view of the loads customers apply to the battery we will visit several customers of each service level ourselves. During the visit we will first introduce ourselves and tell them why we are there. The first part of the conversation will not be business related, it functions just as an ice breaker to get to know each other and build up trust. This applies for visits to private users as well as companies. After that we check which devices are connected to the battery and note which service level the customer is using. Furthermore to get a good view of the average battery load we will conduct an interview with each customer about the way they use the battery. As a preparations to this objective we will make standard interview question. It is also necessary to have a list of the workload and other specification like the voltage and amperage of the most used electrical appliances in Uganda. This would be appliances like a mobile phone charger, a TV, a radio and a light bulb. When visiting a local company we will examine the manual of the machinery used, to determine the workload.
The gathered information of these benchmarks is then processed in Excel and can be used at the end of our trip to make recommendations. The interview will not only be used for this objective but for several more as well. The answers to all the questions of the interview will be collected and digitalized. This will always be of convenience as an enchiridion.
To emphasize that the customers contribute to an important research for FRES we will mention that in a couple of months Rodrigo will come by to again do research concerning the battery. That he will build up on our work at that we together are trying to help FRES and with that the African people.
Objective 2: Contrasting the quantity of electricity needed identified with the service level
Objective 2 is a direct follow-up of the previous objective (1). Once the loads of the customers are determined for each service level we can then derive if these service levels supply enough capacity for the users and see the possible overloads. These results can also be processed and used for i.e. recommendations.
Objective 3: Analyzing key risk factors which diminish battery performance
Before we can start our project in Uganda a good understanding of the technology of the Solar Home System (SHS) is needed. For a good understanding however, more insight is needed about the specific battery type that we will examine, the I3 Hoppecke. We are planning an appointment with Hoppecke in Tiel to discuss the way the I3 battery is functioning and how to spot problems easily. Another option, a bit closer home is visiting Prof. Dr. F.M. Mulder of the TU Delft who is an expert in the fundamentals as well as practical aspects of energy storage and conversion materials for renewable energy applications.
During our visits to the customers, we will inspect their total SHS. We will look for signs of tampering, if the installation is done properly and if there are other things that could cause a malfunction of the battery. During the interview we try to reveal if the customer has tried to fix problems with the battery by himself which probably leads to more battery problems. The interview will also give insight in the load the customer applies which in some case is too large and again could lead to a malfunction of the battery.
It is key to get more insights in how the locale people use the battery. From FRES we were given the information that the battery life is probably lower than expected because of customer tempering. We need to examine what the battery means to them and for what kind of purpose they want to use it. This too will be done by asking the customers questions about their satisfaction with the battery, at if they have any recommendations concerning the installment of the battery and the battery itself. You would expect that customer tampering is not that big of a deal for a small enterprise which uses the SHS for its business. However their SHS needs to be examined as well and they too need to take the interview in order to get a total view of how the people want to use the SHS.
Objective 4: Recommending practical steps to mitigate key risk factors
To reach this objective we need the conclusion of the objectives 1, 2 and 4. This can be seen as the most important outcome of our project. It will include all our findings and conclusion from our work in Uganda, both technical and social. With this information we can create a plan to enlarge the lifetime of the batteries and give a recommendation to FRES.
Objective 5: Recommendations for the best battery size per service level
This objective is something we are planning to do after we completed the interviews with the customers, than we have a clear overall view of the needs of the customers. We have to analyze all our results to give a recommendation, it is also possible to make recommendations to change the specifications of the service levels if they are more suitable for the customers in that way.
Timeline and milestones
Week 1.
Our first week will be at FRES in Amsterdam. By that time we will have finished the main part of our project description. During the first week we can work together with the people at FRES in Amsterdam. This will speed up the fine-tuning of our project significantly due to a closer contact. In the end will this lead to a better understanding of the conditions in Uganda and their influence on our assignment. Goal of the week: A final version of our project description: composing a problem analyses, making a plan on how we are planning to achieve our objectives, making a stakeholder analyses, a time schedule, a safety and security plan and doing a cultural study on Mbarara and the culture of Uganda.
Week 2.
In this period we will travel to Uganda. We probably will need a maximum of three days of get used to our new environment, this includes one day of travelling and around two days to get installed in our new home and getting familiar with our new surroundings. The fourth day we probably will go to the nearest FRESCO and get to know the employees to find out how they operate. Our main focus during the rest of the week is finding out how a FRESCO operates. Goal of the week: This week will serve as an introduction to our new environment.
Week 3 until week 10.
All of our preparations from the past 6 weeks will be put into practice. I will give a description of a normal working day for us. In the morning we will get up early and travel with or without an employee of FRES to a village with customers. There we will conduct interviews, approximately three per day. One will ask the questions, one will write done the answers and the other one will examine the behavior of the customer during the interview. After every interview we will have a quick discussion on how it went while the information is still fresh. We will probably do one interview before lunch, lunch there and then do two more interviews. In the afternoon we will head home to eat at our accommodation. The planning is to interviews for 4 days a week and reserve one day a week to process of our findings. With this method we always have a good overview on where we stand concerning each objective. If we notice that one objective needs more attention we can adjust our planning easily. In the end we hope to conduct more than 100 interviews, about 25 per service level. Goal of this period: Gathering as much information as possible and making a start with a final report.
Week 11 and 12
It is estimated that we will leave Uganda in week 11. After our arrival we first need one or two days for ourselves before we go back to working on our report. This period we will work at the FRES headquarters in Amsterdam. Goal of these weeks: Deliver a final report and do a presentation to FRES with all our findings and recommendations.
Deliverables
A concise report with findings, conclusions and recommendations, that Rodrigo can build up on to finish the whole assignment for FRES