Yay!
Only 64 days until we board the airplane to Bénin. We are so excited about it! The only thing that holds us back is the go/no-go evaluation of Humasol.
You’re probably wondering what we’ve been up to this semester. Well, during our mid-term presentation we received loads of feedback from the Humasolteam which we made good use of. The goal was to mold a project out of all the literature study we’ve done so far and we can say that we succeeded!
The main concept is to install a mill powered by solar energy. The reason for this is that the population grinds their flour by hand which is inefficient or uses a diesel mill which is very polluting.
How are we going to achieve this, you might ask. We will buy a mill locally which works on the diesel engine. Afterwards we will replace this engine with an electrical motor. A solar installation will provide energy to the mill. This installation will comprise solar panels, batteries, a charge controller and an invertor. We will try to buy these components at local stores, so that we know that in case of failure everything will be found locally to make the repairing easier.
A part from realizing the solar mill,it’s equally important to convince the locals about the benefit and the possibilities of such technology. We will make an economical analysis of the project in order to check whether the project has a good return on investment. Showing the economical and ecological benefit should motivate local entrepreneurs in embracing solar energy.
This saturday we will proudly introduce our project to Humasol in order to receive a ‘GO’. After this, nothing stands in the way to our journey to Bénin.
We are ready for the next phase, are you ready to follow us?
See you soon,
David & Arno