SolaNetwork targets Africa with distributed solar system

Expanding the existing electricity grid in Africa would be hugely expensive for both governments and communities. Meanwhile, more than 80 per cent of the continent’s existing electricity supply is generated by fossil fuels, causing damaging pollution and climate change.

In a bid to increase access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa without harming the environment, researchers at Ulster University are developing a distributed energy network, based on solar power and battery storage. The SolaNetwork project, funded by EPSRC and Innovate UK, will develop and trial an interconnected network of standalone solar systems, according to lead researcher Dr Jayanta Mondol of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies at Ulster University.

Each system will consist of photovoltaic solar panels to generate electricity for lighting, heating and powering appliances; a solar thermal collector (called SolaCatcher) to provide hot water; a battery to store excess electricity; and a platform that uses mobile, cloud, and blockchain cryptographic technology to provide energy services to the community.