The Clean Energy Initiative Development Programme...

Micro wind turbine installations and micro-grids primarily powered by wind turbines offer clean and sustainable electrical energy day and night which have the potential to provide power for: water pumping, lighting and other commercial/household applications – in short, productive and income generating energy solutions for:

The Clean Energy Initiative aims to develop a wind-powered micro-grid blueprint for off-grid energy users in Northern Mozambique which can be cost-effective in meeting the local social and economic needs of local communities and end users. The blue-print aims to holistically improve the livelihood of low-income rural poor families by improving ‘localised’ food security and nutrition of low-income rural communities by increasing adaptation capacities to climate change - especially to drought by installing a hybrid (wind /solar) power irrigation systems to improve access, use and productivity of water for food in a sustainable manner through vegetable production and post-harvest processing (solar drying and refrigeration).

Approach:

Conceptual illustration of the blue-print hybrid wind-solar micro-renewable hub:  Water pumping for drip-feed irrigation, lighting, phone/battery charging kiosk and cold-storage refrigeration. (Source: The Clean Energy Company)

The micro-grid has been designed to develop a ‘micro power economy’ which provides incentives for farmers, local entrepreneurs, and micro-enterprises which are sustainable whilst being owned, operated, supported and managed at a local level. Climate change poses a serious challenge to social and economic development (OECD, 2006). Developing countries likes Mozambique are particularly vulnerable to climate risk because their economies are generally more dependent on climate-sensitive natural resources.  In Mozambique rain-fed agriculture is the main livelihood for subsistence farmers, with over 95% of the food crops being produced under rain-fed conditions (INGC, 2009). According to the UNDP, Mozambique’s profile with regards to climate change, indicate that average annual temperature will increase by 1.0°C to 2.8°C by 2060. The average precipitation for Mozambique has been decreasing to an average rate of 2.5mm a month (3.1%) per decade from 2960 to 2006. In short, Mozambique will become more vulnerable to natural catastrophes (droughts, irregular rains, floors and cyclones etc.) caused by climate irregularities. Therefore, impacts of climate change such as prolonged drought periods are affecting human well-being severely. All sectors and social groups are obliged addressing it trough mitigation and adaptation measures.

The Northern Province Cabo Delgado - where the project activities are located - is amongst the least developed within the country (Helvetas Mozambique, 2010). The food production is characterised by small scale agricultural inputs which produce modest harvests resulting in cyclical food shortages. From October to January, known as the ‘period of hunger’, many subsidence farmers finish their family food reserves and apply for survival strategies (i.e. reducing the number of daily meals, decreasing the quality of their food diet and selling their production goods). 22.5% of children aged less than five years are malnourished. Approximately 70% of fresh water is lost in various ways (superficial waters, underground waters, inefficient irrigation techniques and combined management with high losses of water through evaporation) thereby reducing the availability of water and fresh produce that hampers food security and the health of family.

Average household yields per zone are very low and show no trends of increasing. Observed production growth has been primarily the result of increases in cultivated area, rather than increases in yield (INGC, 2009). Rapidly increasing populations have put considerable pressure on available crop land to produce more food per area but under worsening conditions of increasing temperatures, rainfall variation and soil degradation: Expansion of cultivated land in Mozambique is often linked  to the various stages of vegetation re-growth of fallow land in the traditional shifting cultivation system (INGC, 2009), which in turn, leads to reductions in soil fertility and increased soil and environmental degradation and erosion. The single most important source of risk for crop failure nation-wide is drought (INGC, 2009).

The Outline: The goal of this project is to sustainably provide independent water supply for agricultural production in isolated rural communities in Northern Mozambique, contributing therefore to the improvement of living conditions and local economic development in rural communities. In order to achieve this The Clean Energy Company is developing a low cost, reliable, and easy to maintain small wind (and wind /solar PV hybrid) water pumping system for surface and ground water. The system will be based on the local fabrication of reliable, affordable, environmentally friendly small-scale wind energy driven water pumping systems targeted at small farming communities in rural areas. The system will provide effective labour-saving water-efficient drip-irrigation, where evaporation and water run-off are minimised. In regions here there is a sufficient wind resource, the system will enable the farmers not only to farm larger areas to increase economies of scale and maximise output, but also for longer periods beyond the December to April rain season.

The impact hypothesis: Returns on their time spent cultivating their crop would offer rural farmers a much improved income. A sizeable irrigation system would allow the farmers to scaling-up their land usage and most importantly, allow a wider more marketable culture of crops. Ultimately, this will increase their potential income from the sale of their produce. Within the coastal region there is a sufficient wind resource to enable the farmers not only to cultivate larger areas (to increase economies of scale and maximise output), but also for longer periods beyond the December to April rain season.

 

 02 April, 2011