rural north west school gets green electricity - battery energy storage system

Minister of Science and Technology Kubayi-
Ngubane will launch a renewable energy system in a school in northwest province on Friday to demonstrate the reliability and scalability of renewable energy. The 2.
5 KW hydrogen fuel cells (HFC)
Poelano Middle School will deploy the system to enable rural schools
Power grid for ICT and lighting.
The program specifically selected a school of 486 students to demonstrate the ability of renewable energy to meet the needs of communities that do not have access to Eskom power.
"Schools are facing problems with electricity payment.
Dr Cosmas Chiteme, head of the project, told News 24: "The grant provided to the school is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the school, resulting in money owed to Eskom and power outages . ". Water as a by-
Product Chiteme, director of the department's Bureau of hydrogen and energy, explained that schools were chosen in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
"After contacting the Ministry of Basic Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology decided to help schools by providing this innovative energy solution using platinum mined in northwest China.
"Fuel cell technology has experienced some growth as concerns about carbon emissions of harmful fossil fuels have increased
Basic fuels such as oil.
Because the technology uses hydrogen to generate electricity.
The product is water.
In particular, fuel cells have become a possible way of powering electric vehicles, although there are still concerns about the cost, storage and supply of hydrogen.
It claims that the system proves that the technology can be easily deployed to other schools and communities.
"It is very scalable considering the modular nature of the system.
For increased power demand, two or more systems can be combined with minor modifications to the plant balance.
"As long as there is space for solar photovoltaic, the system is flexible enough to be promoted in rural and urban areas (PV)
Panel mounted on roof or ground.
The system can also be driven by hydrogen supplied independently without solar panels.
"The small HFCs system works at temperatures ranging from 50 °C to 100 °C, generating less than 250 KW of the electricity generated, while the more expensive solid oxide system can generate up to 3 MW of electricity, but according to the US Department of Energy, it works at temperatures ranging from 650 °C to 1 000 °C.
Solar photovoltaic panels can help increase power production by converting solar energy into electricity. (
Dr. Cosmas Chiteme, director: Hydrogen and Energy, Department of Science and Technology)
The system developed for the school is comparable to the cost of a solar photovoltaic system.
"The cost of the system is slightly lower than R10m.
This includes solar panels, fuel cell systems, on-
On-site hydrogen production of water, hydrogen storage systems and power storage battery systems.
It should be noted that this is the cost of development and any follow-up system of similar size will be delivered at a lower cost, "said Chiteme.
At 2013, vodacone spent R10m on the roof
Mobile operators will pay for the installed solar panels for themselves in just over five years.
According to the Ministry of Energy, there are about three.
SA had 2 million households without electricity in 2013.
In the SA 2015 report, expenditure on housing, water and fuel (
Including electricity)amounted to 32.
6% of household income, of which 3.
4% is electricity.
The system is planned to be promoted in rural areas because there is usually no power grid or reliable supply in rural areas, he said.
"The rate of price decline will depend on the number of systems introduced due to economies of scale.
In rural schools and clinics in particular, there are certainly plans to roll out these systems.
The number of rural schools and clinics in South Africa that are unreliable or do not have access to electricity is estimated to exceed 5 000.
"The HFCs system was developed by multiple agencies including the Industrial and Scientific Research Council (CSIR), North-
University of the West, UCT, Mintek and UWC.
"Partnerships, including the public and private sectors, are expected to promote the system, supported by local intellectual property rights developed through hydrogen South Africa (HySA)
The plan leads to local manufacturing and job creation, "said Chetham.
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