Who? Team Solergy exists of five Master Design students from the Delft University of Technology. In cooperation with the company Ndassie, team Solergy is going to perform a design project for a small village in Cameroon. Its ambition is to increase economical growth and well-being by providing electricity to a greater part of the population, by starting in a small pilot village.
What? For this ambitious project, the team will develop a solar powered charging center which aims to improve the lives of people living in rural areas. Currently the majority of people in these area’s do not have access to electricity. Solergy’s project will be the start of the whole Ndassie electricity plan.
The first step of this plan aims to set up a solar service station. The station will be provided with solar panels, and batteries will be charged in a docking station. A local entrepreneur will perform this activity and will rent the batteries to the inhabitants. With the batteries, inhabitants can power simple domestic appliances like a Radio, telephone charger or LED lamp.
Providing electricity in households provides a lot of advantages for local inhabitants, e.g. LED lighting. Instead of having lights they are using kerosene lamps to light their houses. LED lights which can be charged centrally with solar energy will have major benefits: the lighting quality improves, people spend less money, quality of living will be improved, inhabitants can enjoy light longer and employment will be created among the locals.
Where? The pilot site for the project will be the rural village named Fotouni, located in the region of Bafoussam in the North-West of Cameroon.
Cameroon is a country situated in West Africa with a population of 19 million people. Nearly 80 % of all Cameroonian do not have access to electricity and a third of the population is living below the poverty line of 2 Euro a day. The lack of electricity obstructs opportunities for economical growth. For lighting most Cameroonian use kerosene lamps which are unhealthy, toxic and dangerous.
The West Region is 14,000 km² of territory located in the central-western part of Cameroon. As home to the enterprising Bamiléké tribes, the West is an economic bright spot and one of Cameroon’s more developed regions. This progressive development is tempered by the strong traditional culture that persists among the Bamileke and the Region other major ethnic group, the Bamun. Bafoussam is both the provincial capital and the centre of the Bamileke lands. The rural village Fotouni is nearby the city of Bafoussam.
When? The project will run from February until July 2010, wherefrom 6 weeks will be spend in the rural areas of Cameroon to do analysis on the people needs. On this blog the project can be followed, during the stay in Cameroon until the final design of the product in the Netherlands.
