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Bringing solar power to rural areas of Cabo Verde

For years, Manuel Rosario, a farmer living on the island of São Nicolau in Cabo Verde - a small island country some 570 km off the west coast of Africa - irrigated his plants with water pumped by a fossil fuel-powered system. For each ton of water used, he had to pay CVE 40 (around USD 0.41) for electricity. At the end of the month, he often ended up disbursing a significant portion of his income on electricity costs alone.

But early this year, his electric bills were halved thanks to a solar-powered irrigation system installed in this area of Praia Branca. A total of 40 local families have benefited from it.

“Now that the electricity price has dropped, I can afford enough water to cultivate my whole plot of land. This will increase the production and quality of my products,” said Rosario.

“Lower electricity bills means we can all grow cheaper produce, and this means we can offer more competitive prices on the local market,” said another farmer, Silvestre Ramos.

In a nearby municipality on the same island, a village called Carriçal also started to rely on the sun as a source of renewable energy. Like most of the remote areas on the island, Carriçal is not connected to the national grid. It only had a micro-diesel plant intermittently generating electricity that could hardly meet the demand of some 20 households. And the cost was too high for the rural families.

In order to provide secure and cheap energy, as well as to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, a mini-grid hybrid system was installed in Carriçal. The system runs on solar power, but during days with less solar radiation, a diesel generator provides back-up, ensuring a reliable energy supply to the local community.

The São Nicolau Island is not alone in adopting solar technologies to reduce the cost of electricity and the consumption of fossil fuel. Some 200 kilometers away, on the Island of Brava, a photovoltaic system was also installed in the Furna locality. It produces over 1,000 kWh of electricity monthly, generating clean and cheap energy for the households, the majority of which make a living from fishing, as well as for a small ice-making factory.

Managed by the local fishermen’s association, the factory produces ice to preserve fish before it is shipped to the market. It was previously connected to the national grid, but the tariff was too high. The factory was losing 40,000 ECV (around USD 407) per month due to the high electricity bill and other operating costs.  

Local fishermen, like Francisco Lomba, could not afford to make enough ice to preserve fish, and were forced to throw away a large quantity of their catch.

The new photovoltaic system has increased the energy provision by 20 per cent, and the cost remains almost negligible. In addition, it is estimated that these small solar panels can reduce around 9,000 kg of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

“We can now afford to produce enough ice to store large quantities of fish,  preserve the catch for a longer period and transport it to other islands, especially to the capital, Praia. This has significantly increased our income,” said Lomba.

Maria de Jesus Gomes, one of the local ice suppliers, said: “Just within a short period of time after the installation, I have seen considerable improvements in my business. I can produce more ice with less costs. This was unimaginable just a few years ago.”

These small-scale solar power systems in rural Cabo Verde islands were all installed within the framework of a project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) being implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Cabo Verde still has very low access to modern energy services, and 60 per cent of its electricity is generated from oil, making it highly vulnerable to international fossil fuel prices.

According to the latest data from the World Bank, around 70 per cent of the households have access to electricity, but the rate is much lower in rural areas, where nearly 40 per cent of the population resides. A large portion of the people’s income is spent on energy bills.

“Knowing that Cabo Verde has a huge potential in the field of renewable energy sources, with more than 3,500 hours of sunshine per year, we came in to help take advantage of modern solar technology,” says Alois Mhlanga, UNIDO Project Manager.

“Research has also demonstrated viable ways to transform the country’s wind, hydro, geothermal and ocean power to energy. This is why, by 2020, the country aims to achieve 100 per cent of its energy needs from renewable energy.”

This GEF-UNIDO project is helping Cabo Verde realize its national renewable energy objectives and alleviate energy poverty in the rural area by developing small- and medium-scale renewable energy-based systems.

Promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency and supporting the region’s economic and social development in an environmentally-friendly manner is also the main goal of the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE). It was established in Cabo Verde in 2009 with the support of the ECOWAS Commission, the governments of Austria and Spain with the technical assistance from UNIDO. The centre was also nominated as the SIDS DOCK hub for the Small Island Developing States in Africa.
 

By ZHONG Xingfei
 

For more information on the project, please contact:

Alois Mhlanga
UNIDO project manager
email