Saturday, December 21, 2013

50W Solar PV system for the rural folks

Four community learning centres (or pre-schools) in the rural areas of Sabah have benefitted from a noble effort of several philanthropists.

The beneficiaries of the initial 4 sets of solar power system are community learning centres in Tenom, Tongod and Paitan. It is very encouraging to see synergy of effort from various NGOs to help those deprived of the basic necessity - power supply.


The 50W solar photovoltaic systems. Source: DE, Dec 17.


Parties involved in the project:

Inner Wheel Club of Kota Kinabalu
: Fund raising to purchase and install the systems
Penampang Renewable Energy S/B : Design and supply (at cost)
Centre for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology (CREATE) : Training provider, especially on renewable energy, for rural youths
Tonibung : Installation of the solar PV systems at no cost, including training on their operations and maintenance.


The solar PV systems

Each system, designed and supplied by Penampang Renewable Energy S/B, consist of the followings (I hope the reporting by Daily Express is accurate):
  • 50-Watt solar panel
  • Solar power pack, c/w charge controller, 12V USB, 5V USB
  • 70Ah battery
  • 300W inverter
  • LED lamps

* The packs are expandable for bigger load if required, which is really good as the folks surely would need more power in the near future. This is something like a modular design where people could donate an 'expansion' or two and they just add up to the existing one.


TheGreenMechanics: As an alternative, there is a similar set on sale which I think is comparable to the above system. I saw one at City Mall with almost similar features - solar power pack with solar panel, USB outlets, 70Ah battery c/w 4 units of 3W LED bulbs. The system is marketed at RM550.00 minus the inverter. A separate 300W quasi-sine wave inverter will cost around RM250 to RM300.

1 comment:

rainfield61 said...

50 Watts can supply a good enough brightness if using LED lamps.

Then RM500 should be a reasonable cost.