Energy Solutions for the Village Learning Environment

Project Cost
$80,000+
Assessment Cost:

Lower Allentown, Sierra Leone

$8,500
Funds Needed: $6,300 North Carolina State University
The 10 year civil war of Sierra Leone hit Lower Allentown, a community in the coastal region especially hard. Rebels destroyed schools, killed teachers, cut electric, phone and water lines, and burnt most businesses. The Village Learning Environment, a school founded by Frances Brown was established to rebuild their society, and to educate their children and community members. Frances Brown contacted LemonAid fund to help build the school and LemonAid fund contacted EWB-NCSU to help provide renewable energy. Our chapter is working to develop an off-thegrid power system to meet the community's needs.

Chapter

Background

Engineers Without BordersTM-USA (EWB-USA) supports communitydriven development programs worldwide through the design and implementation of sustainable engineering projects while fostering responsible leadership. For more information, contact administrator@ewb-usa.org or call 303-7722723

The Need

Currently the community of Lower Allentown is without any power system. In order for the Village Learning Environment (VLE) to offer night classes to the women in the community, electricity is required to power lights. The VLE would also like the ability to provide laptops to students during the day. In the future, the VLE would like to add other amenities such as fans and a refrigerator.

Following up
After the assessment trip our chapter will use collected design constraints and data to develop a plan for implementation. While developing this plan we will collaborate with professional mentors, faculty at NC State, and the NC Solar Center. When designing our system we will take into consideration aspects such as the security and mounting of the solar panel array. We will also develop a plan to train community members to maintain the system.

The EWB-USA Response

Phase I Assessment December 2010

December 26, 2010 through January 8, 2011 we are planning on taking two students and a mentor to Sierra Leone for a two-week assessment trip. While there, the team will meet with the local government and further develop ties with the local community. The team will assess the needs of the VLE and the surrounding community by talking with community leaders. We will reach out to community suppliers and skilled workers in the surrounding area who can help implement our system in the future. The team will also analyze the energy needs of the VLE to determine the capacity requirements for the power system we are designing. Furthermore, we wish to survey the weather, topographical conditions, and geographical features of the VLE location to determine the efficacy of a PV system. During our analysis of the feasibility of a PV system we will take into consideration aspects such as the security and mounting of the solar panel array.

Moving Forward

The ultimate goal of our project is to implement a self-sustaining energy solution for the Village Learning Environment. We plan to develop a system which initially meets basic power consumption needs, but can be expanded over time to provide greater power capabilities. A key aspect of the longterm sustainability of the power system we work to develop involves educating the community. We will work to train members of the local community to be able to care for the system and make repairs as needed.

To learn more about this project: www.ewbncsu.org Contact ewbncsu@gmail.com for more information.