Mukono Briton beats loadshedding
Nov 12, 2006
<br>Power blackouts are a menace in Uganda and there seems to be no immediate solution. In Mukono, however, power-cuts are still bearable. There are three days in a week with power.
By Joel Ogwang
Power blackouts are a menace in Uganda and there seems to be no immediate solution. In Mukono, however, power-cuts are still bearable. There are three days in a week with power.
Brian Frawley, a retired British civil engineer, has started a $15,000 (sh27m) biomass power project at his farm in Nama sub-county. Dubbed ‘Kasenge electricity power- fuelled by biomass,’ he says it is a simple and cost-effective investment.
“All I need is wood pellets, a coolant (water), a battery and diesel to run the motors,†says the soft-spoken Briton.
Frawley runs the project with his employee, Tony. Dry wood is fed into an electric-driven saw bench that cuts the wood into pellets which are then collected and poured into a gas retort and covered.
A battery is used to start a mainstream motor.
“When there is a vibrating noise, it means the retort is dirty with charcoal. It has to be cleaned at every start,†Frawley says. The heat generated passes through water from a pool.
A three-phase switch board is turned on and within 10 minutes, electricity is generated.
Frawley, 66, says he uses 15 kilos of dry wood per day.
“I have to add three kilos of pellets after every two hours,†he says.
The project is co-funded through the DED- PSFU public- private partnership program in Uganda. He says the scheme produces more than what he needs at the farm.
“We only need about 2KVA. We have to shed off 6 KVA,†he says.
Frawley says he has no problem shedding off the excess power to Umeme, but the power company has not approached him.
Frawley uses the biomass electricity for a maximum of 17 hours a day. He says he cannot keep monitoring the gas retort at night.
An inverter for emergency cases like security lighting, is used for about seven hours at dawn to light the whole farm which covers 240 hectares.
He has bought 30 electricity poles at sh1m and 700 meters of electric wires at sh2.1m to transmit power to his house, pig sty and security lights.
“This is a very cost effective and simple initiative. In fact, I will have to replace these machines in 10 years. It really is a long-term investment,†he says.
The mainstream motor was bought from Ankur scientific technologies based in Baroda, India.
In Uganda, there is no company dealing in these items after Multimore (Intl) Ltd pulled out of business due to lack of customers.
Frawley says he does not need power from Umeme because there is no reliability.
Ends
Power blackouts are a menace in Uganda and there seems to be no immediate solution. In Mukono, however, power-cuts are still bearable. There are three days in a week with power.
Brian Frawley, a retired British civil engineer, has started a $15,000 (sh27m) biomass power project at his farm in Nama sub-county. Dubbed ‘Kasenge electricity power- fuelled by biomass,’ he says it is a simple and cost-effective investment.
“All I need is wood pellets, a coolant (water), a battery and diesel to run the motors,†says the soft-spoken Briton.
Frawley runs the project with his employee, Tony. Dry wood is fed into an electric-driven saw bench that cuts the wood into pellets which are then collected and poured into a gas retort and covered.
A battery is used to start a mainstream motor.
“When there is a vibrating noise, it means the retort is dirty with charcoal. It has to be cleaned at every start,†Frawley says. The heat generated passes through water from a pool.
A three-phase switch board is turned on and within 10 minutes, electricity is generated.
Frawley, 66, says he uses 15 kilos of dry wood per day.
“I have to add three kilos of pellets after every two hours,†he says.
The project is co-funded through the DED- PSFU public- private partnership program in Uganda. He says the scheme produces more than what he needs at the farm.
“We only need about 2KVA. We have to shed off 6 KVA,†he says.
Frawley says he has no problem shedding off the excess power to Umeme, but the power company has not approached him.
Frawley uses the biomass electricity for a maximum of 17 hours a day. He says he cannot keep monitoring the gas retort at night.
An inverter for emergency cases like security lighting, is used for about seven hours at dawn to light the whole farm which covers 240 hectares.
He has bought 30 electricity poles at sh1m and 700 meters of electric wires at sh2.1m to transmit power to his house, pig sty and security lights.
“This is a very cost effective and simple initiative. In fact, I will have to replace these machines in 10 years. It really is a long-term investment,†he says.
The mainstream motor was bought from Ankur scientific technologies based in Baroda, India.
In Uganda, there is no company dealing in these items after Multimore (Intl) Ltd pulled out of business due to lack of customers.
Frawley says he does not need power from Umeme because there is no reliability.
Ends