Stabilizing the power supply
Grid outages in rural areas are common, and unfortunately this is where most of the explosive agricultural and industrial growth is due to the availability of cheaper land. Grid instability wreaks havoc on exactly the type of electromechanical equipment installed in a commercial farm.
Finding a Solution
The client ordered us to design-build a “solar plus storage” hybrid grid system at industrial scale to mitigate the unreliable power supply. Smart, integrated energy storage capacity, along with affordability, were the key criterion for the design & engineering team.
Unleashing potential
The storage system we eventually conceived had to be able to absorb electricity from the solar power plant and release it again almost instantaneously in case of a blackout to prevent the equipment from turning off.
We designed and built a very powerful off-grid storage system that was capable of supplying the necessary emergency power several times per day. When the power goes out, within 40 milliseconds or less, the exchange from grid to battery happens. It is safe to say that no one, including the equipment, notices a thing!
Key Facts
Location: Lake Cyombwe, Nasho, Rwanda
Solar photovoltaic (PV) system size: 3.3 megawatts (MW)
Battery storage: 2.68 megawatt-hour (MWh)
Battery type: Lithium-iron phosphate(LFP) battery energy storage system (BESS)
Cool fact: At the time of completion in 2018, the battery storage system was said to be the largest of its kind in the world
