Chepsengeny Academy
Kenya

LOCATION

The power system shown above was installed in the Chepsengeny Academy, Kenya. It is located just off the main road in between the tourist town of Kericho and Kisumu. Over 100 students attend this private boarding school situated in Kenya's rift valley.

THE SYSTEM

The system was required to provide 24 hours of sustainable 230V AC power to the school's domestic and educational loads.

The electricity generated by a S5000DD wind turbine, designed to generate an average of 5kWh/day in the low wind regime of 4.5m/sec, was stored in a set of 8 Trojan L16 deep cycle batteries. A specially designed control panel regulates the power input to these batteries. The 48V DC power is inverted to 230V AC power to meet the load demand from 10 school buildings (including school rooms, a computer room with 6 computers, dorms, and teachers quarters).

A diesel generator is used as a back up power source to charge the batteries when they reach their recommended discharge level during wind drought periods.

INSTALLATION

The project design was carried out by AEI and installed by their Kenyan distributor, Winafrique Technologies Ltd. The system was commissioned in February 2002.

MAINTENANCE

The Appropriate Energy wind turbine requires an annual inspection and service by a certified and trained dealer or installer. The process should normally take approximately one hour to complete. Bearings need to be changed once every five years and would take less than a day to carry out. Battery electrolyte levels need to be maintained by the user within the specified range.

EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATIONS

• 1 x S5000DD wind turbine and tilt up tower
• 8 x 6V 320Ah lead acid batteries @C10
• 1 x 3kVA inverter
• 1 x AEI control panel including turbine controller, system voltmeter, turbine 'amps in'
• 1x AEI load dump to control excess power and protect batteries from overcharging
• 1 x 6kVA DC diesel genset