Grantee Research Project Results

2012 Progress Report: Development of Community Power from Sustainable Small Hydro Power Systems – A Capacity Building Project in Bangang, Cameroon

EPA Grant Number: SU835067
Title: Development of Community Power from Sustainable Small Hydro Power Systems – A Capacity Building Project in Bangang, Cameroon
Investigators: Ileleji, Klein , Lumkes, John , Pawletko, Patrick , Njuki, Victoria , Katz, Joe , Padgett, John , Fuentes-Ruano, Nayara , Guibert-Ramiro, Nicolas , Liu, Jili , Duket, Timothy , Ma, Sung-Jun , Lai, Jeffrey , Miller, Keith , Niranjan, Akshat
Current Investigators: Ileleji, Klein , Lumkes, John , Chen, Jun , Gritza, Nadia
Institution: Purdue University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: II
Project Period: August 15, 2011 through August 14, 2013
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 15, 2011 through August 14,2012
Project Amount: $75,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2011) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Objective:

 The overall goal of this project was to develop community power generated by small hydropower turbines for the community of Bangang in Cameroon. In Phase I of the project, we conducted a comprehensive feasibility study of four existing hydropower sites under development and designed a 150 kW turbine for installation at one of the selected sites at one of the waterfalls in Bangang. In Phase II, we fabricated the designed turbine, developed a manual on how to fabricate the turbine, which included detailed drawings of all its parts and the assembling, and conducted two field trips (in May 2011 and May 2012) to Bangang where we worked with the community on assessing ancillary infrastructure at the hydropower site selected for the turbine installation, and conducted a community impact assessment. This project is in collaboration between Purdue's Global Engineering Program (GEP) and the African Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (ACREST) based in Bangang, Cameroon. ACREST is a local non-governmental organization (NGO) effort that is an incubator for appropriate technologies that are developed in collaboration with external partners, and shared with communities around the central African region. The successful completion of this project will impact a number of ACREST activities, which cannot be implemented because of the lack of sustainable and adequate electric power. GEP provides the much-needed technical expertise of sound engineering solutions to meet the community needs, while ACREST provides a real-world platform for global learning to students.

Progress Summary:

Three students from the team that worked on Phase I of the project embarked on an installation and community assessment trip to Bangang in May 2011. During the trip to Bangang, they investigated the feasibility of the construction of our proposed turbine at the site selected by ACREST and our team.  They evaluated the infrastructure, available equipment at the site, the possible sources of power consumption, and the impact it would have on the community.  They discovered a few problems that we will face in the implementation of a new turbine, most notably a landslide (see Fig. 1), which occurred close to the waterfall and canal that feeds the penstock, deteriorating ancillary equipment at the existing turbine house and an inefficient power distribution system. Our studies prior on the geology and soil survey of the Bambouto mountain range where Bangang is located noted the risk of erosion by both natural and man-made causes. It was previously determined that the most probable cause of these landslides is the intense and variable rainfall in conjunction with the dismal soil conditions and lack of foundational vegetation. In meeting with EPA-P3 requirements, it is our goal to help the community develop sustainable hydropower systems that will have minimal or no impact to the environment, especially the pristine nature of the surrounding rainforest and the waterfalls. Additionally, we also experienced first-hand what it took to keep the old turbine in operation 24-h 7 days a week, and the need to install a reliable turbine, which needed little intervention by the operation technician during its operation. 

Fig. 1. Landslide occurred in close proximity to the second waterfall Mepibua II.

We had extensive discussions with the founder of ACREST, Dr. Vincent Kitio, in order to obtain vital information on ACREST's plans for the hydropower development project. We strongly believe a locally led project by ACREST with Purdue's technical support is the most appropriate sustainable strategy to pursue for our mission to be accomplished.  ACREST hopes to connect 500 houses using our turbine.  A major problem faced by these households is cost.  Men in Bangang and surrounding villages usually go to work in bigger cities and typically only send money home on a sporadic basis or not at all.  The connection and operating fees according to Dr. Kitio are expected to be:

1. 4 USD per month for each family connected
2. Each family would be allowed to use up to 300W
3. 50 USD (approximately 20,000 CFA) as a one-time connecting fee.
4. No extra charge will be made for the poles, wires, transformers, or any other connecting expense

The proposed monthly fee of 4 USD per month remains competitive considering the average household spends roughly 4-5 USD per month on kerosene, which is the default power source for these villagers. Furthermore, we were informed that a 70 USD deposit was/is being considered to cover other extraneous expenses unforeseen at time of connection to the grid, but it does not seem to be a viable request of the user.  As families will struggle to pay the initial costs to be connected, payment installments of 10 USD will be maintained by ACREST.  The costs incurred by ACREST by offering power services to such a vast amount of people include wiring is approximately 2,000 USD per kilometer, and poles, approximately 10 USD for material and an additional 10 USD for labor.  According to Dr. Kitio, connecting to the national grid in an area where there is no infrastructure is 30,000 CFA (~75 USD) plus the cost of poles, wires, and other labor expenses.  Based on estimations for transformers, poles, wires, the penstock, and other expenditures, the total project cost was thought to be around 100,000 USD.

Based on our discoveries made during the May 2011 trip to Cameroon, a new interdisciplinary team was assembled consisting of graduate and undergraduate students to evaluate our initial turbine design, fabricate and test the turbine, and embark on a trip to fabricate and test the turbine on the field in Bangang, Cameroon.  The objectives of the 2011-2012 academic year were fairly straightforward:

1) Reevaluate, build, and test prototype micro-hydropower turbine

• Build one prototype at Purdue University facilities for domestic testing
• Work with ACREST technicians in Bangang community to modify and build a prototype at their facility using locally resourced materials.

2) Design a rough-draft assembly manual document whereby any local leaders, in virtually any community around the world with appropriate geographical conditions, could have the ability to intuitively design and build their own ideal hydropower turbine.

3) Search for sustainable sources of funding beyond the reach of the current EPA-P3 Award

Initially, the Spring 2012 objective was to fabricate the full-scale working prototype on Purdue's campus and test the prototype using any resources available including simulation of the water head to run the turbine with help from the Purdue University Fire Department. Unfortunately, the turbine could not be fabricated and tested on time just before our trip to Bangang, Cameroon in May 2012. This was due to delays in parts delivery, inability to work during normal workshop hours at the department, and the lack of experience in metalworking by most of the team members. We decided to disassemble the turbine and carry its parts along with our luggage as advised upon inquiry by our international carrier airline. At the airport, we were informed that we could not carry the units as packaged along with our luggage due to weight limits. We were advised to ship them by air cargo which we did. This decision to ship by air cargo became our major problem in-country in Cameroon. The shipment arrival was not only delayed, but clearing the turbine units from customs was a huge monumental task itself. The turbine was finally claimed from customs and brought to Bangang a day before we departed back to the U.S. 

Despite the setbacks described above, we were able to accomplish most of the tasks planned for the project year 2011-2012. While in Bangang, we conducted a comprehensive impact assessment using a questionnaire that we developed after consultation with a professor of anthropology (Dr. Riall Nolan) at Purdue. The questionnaire sought to find out what people in the community thought about the hydropower project under development by ACREST, their value of water and in particular the use of the waterfall, Mepibua II, how individual households were connected to ACREST distribution system and how much they paid for the service. We also obtained information by interviewing Dr. Kitio and ACREST staff working on the project. In general, the community was in support of the project. They saw water as a free valuable resource and not something to be owned by individuals or entities like ACREST. ACREST was very careful to respect the traditional religious beliefs of those in the community who viewed the waterfall as a sacred shrine of worship, and reserved some areas of the waterfall for this purpose. Family ties play a major role in who was connected to ACREST distribution system, and unfortunately became a constraint with regards to who paid for electric power. A strategy of ACREST is to direct more of the power for application to cottage industries such as grain milling and for use in ACREST fabrication workshop, both of which are currently being done at the moment.

The turbine was set in place at the powerhouse before we left Bangang, and was installed by ACREST technicians after the team returned to the U.S. We were informed by Dr. Kitio and ACREST technicians that the turbine operated at a higher speed (RPM) than ACREST's old turbine in place; thus its power output is greater.  Unfortunately, a recent communication indicated that our turbine had broken down due to the blades breaking off from the runner (shaft). At the moment, we are trying to diagnose what was the cause of the breakdown, and would further investigate this during our next field trip in May 2013.  A new turbine would be fabricated for rigorous testing in the 2012-2013 season (Year II).

Future Activities:

In general, both trips conducted by our team in May 2011 and May 2012 reaffirmed the viability and need of our project. The challenges faced by our team gave us a good idea of what it is really like working in the real world, especially in a developing country which lacks all the support infrastructure we in developed countries are used to, and very often take for granted. We achieved our primary goal of fabricating the turbine designed, albeit failed in thoroughly testing it due to time constraints before deployment on the field. Our team will continue to work with ACREST to realize the project of providing a reliable hydro-turbine, which can be locally fabricated and maintained. Some other issues such as automatic control of the turbine speed, not currently in our design, have been realized where further development work needs to be conducted. Additionally, ACREST does not have the entire supporting infrastructure for our turbine to be operational when installed, and we are working with them to identify and access more resources for this purpose. We are committed to continue to work with ACREST, looking for more funding, seeking for other partners (including private industry to pursue commercialization of our technology) and preparing Purdue's engineering students as global engineers making impact in both advanced and developing societies.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 2 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

Hydropower, renewable energy, community development

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

Final Report

P3 Phase I:

Development of Community Power from Sustainable Small Hydro Power Systems – A Capacity Building Project in Bangang, Cameroon  | Final Report