African experts praise "Belt and Road": High-quality "small but beautiful" projects benefit remote areas in Africa

Nine years since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, African countries have actively participated, and a number of large-scale infrastructure projects jointly built by China and Africa have begun to benefit the African continent. At the same time, under the “Belt and Road” initiative, the “Small and Beautiful” projects aided by Chinese companies are also well received by African experts. They say the projects will boost infrastructure development in remote areas of Africa that have long been neglected.

On October 14, 2021, in a village in Rwanda, villagers used a Chinese-aided well to fetch water. Image source: Xinhuanet

In recent years, Chinese companies have invested in more "small but beautiful" projects on the African continent that directly benefit African villages.

A few days ago, China Railway Resources Group completed the construction of the eighth drinking water well in Kisamfo Village, Lualaba Province, Congo. These wells provide 3,000 people with clean drinking water. In the past, they had to walk more than 15 kilometers to get water from the river.

In addition, China Railway Resources Group will build more primary schools, health centers, sports facilities and other projects to contribute to the sustainable development of these African villages.

China Gold Chengxin Mining Management Co., Ltd. employs more than 4,500 locals in Zambia and the DRC. For the past 22 years, the company has been involved in projects to aid African villages, donating to local schools, donating anti-epidemic materials during the epidemic, and assisting in road construction.

Experts said that in order to expand public resources and fill the funding gap, African countries need to attract private financing. Unlike large projects, small projects are less risky and easier to finance and manage.

Gitasi Nguni, a Kenyan consultant, said that prioritizing small projects would accelerate the pace of Africa's industrialization.

He said: "Africa faces the dual problem of lack of capital and technology in expanding production. The concept of 'small but beautiful' solves the above problems by providing funds and necessary expertise for the development of remote areas in Africa."

Nguni said that the economies of most African countries rely mainly on agriculture and more infrastructure is needed to modernize production. "In these areas, small infrastructure projects, such as small hydropower plants, small solar power plants or small irrigation dams, can help increase the productivity of small communities and thus improve the quality of life."

In addition, the construction of infrastructure by Chinese companies in rural Africa will help local people enjoy the services that urban residents have become accustomed to.

Silas Tortorella once studied in China to obtain a master's degree in Curriculum and Pedagogy. His current research area is China-Africa cooperation.

Tortorella said that the development of roads and railways in rural Africa can facilitate the transportation of raw materials, and factories that process raw materials are mostly located in urban centers.

Improving transport networks would also unlock the economic potential of remote areas such as arid and semi-arid regions, facilitate trade and the flow of goods and people, and provide more people with electricity, communications and water, he said. (Reporter EDITH MUTEHYA Source: China Daily Network)

The largest renewable energy project was officially launched in Bangladesh

On June 29, the Bangladesh Prabna 64 MW photovoltaic power station project was officially signed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, marking the official launch of the Bangladesh 500 MW renewable energy project of CMC, a subsidiary of GENERTEC.

The project is jointly invested and developed by GENERTEC CMC and North-West Power Generation Company Limited. It is the largest renewable energy project invested by a Chinese-funded enterprise in Bangladesh. The project will be constructed in stages according to the actual progress. At this stage, the 68 MW photovoltaic power station project in Sirajganj has also completed signature.

In recent years, the high cost of imported coal and natural gas has put enormous pressure on the country's finances. Therefore, Bangladesh pledged in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) program completed in August last year to reach an installed capacity of 4,100 megawatts by 2030, and 40% of its electricity to come from renewable energy by 2041. In this context, the Bangladesh government vigorously promotes renewable energy generation, and the Bangladesh 500 MW renewable energy project came into being.

In 2020, on the basis of the previous good cooperation, GENERTEC CMC signed an investment agreement with North-West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL), and registered and established Bangladesh-China Renewable Energy Company (Pvt.) Limited (BCRECL) in Bangladesh, planning to jointly invest and develop in Bangladesh a total capacity of 500 megawatt (AC) renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.) power plant project.

North-West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL) was established in August 2007 and is headquartered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is a state-owned enterprise 100% controlled by the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

After the Bangladesh 500 MW renewable energy project is fully completed and put into operation, it is expected to provide Bangladesh with about 821 million kWh of clean energy every year, which is equivalent to saving about 320,000 tons of standard coal for Bangladesh and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 818,500 tons per year.

Bangladesh's Minister of Electricity, Energy and Mineral Resources, said the planned projects will help the government achieve its goal of 40% of electricity from renewable sources as soon as possible.

Up to now, according to the data released by the Bangladesh National Energy and Electricity Development Agency, the total installed capacity of Bangladesh is 22,348 MW, of which 777 MW comes from renewable energy, of which the installed photovoltaic capacity is 229 MW, and the installed capacity of renewable energy accounts for about 3% of the total capacity. After the project is fully completed, it will increase the proportion of renewable energy power stations in Bangladesh to 15%, making an important contribution to the adjustment of power structure and power development in Bangladesh.

At present, the sub-projects jointly promoted in the first phase of the Bangladesh 500 MW renewable energy project are the Sirajganj 68 MW photovoltaic power station project and the Pabna 64 MW photovoltaic power station project.

The Bangladesh Sirajganj 68 MW photovoltaic power station project is located in Sirajganj District in the Rajshahi district of central Bangladesh. The EPC contract was signed on February 24, 2022.

The Bangladesh Prabna 64 MW photovoltaic power station project is located in the Prabna district in the Rajshahi district of northern Bangladesh, 80 kilometers northwest of the capital Dhaka.

The total investment of the two projects is about 170 million US dollars. After the project is completed, it is expected to generate 220 million kWh of electricity annually, which will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 210,000 tons per year.

As one of the important countries along the "Belt and Road" initiative and the "Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor", the power energy of Bangladesh is highly dependent on natural gas and imported diesel. The power structure is dominated by gas and oil units, and in short of renewable energy sources, such as wind power and solar photovoltaic. Under the megatrend towards green and low-carbon transformation, the country sees more and more such power plant projects utilizing green and renewable solar technologies to be realized in the near future. As a maker of photovoltaic solar panels, Greco Solar is taking the opportunities of "Belt and Road" initiative and participates in the construction and development of Bangladesh's power and energy market. It has been supplying solar modules and systems solutions with inexpensive and very affordable costs. Greco Solar is devoted to achieve mutual benefit of human, society and environment by its creativity, efficiency and value.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina said in a signed article published in the Financial Times: 
The climate crisis is such an imminent matter that we need to see climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic and the destruction of nature as a common threat and unite against this threat for a common, cleaner, greener, more safe world.

Solar LED Street Lights, the Green Product Available for All

Solar LED Street Light

Solar LED street lights are powered by crystalline silicon solar panels, with maintenance-free batteries (Gel / Lithium ion batteries) storing electrical energy, ultra-bright LED lamps are used as light sources, and are controlled by the intelligent charge and discharge controllers. They are perfect substitutes of traditional mains power Street lights.

Explanation of the working principle of solar LED street lights: 

Solar street lights during the day are under the control of the intelligent controller;
The solar panels absorb solar light and convert it into electrical energy under the control of the intelligent controller;
The solar cell modules charge the battery pack during the day and the battery pack provides power to the LED at night;
The LED light source is powered to realize the lighting function.

The DC controller can ensure that the battery pack is not damaged due to overcharging or over-discharging. It also has functions such as light control, time control, temperature compensation, lightning protection, and reverse polarity protection.

Solar energy is inexhaustible, clean, pollution-free, and renewable. The use of solar power generation has unparalleled advantages such as cleanliness, high safety, relative extensiveness and adequacy of energy, long life, and maintenance-free. Photovoltaic energy is considered to be the most important new energy of the 21st century. The solar LED street light does not need to lay cables, AC power supply, and no electricity bills at all for the users; it adopts a DC power supply and control; it has the advantages of good stability, long life, high luminous efficiency, easy installation and maintenance, high safety performance, energy saving, and environmental protection, economical and practical. It can be widely used in urban main and secondary arterial roads, communities, factories, tourist attractions, parking lots, and other places.

How Does the Photovoltaic Solar Panel Work?

WHAT IS SOLAR?

First, it is necessary to differentiate the photovoltaic panel from the thermal panel. These two types of panels are found in the same family called solar panels. They will both draw their energy from the same source: the sun. However, they produce two completely different things:

The photovoltaic solar panel uses sunlight to make electricity.
The thermal solar panel uses the heat of the sun to heat the water.

We are clear about the definitions but we do not yet know how it works.

HOW DOES THE PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR PANEL WORK?

You will be surprised to learn that the photovoltaic effect was discovered in 1839 by the French physicist Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel. Many researchers, including Einstein, have studied the subject but little progress has been made because the yield was too bad. It was the conquest of space in the 1960s that revived the research and the first devices equipped with photovoltaic cells were the satellites. 10 years later, scientists began to propose land structures.

It is therefore thanks to the photovoltaic cells that make up the panels that the rays of the sun can be turned into electricity. The photovoltaic panel is composed of electrons, which will start moving when they receive the energy from the light particles. And there, an electrical flux is created and grows in proportion to the amount of light it receives.

Well, now we know how to produce electricity but we will not be able to use it right away, we have to work it. It's like when you buy a frozen pizza, you have to put it in the oven before you can eat it.

The photovoltaic panels will produce direct current, which must be transformed into alternating current in order to power our devices. It is thanks to an inverter that this operation will be possible, like the oven that cooks our pizza.

HOW DOES A PHOTOVOLTAIC INSTALLATION WORK?

The base of the installation is the structure, on which we will install the panels. The structure will have to support the weight of the installation and will be secured to the framework by solid hooks. It will either be integrated into the roof as a replacement for the tiles or be affixed (superimposed) to the roof tiles. The process remains the same for different covering materials.

Once the structure is installed, we will pull the solar cables that will serve to connect our panels.

The panels will be attached to the structure. We will leave about 10 centimeters between the tiles and the panels to let the air circulate and to avoid the overheating of the panels.

For safety reasons, a lightning protection box is installed to prevent overvoltage in the event of a lightning strike.

This electricity, which is still in direct current, goes into the inverter and comes out in alternating current.

Additionally, we can also use an energy storage system called battery. It can be recharged a great number of times and is used when there is no more sunshine.

We arrive at the electrical panel from which leave 2 paths: The first will power your various electrical appliances. It is self-consumption. You save money because you do not have to buy electricity from your supplier. The second will re-inject surplus electricity into the grid network. You benefit from the current purchase by your supplier.

Finally, a production control system informs you of all the necessary data concerning your installation and warns in case of an anomaly so that you can intervene in the shortest possible time.

MAINTENANCE OF YOUR SOLAR INSTALLATION

A solar power system requires little maintenance. It is however advisable to have your solar panels cleaned from time to time by a specialized company in order to remove dead leaves, dust or other pollution. This simple and inexpensive gesture can increase your output by up to 12%.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

So we know how a solar system works and cleaning improves efficiency. That's positive and the good news is not over ... Your plant does not pollute, does not generate any waste, produces no greenhouse gases and is 99% recyclable.

A Brief of Solar Photovoltaic Modules

The role of photovoltaic modules is to convert the incident solar energy into electricity. When they receive a certain amount of light, the photovoltaic surfaces (cells or thin films) integrated into a module (also called panel) begin to produce electricity in the form of direct current. To achieve this, the technologies used are diverse and rapidly evolving. In recent years, the breakthrough of building integration applications has also assumed photovoltaic modules as architectural functions such as roofing, solar shading, lightening, cladding or glass roofing.

photovoltaic solar panels

Very fragile in the raw state, photovoltaic materials must be protected from the weather, which is generally achieved by a transparent and solid glass which constitutes the upper part of a sandwich studied to withstand the aggressions of the environment for several decades.

The rear face of the sandwich may be constituted by a specially designed cured polymer or by a second layer of glass, thus allowing a semi-transparency of the assembly.

The most common modules today are rigid rectangular panels with a surface area between 0.5 and 3 m 2 , a few centimeters thick and weighing a few tens of kilograms.

Subject to the Sun's radiation (ultra-violet, infrared ...) and to the weather, the materials of the photovoltaic solar panels gradually degrade.

The modules of the first photovoltaic installation in France connected to the state grid, commissioned by the HESPUL association in 1992, were tested in 2012. This study, carried out by the CEA laboratories of the National Institute of Solar Energy ) and the certification body CERTISOLIS, concludes that the modules lost only 8.3% of their initial power after 20 years of use.

Currently, the main manufacturers such as Greco Solar guarantee a maximum power reduction of about 20% over 20 or 25 years. The result of this study shows that the performance of these modules is far superior to the guaranteed values.

Small Solar Panels Test Field Completed by Fraunhofer

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has integrated 70 PV solar panels of its own development and production into the building façade of one of its laboratories.

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has now completed its small solar panels test field installed on the outer façade of one of its lab buildings. The institute started to install the first panels on the façade in 2013. The PV solar power system consists of 70 solar panels relying on different technologies that were all developed by Fraunhofer ISE. The research institute said that the PV system shows how different solar technologies can interplay. The system also includes the module TPedge, a crystalline module recently developed by Fraunhofer ISE with an unnamed partner from the industry. According to the institute, this module, which uses back-contacted solar cells produced by Fraunhofer ISE researchers, was manufactured with a process that replaces the lamination step.

Colombia Approves Law to Introduce Fiscal Incentives for Solar Power And Renewables

The Colombian Cabinet has approved a new law (Decreto 2143 de 4 de Noviembre 2014) that will introduce fiscal incentives for renewable energy and solar power projects starting from Feb. 1, 2016.

Under the new law, developers of renewable energy projects will be granted four different types of fiscal credits: a 50% deduction over income tax; an accelerated depreciation of assets; the exclusion from the VAT regime; and the import duty exemption on imported raw materials and components for the development of the projects.

In May 2014, The Colombian government approved a law (Ley 1715 de 2014) that provided financial support for the deployment of off-grid renewable energy projects across Colombia. The law aims to reduce the use of diesel fuel in non-interconnected areas by replacing diesel generators with renewable energy installations. Deployment of these installations are being supported by a newly created fund, the Fondo de Energías No Convencionales y Gestión Eficiente de la Energía.

The new law also provided a legal framework for the development of renewable energy projects in Colombia.