1.3.3 Rest of the World

The Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Group (PTD, Erlangen, Germany) is electrifying a hundred villages in Gabon, Africa, in a 20 million euro project ordered by the state energy ministry and scheduled for completion by the end of 2003.

Under this program, Siemens is installing maintenance-free decentralized power supply systems that each consists of a switchgear cubicle with inverter, battery charge regulator and lead-acid batteries supplied from solar modules on the roof of the cubicle. These systems have been developed to provide power for medical stations, village schools, homes and street lighting. Typical uses in the country's remote villages, which are scattered hundreds of kilometers apart, include the refrigeration of vaccines and the operation of interior and exterior lights, fans and even short-wave receivers and satellite phones.

Bharat Heavy Electricals, Electronics Division (BHEL-EDN) has undertaken electrification of Lakshadweep islands using solar photovoltaic power. The project involved setting up seven power plants, each of 100 kW. Once all the seven are ready, the total power generation from solar photovoltaics on the islands will exceed 1 Megawatt. The Lakshadweep Islands are located off the south-west coast of India.

BHEL is also installing 100 kW solar photovoltaic power plants in the Anadaman and Nicobar islands this year. The Ministry of Energy in Ecuador has installed 104 photovoltaic systems in the border provinces of Orellana, Sucumbíos and Loja.

The systems service communal houses, schools and health centers. 83 PV systems have been installed since the beginning of 2001 in an equal number of communal schools and houses, and together with another 21 systems in health centers in the provinces of Loja, Sucumbíos and Orellana. The photovoltaic electrification project has been financed through a Loan Agreement between the Andean Corporation of Promotion (Caf) and the Government of Ecuador. The project includes a total installation of 576 systems in different parts from the country.

In the Philippines, a solar rural project will proceed with Dutch Government support. The Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) has approved the proposed P500 million ($10 million) Solar Home Systems Distribution Project that will provide electricity for selected off-grid areas in the country. It will be funded by a grant from the Dutch government and will involve the distribution of solar power-generating equipment to participating households.

The areas covered by the project are localities not connected to the existing power grids in the Ilocos Region, Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas and the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR). Shell Renewables will provide the solar power generation technology, and the cost of implementation will be 60 percent funded by the Dutch grant. Each solar home system is estimated to cost at least P15,000 ($300) in terms of installation and equipment cost.

Also in the Philippines, Mirant Philippines has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with USAID on the Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) project. This will use solar energy to electrify 160 rural barangays in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is helping to bring electricity to rural Syria. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency installed solar panels to supply electricity to four rural villages in the Aleppo region in northern Syria: individual systems for homes in three villages and a central system in the other. The agency also installed solar power for pumping water in Kalif and Zarzita, and for water desalination in Kalif, which is in an arid area with brackish water. The centralized solar system in Zarzita generates excess power during the sunny summer months, enabling villagers to set up a workshop and earn extra income by producing key medallions that are sold to tourists at Simon Castle in the region.

Evergreen Solar announced that its Japanese marketing partner, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., has delivered a 70 kW PV system to Yachiyo Shoin High School in Yachiyo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. This system is Evergreen Solar's second largest commercial installation.The PV array of approximately 770 square meters covers part of the roof of the high school's Yamaguchi Gymnastic Hall using Evergreen's Cedar Line(TM) PV panels.

The school has built this system jointly funded with NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) as part of their Industrial Use PV Field Test Program. The City of Melbourne in Australia called for expressions of interest for the first stage of a major solar photovoltaic power installation on the roof of the Queen Victoria Market.

The project, expected to cost more than A$1.75million, is for the supply and installation of solar panels across the roof of two of the market sheds (2000 square meters). In Canada, ARISE Technologies Corporation will lead the team to design and install 45 kilowatts of PV panels on eight to ten new homes. The Government of Canada is contributing C$1M to the two-and-a-half-year project.

A consortium led by Total Energie and comprising shareholders TotalFinaElf, through its subsidiary Total Maroc, and Electricité de France (EDF), was awarded in May a contract for a rural solar power electrification program covering 16,000 households in Morocco. The contract award follows an international tender held by Morocco's Office National d'Electricité (ONE) in which seven Moroccan and non-Moroccan consortia submitted bids.

The solar power electrification program, part of the Global Rural Electrification Program (PERG) being implemented by ONE, covers rural regions remote from the electricity grid and scattered housing southeast of Rabat and Casablanca. Each household will be equipped with a solar panel and battery system to supply power for lighting and domestic appliances. Installation of the systems will take place over a period of four years, beginning in the second half of 2002.The project has an estimated budget of 13 million euro.

ONE will provide 7.2 million euro with the financial support of Germany's Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW). The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) approached the Fonds Français pour l'Environnement Mondial (FFEM) to finance technical support. The Total Energie-TotalFinaElf-EDF consortium and users will be responsible for additional financing.