The Marshallese Solar Training Manual has now been published and distributed to households in Namdrik Atoll for feedback. This is the first training manual of its kind in the Marshall Islands! A special thanks goes to the nation's President Jurelang Zedkaia, who was among the supporters for the creation of this solar training manual.
-- New legislation has been passed in the Marshall Islands which allows Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient products and equipment to be imported without paying tax! Minister Mattlan Zackhras from Namdrik was instrumental in passing this legislation, and had consulted with Island Eco among others to receive feedback on the proposed legislation.
-- The Utrok and Namdrik Atoll Installations as part of Island Eco's USDA project are now complete with 85 new solar powered freezers and 170 new LED lights! Take a look at the photos of transporting, distributing and installing the equipment at our Photo Galleries page. ...
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Posted April 12th, 2011 in Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: DC refrigerator/freezer, government agreements, household systems, Namdrik Atoll, publications, Rongelap Atoll, solar training, Utrok Atoll
30 additional solar refrigeration units have been agreed upon for Jaluit atoll for 2011! The community has decided to participate in the Rural Utilities Service Project and the mayor has signed a MOU with Island Eco. Island Eco is excited about working with a new community as a part of this project.
Also, more refrigeration units are planned for the coming year with interested outer island shop owners from around the Marshalls! This is an experimental model, as it will involve working directly with shop owners rather than the local government. In order to reach these shop owners and make them aware of the project, and advertisement has been place in the Marshall Islands Journal. See the advertisement below:
Look at our Rural Utilities Service project updates page to see two videos of unloading the equipment for the installation at Utrok Atoll. And find out more on how the other aspects ...
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Posted December 11th, 2010 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: DC refrigerator/freezer, government agreements, Jaluit Atoll
The power system for DC refrigeration is a 320 Wp PV power system with approx 400Ah storage battery and 30A controller with meter and 2 LED light fixtures equivalent to 11W CFL bulbs each with the accompanying mounts, hardware, enclosures, fixtures, switches, cables etc. and a DC 12/24V chest type Freezer approx 6 cu ft. We have tested this configuration at several health centers in the outer islands. A lot of outer island folks have seen these working well. No AC appliances should be wired to this system, i.e. no inverters.
More on the demo house power system as we figure out changes required as a consequence of determining how many houses actually participate in the DC refrigeration element of the project.
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Posted April 22nd, 2010 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: 12/24V DC CF Lights, 30 amp controller, batteries deep cycle, DC refrigerator/freezer; PV module mounts; wires-cables; battery accessories, LED lighting, photovoltaic modules, renewable energy demonstration house
We have completed adapting and translating the first draft of probably the first book about solar PV systems produced in a Micronesian language!
There are 11 chapters completed. Here is a draft of the first chapter- it describes the very basics of solar photovoltaic power systems by comparing these to water collection, storage and usage- something that almost all Micronesians live with… http://islandeco.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/book_kajjinmajol_ch1.pdf
we will be adding photographs and illustrations and formatting and polishing the content in the final form but if you are are a native Marshallese speaker please glance through the text and let us know if the text reads easily and how well you can follow the explanations…
thanks…
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Posted December 8th, 2009 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: Marshallese solar book, photovoltaic modules, publications, solar training
The households at Namdrik atoll and Utrok atoll that have agreed to participate in this project have completed a brief questionnaire and agreement. Through this koon (agreement) they agree to the ownership, maintenance and data collection terms. Some basic information about the household’s previous exposure to any form of solar electricity is also obtained. These agreements were completed on-site at the outer atolls. The Mayors of Namdrik and Utrok distributed the questionnaires after a community meeting at the outer atoll. Households completed the questionnaires, then sent them back to Majuro on Air Marshall Islands. Click on the link to view a sample Koon (agreement). http://islandeco.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/erakrik.pdf
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Posted September 2nd, 2009 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: government agreements, Namdrik Atoll, research, Utrok Atoll
There is a lot of pilot work likely to be seen in this project.
The EU funds and ROC and Govt France and PREFACE and …are working with the national govt. in an organized manner following the consultants review and analysis of 6-8 years ago about what works- about a national organization-utility company- handling everything related to outer island solar electrification. It focuses on providing lighting through PV power to the outer island households, atoll by atoll. This is moving along at its pace and by its standards and priorities and successes and constraints.
So we looked at the other important need that outer island people always expressed to us in the rural retail store: food storage-refrigeration. This project will work on solar powered household DC freezers for outer island houses.
In the outer islands in the households that will host the freezers women will be involved in the installation. They will be familiarized with ...
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Posted June 16th, 2009 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: DC refrigerator/freezer, government agreements, Marshallese solar book, photovoltaic modules, solar training, women's involvement
The Mayor of Utrok wondered if the system could accommodate more lights and if Majuro based Utrok families could participate.
The response is : the system is designed for powering the DC freezer. No other loads should be attached, but 2 LED lights consume very little power if wisely used. Some lighting is necessary, hence the LED lights.
The project aims at alleviating hardship in the outer islands; we will seek permission to include Utrok families living in Majuro but we will have to make a case for this.
It would be useful to have Namdrik and Utrok host similar numbers and compare the perforamance of these systems and of the users?
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Posted April 18th, 2009 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: DC refrigerator/freezer, LED lighting, Namdrik Atoll, research, Utrok Atoll
Namdrik Atoll and Utrok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, in the central-north Pacific Ocean, are two locations where this project will… start lapping on their shores. Namdrik…is the Alele. How about a genuine explanation of this term? Namdrik was the first atoll in the Marshall Islands to actually experience an individual household based solar power system at most of its existing houses- in 1993 or so. Terry Parker and I described the Govt. of France sponsored project in a paper submitted to and published by the IIEC in Compendium: Asian Energy Efficiency Success Stories by Peter Rumsey, IIEC-Asia and Ted Flanigan, The Results Center (September 1995) http://www.iiec.org/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=106&Itemid=47 This project was then ”refurbished” about 6 years later through another Govt of France sponsored project operating through a regional agency. The current facilities are described at : http://www.mecrmi.net/Namdrik.htm The most recent review of the Namdrik atoll RE facilities etc was…http://www.mpwr.co.nz/udo.php?p=pacific&id=108 Utrok is one ...
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Posted March 16th, 2009 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: DC refrigerator/freezer, government agreements, Namdrik Atoll, photovoltaic modules, Utrok Atoll
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) http://www.usda.gov/rus/electric/index.htm invited applications nationwide and from the territories from governments at all levels, non-profit and for profit associations, businesses and individuals to a high energy cost grant program. There were numerous but specific types of energy related activities that could be eligible for funding through this program. The applications were reviewed independently by 6 reviewers, marked on various established criteria, and ranked. Island ECo’s application with a 92 /100 score ranked 6th among all applications of the 34 semi-finalists selected from all eligible applications.
The application sought to create a solar power program to complement the existing outer islands solar power electrification (lighting for rural households) program, funded by various donors including the European Union, France, Italy, Republic of Taiwan, sponsored by the national government and implemented through the national electric utility company.
In order to best allocate the funds available under ...
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Posted January 7th, 2009 in Rural Utilities Services, Uncategorized :: No Comments
Tags: DC refrigerator/freezer, Marshallese solar book, Namdrik Atoll, photovoltaic modules, renewable energy demonstration house, solar training, Utrok Atoll
