Public Private Partnerships (PPP) - INENSUS

The public-private partnership between GIZ/PERACOD and INENSUS is a project aiming at the realisation of village electrification by means of solar-diesel-wind hybrid systems in Senegal. It is financed under EnDev.

Overview

The origins of the PPP project can be traced to a business trip organised by GTZ on behalf of the ministry of economy in 2006. Several German enterprises visited Senegal and, in the aftermath, two projects materialised: the PPP between INENSUS and GTZ/PERACOD and a second PPP between solar23, dena and GTZ/PERACOD, see here.

Benefits

One of the innovative approaches of this PPP is the integration of three different generation technologies into one minigrid. Several benefits are meant to be realised this way:

• Higher security of supply (lower probability of power outages): it is difficult and expensive to lay out a system in a way as to guarantee that it will work under all circumstances. A combination of different technologies in one system will most likely provide higher security of supply at a lower cost.
• Optimal utilisation of local renewable energy sources should reduce specific cost of energy.
• Lower specific cost of storage: optimal utilisation of the different energy sources available should reduce the size of the battery necessary, or, inversely put, should provide for more service with the same battery size.

Innovative approaches

The PPP is innovative in several aspects:

• Utilization of a small wind energy turbine for rural electrification. Most wind energy schemes deal with wind parks that feed into the interconnected grid. This is this first project in Senegal to tap into wind energy resources for rural electrification.
• Application of a new tariff scheme. INENSUS tries to apply a new tariff scheme (still to be validated by the regulatory authority, [1]) which consists in selling energy and power blocks. Each block is cost-recovering in itself. Currently, blocks are sized at 50W power, 1,4kWh per week consumption and are priced at 2840 XOF ( 4,33 EUR) per block.
• Installation of a three-phased grid. This means higher cost of investment for inverters, but also higher potential for future development, as more powerful machinery is frequently operated by three-phase motors.
• Utilisation of pre-paid meters. This project is the first in Senegal to use pre-paid meters in rural electrification. The meters have been developed and supplied by INENSUS. The device not only integrates prepayment, but also limits power and energy according to programmed values. The meters also integrate the possibility to disconnect loads based on priorities. In case of an overloaded grid, low-priority charges are disconnected first, while high-priority charges (health station) remain connected as long as possible.

1st phase: wind measurements

In a first phase, wind measurements were taken at five villages. Four of the five sites were chosen alongside the so-called "Grande Cote" (big coast) region of Senegal, north of Dakar. This region is known for its wind potential and has been investigated for other wind energy projects as well (see a TERNA study here). A last site was chosen inland along the delta of rivers Sine and Saloum.

The wind measurements were conducted with poles of 12m that carried two anemometers, one at 9m and another at 12m height. After 12 months of measurement, the site of Sine Moussa Abdou showed the most potential: average wind speed was estimated to be 5.27m/s at the hub height of 18m. This village was subsequently chosen for the implementation of a pilot project.

In addition, the first phase dealt with the elaboration of a business plan and the adaptation of INENSUS’ approach to the Senegalese framework conditions.