Tshumbe Solar ProjectReliable Electricity and Renewable Energy Skills

for Students in the Democratic Republic of Congo2011–2014

C A S E S T U D Y

F A C T S A T A G L A N C E

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Tshumbe Solar Project Reliable Electricity and Renewable Energy Skills for Students in the Democratic Republic of Congo

SUMMARYNotre Dame successfully delivered and, with the help of local staff, installed a solar microgrid in January, 2014, in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the Université de Notre Dame de Tshumbe (UNITSHU). The system provides 5kW of electric power and 25 kWh of electricity per day for a computer lab, several study halls, security lighting, and a phone charging kiosk for students.

BACKGROUNDTshumbe is a diocese of nearly one million people in remote central Democratic Republic of Congo. While in another country a population of this size would indicate a metropolis, its remoteness and dire lack of infrastructure mean that Tshumbe is actually a very large—and impoverished—set of distant villages. Water, sanitation, and electricity are scarce and only intermittently available. Fuel comes in the form of expensive diesel, which must be flown in by seaplane.

The local Catholic diocese constitutes the largest and most reliable component of Tshumbe’s civil infrastructure. More than half of the village’s population is Catholic, and the Church is the largest landowner and employer in the region. The Diocese of Tshumbe is led by Bishop Nicholas Djomo Lola, who also currently presides over the Conference

F A C T S A T A G L A N C E

PROJECT NAMETshumbe Solar Project

CITY / COUNTRY Tshumbe, Democratic Republic of Congo

REGION Sub-Saharan Africa

IN-COUNTRY COMMUNITIES UNITSHU Diocese of Tshumbe

PROJECT DURATION 2011-2014

SPONSORS Keith and Janet Sherin Brad Pattelli General Electric

PARTNERSLyman Technologies Sovereign Order of Malta

NOTRE DAME PRIMARY Notre Dame Initiative for Global

Development (NDIGD)

NOTRE DAME PARTNERS College of EngineeringDepartment of Electrical EngineeringDepartment of Theology

NOTRE DAME FACULTY Dean Peter Kilpatrick, College of EngineeringProfessor Michael Lemmon, Department of

Electrical EngineeringRev. John Cavadini, Department of Theology

PROJECT DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION Patrick Murphy, NDIGD

TOTAL PROJECT COST $90,000

TOPICAL AREAS Energy, Environment, and SustainabilityEducationHuman Development

C A S E S T U D Y

A typical bridge in DR Congo. The passengers in an SUV (from left, Sister Rebecca Walo, Bishop Djomo far ahead, and Father Leonard) must dismount and cross on foot, in case the bridge cannot carry the combined weight.

Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development 3

ZeroBase Re-Generator, originally designed by Lyman Technologies.

C A S E S T U D Y

of Catholic Bishops of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. John Cavadini, associate professor and chair of theology and the McGrath-Cavadini Director of the Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame, has a longstanding relationship with Bishop Djomo.

It was through the relationship between Prof. Cavadini and the Bishop—as well as input from Father Emery Longanga, who recently returned to Tshumbe after completing his master’s degree at Notre Dame—that the University learned of the opportunity to help our sister university obtain reliable power.

The Université de Notre Dame de Tshumbe (UNITSHU) consists of several simple buildings used as lecture rooms and offices for about 800 students. Tshumbe offers an abbreviated, but highly relevant, menu of educational programs: computer science, management and economics, psychology and educational sciences, and medicine.

The lack of a reliable energy source to power computers and reading lamps for after dark presents a tremendous obstacle to student achievement. It is, moreover, not simply the lack of reliable energy that hinders Tshumbe’s students, but also the incredible cost of that energy when it is available. All of the electricity used to come from a diesel generator. Due to the challenging logistics, fuel in Tshumbe can cost $16-20 per gallon, and that means electricity from the diesel costs more than $2/kWh (compared to just $0.05-0.15/kWh in the United States). That 60-year-old generator has since failed.

The Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD), in an effort initiated by the College of Engineering’s Dean Peter Kilpatrick to help UNITSHU obtain reliable power, and with input and research coordination with Professor Michael Lemmon of the Department of Electrical Engineering, designed and installed a solar hybrid microgrid, complete with battery storage and energy monitoring systems on the grounds of UNITSHU.

Generous donations from Keith (ND ’81) and Janet Sherin, matching funds provided by General Electric, and an additional donation from Brad Pattelli (ND ’88), underwrite this effort. In addition, Lyman Technologies provided hardware, design, and integration for the solar microgrid at cost.

PLAN AND PROGRESS Notre Dame’s plan was to design, build, and test a custom solar power plant that could be shipped to UNITSHU, installed, operated, and maintained with resources in country. This would provide reliable, renewable electricity and minimize the need for expensive diesel fuel. The lack of technical expertise and materials in country demanded a robust, integrated solution that could be rapidly and easily connected in Tshumbe.

Delivery of the gear to Tshumbe proved challenging. The journey began in June, 2012, from the Lyman Morse plant in Thomaston, Maine, and was completed 16 months later. Transport within DRC took more than a year. In-country travel included several months of delay in Kinshasa while the Diocese of Tshumbe procured a suitable truck to carry the gear overland on the sometimes non-existent roads. As shown at left, the road infrastructure is not maintained well enough to easily facilitate the delivery of two tons of solar gear, nor do the bridges support their weight.

Diesel generator.

Power cable riser and distribution connection.

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IMPACTPrior to implementation of this project, UNITSHU was completely dependent on a 70-year-old generator for its electricity (see photo at upper right). That electricity cost the university more than 20 times what the same energy would cost in the United States. This meant they could only afford a few hours of power per week: studying in the evenings was difficult; computer classes were taught on a chalkboard, with little or no practical experience; students and faculty had to walk 4-5 kilometers to find a place to charge cellphones.

Notre Dame and UNITSHU, with the sponsorship and generosity of alumni and corporate partners, have addressed the immediate energy needs of the school. UNITSHU now generates up to 20kWh per day, enough to power their new computer lab, provide study halls after sundown, recharge phones for students and faculty, and begin to bring the remote university into the information age.

This is just a beginning. Data from the solar microgrid is collected and shared with Notre Dame electrical engineering faculty working on improved control systems for remote power generation. Notre Dame and UNITSHU have won an additional grant from The Loyola Foundation to upgrade the computers at UNITSHU. Future projects in development include Notre Dame student internships, faculty research, and service projects at UNITSHU and in the broader Tshumbe community to support the solar research, improve internet connectivity, and build bridges and other infrastructure to make Tshumbe more accessible and more connected.

More than one hundred and seventy years ago, a young priest journeyed to what was then the bush—remote Indiana—to establish the premier Catholic university on the new continent. Today, Bishop Djomo and Sister Rebecca strive to establish a Catholic university in remote central Africa, with the intent for UNITSHU to be a powerful force for good in Tshumbe, the Congo, and the world. We at Notre Dame, faculty, students, staff, corporate partners, and alumni, are a proud part of this heroic venture.

Final panel installed on array. The building in the upper right will house the new UNITSHU computer lab.

Ben Manya, Pa Leon Pongo and Mark Wetshokonda led the work

for installing the array and controls, including testing the circuit with the

first solar powered light at UNITSHU.

40 panels installed on concrete and rebar tower, UNITSHU.

ndigd.nd.edu 940 Grace Hall • Notre Dame, Indiana 46556(574) 631-2940 • globaldevelopment@nd.edu