Sawayra was able to help out Al-Mustafa Orphanage by installing a 12.8 KiloWatts grid-tied solar panel production system. The entire process was extensive, and faced several hurdles, but eventually we were able to come to a mutual conclusion as to how we wanted the system to work.
To identify a production value and go with any system is easy, however coming to a cost-effective solution that provides the most return on value and conserves the environment is an important aspect and an ideal that we hold dearly close at Sawayra.
We decided to go with Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries that were offered alongside a hybrid system developed by Alpha-ESS.
Alpha-ESS Smile T-10 Inverter
What we eventually decided to use for the Orphanage was a 10 KiloWatt Inverter manufactured by Alpha-ESS.
Alpha-ESS Battery Storage
For battery storage, we decided to connect various modules together to come up with a total storage of 17.2 kWh. The best thing about these batteries is that they have a number of cycles that far surpasses that of any typical Lithium-Ion batteries.
Now, let’s look into why we went for this system, and how it has helped and will continue to help Al-Mustafa’s Orphanage.
Background
Al-Mustafa Welfare Society is one of the most reputable non-profit welfare organizations in Pakistan working for the social development and providing relief to low income groups since 1983.
It is run by a team of highly motivated intellectuals and social workers comprising of Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Business Executives and Representatives of various fields of life. Al-Mustafa’s branches are working all over the country from Kashmir to Karachi.
They are providing Health, Education, Public Awareness and Emergency Relief Services. Al-Mustafa is serving thousands of poor and needy people on daily basis through its Medical Centers, Clinics, Schools, Mosques, Madrasahs, Orphanage, Vocational Training Centers and Skill Development Centers all over the country.
Unfortunately, like all the other areas, Al-Mustafa also faces several hours of load shedding. The load shedding badly affects the daily activities, especially the services provided at the medical center are also interrupted.
The medical centers provide various services including cataract operations, ultrasound, vaccination to every needy person at very low cost or even for free.
The volunteers working under Sawayra visited Al-Mustafa orphanage on August 3 2017 for load analysis with the aim of installing solar panels at the Korangi branch.
Facility Details
The facility has a surrounding boundary wall. In the school portion, each classroom had about four fans, four points, two bulbs and two sockets.
There were two corridors having seven bulbs and twelve points. The washroom had ten points, four bulbs and one socket. The orphanage hall, had in total eight fans, ten points, four bulbs, six sockets etc. Moreover, a motor of 1 hp and a pump of 2 hp along with a cooler and deep freezer was also installed there.
A summary of the electrical load is summarized:
Al-Mustafa has a generator which is only for the orphanage not for clinic and school.
- During visit this had been mentioned by the workers there that Clinic certainly needs a backup source as there are machines like Nebulizers and Ultra sound machines which require electricity for their operation.
- Patients have to go through a great deal of discomfort and pain during the period of load shedding. The clinic only receives 20 rupees as the total charge for whatever disease they come with which is to be cured in just 20 rupees.
- The load at Orphanage is enough to be catered by generators but renewable energy source is always better from an environmental perspective.
Next Steps and Status
The next steps is to perform an energy audit of the facility (see page on projects section), review electrical circuit diagram and determine the scope and cost of the solar installation.
This work was done in January 2020, and the installation was completed in March 2020. As part of the installation process, internet access for remote monitoring, siting of panels to minimize risk of theft and a room for inverter, batteries and network computer was also finalized.
Production
There have been a few hiccups in the project due to unforeseen conditions and adaptability problems. But we’ve managed to keep the system going and it seems to finally be approaching a stable state.
With that being said, we do produce an average of 50 KWh units throughout the day. The numbers however may vary depending on the time of the year.
