{"id":11533,"date":"2018-01-03T10:49:34","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T08:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/?p=11533"},"modified":"2021-06-07T16:15:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T14:15:22","slug":"victron-power-improves-student-learning-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.victronenergy.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/03\/victron-power-improves-student-learning-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Victron power improves student learning time"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s always good to start a new year with a positive story.<\/p>\n

In developing nations education is often key to improving the society. Recently Alp Tilev, Managing Director of Great Lakes Energy in Rwanda, got in touch with me about an educational project for which they were fortunate enough to win the bid – to install a 4kWp off-grid system for the Kepler university’s program in Kiziba Refugee Camp in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

The project was funded in part by a grant from the Humanitarian Education Accelerator, a project of DFID, UNICEF, and UNHCR to promote successful scaling of promising education initiatives for refugees.<\/p>\n

Based on the above that sounds a particularly worthwhile project I’d say to kick us off into 2018 – and one that Alp and his business have clearly enjoyed doing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kiziba Refugee Camp in Rwanda.<\/p><\/div>\n

Generator downtime<\/h3>\n

Kepler is a nonprofit university program based in Africa, designed for the developing world. Up to the point Great Lakes Energy got involved with them much of the off-grid power required for the university program (located in the\u00a0Kiziba Refugee Camp shown above) was provided by an unreliable generator.<\/p>\n

The students therefore received somewhat time limited online learning, whilst working toward their U.S. accredited degrees. With Kepler’s goal to create a global network of universities, beginning in Rwanda, to deliver the skills that emerging economies need, at a price that all talented students can afford – well it almost becomes a futile exercise without reliable power.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The suspect generator replete with dodgy wiring…<\/p><\/div>\n

Quantifying the loss of learning time<\/h3>\n

The students have access to the campus for 89.5 hours a week, but due to the old generator and solar system which powered the internet server – this resulted in only 44 hours of available learning time. That figure included the duration the student’s laptops could run on their batteries after the generator was turned off. A study document here<\/a> explains the reasoning behind the loss of learning time.<\/p>\n

The bottom line was 45.5 hours of learning time was lost where students could have had both electricity
\nand internet access to conduct their academic activities. Additionally the generator was costing 500 USD a month in fuel. Clearly something had to be done, hence this project came to fruition.<\/p>\n

Victron power<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Improved learning times with Victron Energy…<\/p><\/div>\n

The system installed by Great Lakes Energy comprised:<\/p>\n