The development and demonstration of a unique low cost scalable PV technology for international development.

Completed

Renewable Energy Sources(Solar Energy, Photovoltaics)

Applied Research and Development

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Development Studies)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Civil Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)
Other (Energy technology information dissemination)

Dr M Royapoor
Sch of Engineering
Newcastle University

Standard

EPSRC

01 March 2018

31 August 2020

30 months

£76,090

Energy

North East

Energy : Energy

Dr M Royapoor, Sch of Engineering, Newcastle University

Professor A P Roskilly, Sir Joseph Swan Institute, Newcastle University

Big Solar Limited (BSL) is developing Power Roll (PR) that is a ground breaking, ultra-low cost and ultra-lightweight solarphotovoltaic (PV) solution. The design of PR represents a breakthrough in the challenge of generating renewable energyat a cost cheaper than hydrocarbons and 40% lower than silicon PV. This is a disruptive technology with the potential totransform the lives of 1.2 billion people without access to electricity as well helping the UK in delivering its carbon reductiontargets.Sir Joseph Swan Centre for Energy Research at Newcastle University aims to deploy this ground-breaking solar PV in Sub-Saharan Africa. A two stage deployment of first generation Power Roll product will address the needs of rural off-gridcommunities in African markets. Many of these communities are still without electrical power and the limited Electric PowerInfrastructure within these countries offers a dim outlook for immediate delivery of grid-based power to these communities.This makes off-grid electricity supply and storage solutions an invaluable transitional solution that could have an immediateimpact on the quality of life of these communities. The proposed deployment of first generation PV rolls will integrate asmall and subsequently medium size Power Roll to enable solar electricity generation aimed at operating portable orirrigation water pumping duties, or the processing of harvested crops (for instance drying) to eliminate post-harvest foodlosses which is of great concern and a major cause of hunger and poverty in SSA rural communities. The project willcontinue to monitor system performance and compiled data will be analysed to characterise system performance, allow PVdeployment system design and facilitate product roll-outs across under-developed rural communities.

21/02/19