posted on 2018-02-12, 15:09authored byMark Bannister
It is generally accepted that solar technology (photovoltaics) is by now a well proven and mature technology, however the field of community water supplies can hardly be described
as a “controlled environment”. The institutional, socio-economic circumstances vary from community to
community and raise such detractions as: • the relative ease with which solar panels can be stolen for
use in other energy-driven processes
• high capital costs • high risk with regards vandalism or damage • uncertainty as to the sustainability of solar systems. Since 1996 The Mvula Trust have successfully implemented
six projects within South Africa where it is still fairly much a novelty. These projects have been treated as
a collective programme to evaluate the use of solar pumping as a sustainable alternative form of energy under specific niche conditions. The results obtained suggest that these issues can be addressed successfully if the recipient community is in full support of a project. The aim of this paper is to describe the projects undertaken
by Mvula Trust and the methodology, research and experiences used, and to address those issues of ‘doubt’ which are common to many other countries.
History
School
Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Research Unit
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Published in
WEDC Conference
Citation
BANNISTER, M., 2000. Solar power for community water supply. IN: Pickford, J. (ed). Water, sanitation and hygiene - Challenges of the Millennium: Proceedings of the 26th WEDC International Conference, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5-9 November 2000, pp.311-314.
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