POST 01045E : SOLAR REFRIGERATOR
Follow-up on Posts 01019E, 01027E, 01032E and 01037E
25 January 2007
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This posting contains a record number of six contributions, coming from :
1. Robyn McIntyre (mailto:[email protected]) from Fiji
2. Nasim Ahmed (mailto:[email protected])
3. John Pott (mailto:[email protected])
4. Modibo Dicko (mailto:[email protected]) from WHO/AFRO
5. Dereje Ayalew (mailto:[email protected])
from WHO/Ethiopia, and finally from
6. Lydie Maoungou Minguiel
(mailto:[email protected]) from UNICEF/Brazzaville, Congo
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Dear All,
Picking up on the solar refrigeration technical
support discussion, I would like to give the
example of the nation of Kiribati which is made
up of more than 33 islands scattered across
literally thousands of miles of ocean. The
privately owned Kiribati Solar Energy company now
has trained solar technicians resident on most
atolls. Training has involved a gradual
upskilling which has taken place over many years
as staff are gradually rotated through the main
center in Tarawa spending time with more skilled
technicians. The company have a contract with the
Kiribati Health Ministry and are currently
completing installation of 18 solar fridges funded by JICA and UNICEF.
It is hoped therefore that most of the issues
raised by Dr Brigitte Adjagba Touré,will be
addressed- the paid technician should have the
skills and also the interest to maintain the
fridges and protect the panels from theft.
We hope that this project may provide part of the
solution to address the current low immunisation rates in Kiribati
With warm wishes for the New Year,
Robyn
Dr Robyn McIntyre
Project Officer -EPI,
UNICEF Pacific
Suva, Fiji
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I have been keenly following the contributions
from key Technet members on the viability of
Solar Refrigerator. WHO and Unicef jointly field
tested the first few Solar refrigerators in mid
eightees in India some 25 years ago.
Later on some of the product found its place in
the PIS. Since then it has been used sporadically
in several African countries. Though the price
has come down substantially, it still has problem
at operational level in the field. Solar is not
the only alternative to availability of power in
the rural areas. There are several instances of
maintaining cold chain at health centre level
through RCW25 cold boxes by providing cold pack
supply on weekly basis from a central point in
the worst possible cases. Similar strategies were
adopted running campaign in Somalia in 1990s.
MALAWI achieved UCI in 1989 by storing vaccine in
gas and kerosene refrigerators. Though I am not
against use of solar power, but a few concerns
still remain. My recent visit to Lebanon after
the war was important on these concern. Solar
fridges are not maintenance free as many people
think. Life of battery has limited period and
time to time replacement of control panel is
necessary. Trained technicians as well as service
back up from manufacturer are not readily
available. The initial cost as well as
maintenance cost are equally expensive and could
be prohibitive for some countries. I have my
conviction that whatever equipment are used in
the cold chain, the desired results can only be
obtained by the man behind the machine if he has
the knowledge. So the training of personnel at
field level both supervisors and health workers
are key to this success. Machine whatever
sophisticated it could be will not provide the guarantee.
Nasim Ahmed.
Former UNICEF SPO
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One of the main problems which cause the solar
system to premature failure is because the
manufacturers installation instructions are not
followed to the letter. This particularly applies
to the initial battery charging. This is quite
time consuming and as a result the instructions
are not followed. In this case it is quite
probable that the battery will never have
sufficient capacity to run the refrigerator. This
is particularly true for the solar refrigerator
suppliers that do not use the specialized
batteries that are required for this application.
It would be interesting to know what the failure
rate of the solar refrigerators installed in
Egypt in 1990/91 was/is as I know these units were installed correctly.
Regards,
JBP
John Pott
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Dear friends,
This discussion takes me back to the definition
of health technology! Indeed it is defined as a
set consisting of (1) equipment, (2) user’s guide
and maintenance manual and (3) the user!
Therefore the user is integral part of the
technology: this is very important, but very
often forgotten. When we say technology, we also
say maintenance and the first person in charge of
maintenance is its user. In 1982 at the Mali
Laboratory for Solar Energy, we tested 4 solar
refrigerators manufactured at the time by NASA
(USA); 3 of the refrigerators were installed in
public health centers and the 4th in a religious
mission’s health facility. The first 3
refrigerators did not survive a year; they were
out of use by 1983. As for the fourth one, it was
still functioning in 1997, 15 years after its
installation. Why is this possible ? Because
users followed and applied religiously the
principles prescribed by the user’s guide and
maintenance manual! When the user carries out
correctly routine maintenance, the need for a
maintenance technician is minimized. This is why
user training must be given the utmost importance.
However there is need to call the maintenance
technician from time to time. Brigitte said that
there were lacking in the Sudan and Terkula said
why not train local repairmen and get them to
maintain solar refrigerators! The scene is set:
the private sector must be called in! Pilot
programmes by the public sector tend to
underestimate the private sector and set up their
own maintenance networks. Unfortunately, it fails
most of the time, and from our surveys carried
out in a number of West African countries between
1995 and 1997, the private sector was in charge
of up to 70% of cold chain maintenance works
(generally paid for from funds collected by
health districts within the costs recovery
scheme). Nevertheless, when a training programme
is organized, technicians from the private sector
are rarely invited. This is a mistake which needs to be corrected.
Finally there is a third point (more delicate)
which I’d like to submit. When I did the cold
chain study in Senegal in 1993 for UNICEF, I
suggested in my recommendations that each time a
refrigerator was replaced as part of the cold
chain replacement plan, the old refrigerator be
given to the nurse and taken to his/her house for
personal use . When young people are undergoing
training, they live in urban area, because that
is where nurse training schools are: thus they
have access to electricity, cold drinks and
refrigerated foods, television, etc. After
training and graduation as nurses, they are
recruited by the Ministry of Health and sent out
to villages to run health centres and
dispensaries. They sort of travel back in time,
finding themselves in the situation with no
electric light, no possibilities to keep foods
and refrigerate drinks, and above 40o C in the
shade, no more.... Then they put their meat,
fish, coca or beer in the solar refrigerator at
the health centre (and take them out as soon as
they see an official vehicle coming). However the
batteries of solar refrigerators are not made to
take this kind of loads which put the whole
electrical system under pressure, leading to
frequent breakdowns. This is a problem that the
health system should take into account in the
design of health centres. Otherwise we will
continue accusing solar refrigerators of a problem that is not theirs.
Modibo Dicko
Coordinator
Immunisation Systems Support
Vaccines Preventable Diseases Unit
WHO/AFRO
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Dear all,
I would like to have my personal comment towards the solar refreigerators.
What I have witnessed from my field experience in
the past 6 years is that, the proportion of non
functional solar refrigerators is higher than
that of kerosene and electric refrigerators.
We do have more that 350 various brands of solar
refrigerators and almost half of them are not
functional. The main problem with this equipments are
1. Users of solar refrigerators uses the solar
batteries for different purposes, for radio, tape
recorder etc and this is directely connected from
the battery rather than the charge regulator.
this will cause the battery to drain with in few months.
2. The cost of solar battery is expensive to replace every year.
3.There is lack of technican to repair the
complex solar refrigerator electronic circuits.
In general, even if solar refrigerators are said
to be very reliable, efficient and long lasting,
the field reality does not reflect that at least
in Ethiopia, which is mainly due to operational problems.
This is my personal view.
Regards
Dereje
Dereje Ayalew
WHO/Ethiopia
---------------------------
Dear all,
I share Brigitte’s view on the cost of solar
fridges and the risk of theft of solar batteries
which we are experiencing here at home, as it is
the case with the phone system.
I wonder how others manage to secure their batteries.
My best wishes for the New Year.
Lydie
Dr Lydie MAOUNGOU MINGUIEL
Deputy Administrator, EPI
UNICEF Brazzaville
Republic of Congo
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