SNU iTEC and Global Solar Volunteer Corps Build Smart Solar Generators in Tanzania


▲ Opening Ceremony of Tanzania’s Smart Solar Plant (Photo Provided by SNU College of Engineering)

 
SNU College of Engineering (Dean Cha Kook-Heon) announces on 2^nd that the joint Korea-Tanzania Innovative Technology and Energy Centre (iTEC) has built a 10kW solar power station in Mkalama village in Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania.
 
The Mkalama Village, located near the Earth’s equator, is a remote area at 3.4 degrees south latitude and 800 meters above sea level far from the country’s electrical grid. This is also how approximately 90% of the African population lives.
 
The solar panels installed on the rooftop of the new power station constructed by iTEC provides electricity and light to 50 houses. The villagers consisting of various ethnic groups including the Maasai uses the electricity generated at the plant for agricultural processing. The profit earnt from this activity will be used for establishing small scale business ventures.
 
The iTEC, Mkalama villagers, and 50 volunteers composed of students and professors from various universities (including SNU, Hanyang University, Konkuk University, Gyeongsang National University, Woosong University, Korea University of Technology and Education, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, and Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology [NM-AIST]), businessmen, e3 Empower, and non-profit organizations under the name of Global Solar Volunteer Corps cooperated for power plant construction and house wiring for lighting and internal power distribution.
 
The Global Solar Volunteer Corps not only provides science education to over 900 Tanzanian elementary students, but has also offered medical treatment with the help of doctors to cure over 170 patients. At the “Dental Camp,” the dental drill created during a SNU Department of Mechanical Engineering course has proven its usefulness and has been used to perform dental procedures during actual treatments.
 
The volunteer corps has also hosted free lectures for Tanzanian students at the NM-AIST, which include: SNU College of Engineering’s 3D CAD and Arduino lecture, SNU College of Agriculture and Life Science’s agrometeorological technology lecture, and Konkuk University’s drone education.
 
Korean ambassador of Tanzania Song Geum Young and Kilimanjaro regional commissioner Anna Mghwira participated in the opening ceremony of the power station. Mghwira states, “Energy, including solar power, is the key to industrial development in remote areas like the Kilimanjaro region. Thus, we hope Korea can continue its investments to cultivate our energy industry.”
 

▲ Global Solar Volunteer Corps at Tanzania (Photo Provided by SNU College of Engineering)