Renewable energy system for Syrian refugee school in Lebanon!
We are Energy for Refugees (EfR), a non-profit foundation, that is specialized in designing and implementing clean energy projects that provide sustainable and reliable energy sources for those in need. We are comprised of students, with different backgrounds and nationalities, from TU Delft. In the past we have successfully implemented projects in Mexico, Nigeria, and several in Greece.
This year's challenging project is for a school of ~2000 Syrian, 300 Lebanese and 100 Palestinian refugee students who attend class early in the morning till late in the evening, in Tripoli, Lebanon. The aim is to install enough solar panels, batteries and inverters for the school to be self-sufficient, and have a safe and clean energy system. This system will provide stable electricity to power the school such as lights, printers, computers (provided by Thaki organization who we collaborate with), air conditioning but also importantly their water pump.
Currently the school is reliant on a diesel generator as backup power which is expensive and polluting. Additionally, they have a very unreliable grid supply of electricity (max. 2h a day). The generator uses 30-40L of diesel per day and 40–60L of oil per month. This is equivalent to over 200–300 USD for fuel each month that the school must pay.
With your contribution we are one step closer to achieve our goal of 6000€ which would be enough to pay for the batteries, inverters and MPPT! Additionally, with this project we will be able to teach the students about renewable energy!
For questions or comments about our project do not hesitate to contact us!
For companies interested in sponsoring, please also feel free to contact us to discuss the details!
board@energyforrefugees.com
https://www.energyforrefugees.com/
Tuyoor Al-Amal comprises of 3 schools in Tripoli, Lebanon who offer the possibility of a meaningful education to many Syrian refugee children in the area who cannot enroll in government schools because of a variety of barriers such as transportation problems and expenses, discrimination and language difficulties.
The schools were founded by Mustafa Al-Haj, a Syrian teacher, and a group of concerned Syrian refugees who wished to ensure that they could continue to provide education for the children of their community. The first school started teaching on 9th November, 2013, with the enrollment of 350 children from the Syrian refugee community.
Together, the three schools now serve a total of around ~2000 Syrian, 300 Lebanese en 100 Palestinian children each year, from kindergarten to Grade 12. There are 96 members of staff, including teachers with both Syrian and Lebanese qualifications. The schools are reliant on external donors who cover nearly three-quarters of their costs. Parents who are able to do so provide the remaining funding.
The schools all follow the Lebanese English language curriculum. They focus on general education, offering subjects such as Arabic, Maths, English, Science, Social Studies, History, Geography. There are also some classes in Computing, Art, and Physical Education.
The school is facing two main problems regarding its energy provision:
1. They cannot power the water pump using the existing photovoltaics system, because the water pump requires three phase electricity. Additionally, the grid (which could be used to power the waterpump) is very unreliable and available at best two hours per day (at undetermined times). Therefore, the school relies on a diesel generator to operate the water pump. To solve this issue we are aiming to install a separate PV system in order to power the water pump, and to do this we will need solar panels, batteries and a three phase inverter.
2. The current system does not have enough storage capacity. The batteries get full quicker than desired on sunny days and get empty too quickly when they are needed (e.g when it is cloudy). Therefore, we are aiming to expand the storage capacity of the existing system by adding extra battery capacity.
These two improvements to the system are designed to stop the reliance of the diesel generator and turn it into a back-up that will only be used in exceptional circumstances.
Thaki's mission is to empower refugee and vulnerable children to learn and thrive through self-paced, motivational electronic tools. Thaki works by:
1. Giving a new life to the used electronics donated by organizations.
2. They developed a platform that integrates a variety of informative, interactive, and educational content.
3. Distribute the devices to education centers that work with refugee and vulnerable children.
4. Provides resources and tools to support teachers and children in e-learning and digital literacy.
In this way Thaki can provide digital education to the children most in need!
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