This is a project that aims to provide reliable and clean energy to the rural community of El Santuario (Choluteca, Honduras) through a hybrid smart grid of renewable energy. The project is promoted by the Institute of Energy Engineering (IIE) of the UPV and Genia Bioenergy, and co-financed by the AECID within the framework of the innovation projects for development program.
The network is made up of a 52 kWp photovoltaic plant, a 25 kW biomass gasification plant, an accumulation system and an intelligent management system. Gasification is introduced as an innovative and sustainable technology, based on the use of local surplus dry biomass for the generation of syngas. It allows reducing the consumption of firewood as the main fuel by more than 10 kg/day per home, avoiding problems of deforestation and particle emission. Gasification improves performance, operating flexibility, and reduces pollution per kWh generated, compared to other rural electrification projects that include diesel generators as support systems. The project focuses on innovation so that the network will be managed and maintained by the entire community, after training days, becoming co-owners with the right to a basic amount of electricity. The network includes intelligent management systems that will allow the gasifier to be started automatically as a support system for the photovoltaic plant and the accumulation.
Construction of the network is pending completion due to COVID restrictions. It is planned to leave an operating system in El Santuario at the beginning of 2022, serving as an example for its replication and scalability in other isolated rural communities.
Biomass gasification technology as a support system for the electrification of isolated rural areas has great potential for replication in areas with availability of woody biomass and agricultural waste. Specifically, El Santuario is located in the Mesoamerican Dry Corridor area, one of the areas most exposed to extreme weather agents where 3,5 million people at humanitarian risk live (FAO, 2016). Rural areas are particularly vulnerable and, for the most part, do not have access to electricity.
Once the project is completed, a technology transfer will be carried out so that the inhabitants of the community become managers of the network itself, especially encouraging the participation of young people and women. The results obtained will serve as a reference for replicating the project or expanding it on a larger scale.
Genia Bioenergy has presented this project for the innovation award at the first #RenewableGas Show.
More information
