ZAYED FUTURE ENERGY PRIZE
TEN YEARS AGO, ABU DHABI GATHERED THE WORLD FOR ITS FIRST FUTURE ENERGY SUMMIT, WITH AN AWARD THAT WAS TO BECOME ONE OF THE HIGHEST HONOURS FOR SUSTAINABILITY. ON ITS ANNIVERSARY, WE LOOK BACK ON ITS LEGACY
As the clock ticks closer to 5pm, the Sun is already beginning to set over the dense bushland in rural northern Malawi.
The nights are long here, and less than 1 per cent of the country has access to reliable electricity from the national grid.
Little Mary Banda, 6, hurries along a dirt track from school to the home she shares with her mother, grandparents, brothers and sisters in Nkhata Bay, a beautiful region nestled into the banks of Lake Malawi. It will be dark soon.
Every year, hundreds of young women in the village give birth in a run-down brickwork maternity ward with no electricity or running water.
Beds and walls are covered in a suffocating red dust, and gaping holes that let the air in during the stifling summers are bricked up in winter to keep out the cold.
Mary was one of the lucky ones. She arrived in the middle of the night, with solar panels attached to the roof of the clinic helping to power the light that guided doctors through her birth.
Those panels have since been removed, taken to a health centre deemed to be in more urgent need, more than 100 kilometres away.
Things are not much better in Nkhata Bay’s schools. Children have historically relied on kerosene lamps and candles to catch up on their homework overnight.
It is not uncommon for young girls like Mary to wake up coughing or blowing black mucus from their noses after an hour or two of studying by kerosene lamp.
Some villagers report homes being burnt to the ground after playing children knocked over candles.
All Malawians want to be self-sufficient and to learn the skills to earn kwacha so they can look after their own, but those opportunities are rare.
Of the 18.2 million population, 15 million live in rural areas, with many cut off from power.
Basic tasks like charging a mobile phone can involve a walk of several kilometres to the nearest charging point.
This is often the case even for those living in relatively developed urban areas of Malawi.
With no money, no power at home and no hope of going to university, the future is far from bright for children like Mary looking to escape one of the poorest countries in the world.
That is beginning to change.
In 2014, a teacher in one of the local schools heard of the chance to make a difference in his community through a sustainable energy competition sponsored by the UAE.
“Before solar, people were using kerosene and burning grass and candles to light their homes,” said Gilbert Kaunda, who has been teaching in Nkhata Bay for 31 years.
“It was very dangerous, particularly as people were leaving the lights on at night.”
In 2014, Maula and Sanga Schools won the Global High Schools (Africa) category of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, and with it US$100,000 (Dh367,250).
The prize money has sown the seeds of change that many hope will help to develop a new solar revolution in Malawi, with the development of a solar academy to train local people as technicians who can install and maintain solar systems.
It is providing jobs, income and, most importantly, is bringing light to the homes of hundreds of villagers.
The Zayed Solar Academy was the first solar academy in Africa, and from the beginning has experimented and developed new and innovative approaches to promote renewable energy. It has also developed new models for training.
The academy is unique in that it is located in a village setting, and focuses on training rural solar engineers specialising in off-grid solar photovoltaic technology.
The training programme is comprehensive, where students not only learn solar installation, but also are given a solid training in electrical theory, as well as in IT and business skills.
It has grown into a technical college, and initiated the development of the first solar curriculum for Malawi, which is now being rolled out throughout the country and helping secure the EU funding to develop solar training centres in six other institutions.
Training people as engineers and technicians will help to maintain Malawi’s future solar industry, it is hoped.
Schools in the area of Malawi where Mr Kaunda worked traditionally had pass rates of about 47 per cent.
Since solar energy schemes were introduced three years ago, children have been able to take their work home and study safely, using lamps powered by the Sun during the long winter nights.
Pass rates have almost doubled. “This is just the beginning,” Mr Kaunda said.
“It was more than giving people the chance to power their homes, it was giving young people access to a better education.
“Children in towns are doing far better than those living in rural areas.
“That doesn’t mean they are stupid, just that they have less access to light. They are not able to read and write when they go home after school.
“If you give children more learning exercises at home, they will develop faster and their grades will improve.”
‘Where there was darkness, there is now light’
After winning the $100,000 energy prize, a further dilemma facing local decision makers was where the money should be spent, and how.
The idea of an academy was an obvious one, but further questions arose over how much the land would cost and where it should be built.
As in much of Africa, Malawians are subject to a state-enforced chieftaincy system in many rural areas. The Maula area’s sub-traditional authority is ruled by Chief Fukamalaza, who lives on a smallholding on the edge of the village with his wife, children and grandchildren.
After much negotiation and intervention from Mr Kaunda, and discussions with the 40 or so other chiefs ruling across the district, it was decided a plot of land would be donated free of charge on which the academy could be built.
“That place was given freely. There was a brief discussion with the smaller chiefs, and it was agreed that this new academy should be built,” said Chief Fukamalaza.
“Students in this community are now learning more skills, and that will help them to get jobs.
“I have no solar power at my house. If I had it, the difference would be great to my life – like spending a lifetime sleeping on the floor, to then having a mattress and a bed.
“My grandsons now have a very bright future, and a chance in life that was not there before. The academy is helping to lift up the entire community. Where there was darkness, there is now light.”
A bright beginning
The 25 brightest applicants, including four women, entered the inaugural six-month programme after a lengthy assessment. The technical, entrepreneurial and vocational
education and training authority (Teveta) accredited the academy and certified the students upon their graduation in 2015.
The academy is thought to have benefited about 15,000 people living in the immediate vicinity, either through learning or becoming switched on to access to reliable solar power.
The nearby Zayed Energy and Ecology Centre also serves as an official Teveta institute.
In addition to the solar installation course, the centre will provide classes in brick-laying, carpentry and welding.
Future plans include developing the Zayed Solar Research and Training Centre for Rural Electrification for Africa.
Mwanjiwa Chirwa, 21, is a student enrolled in a month-long solar technician course.
Smartly dressed and tuned into the internet age, Mwanjiwa is all too aware of the opportunities that wait beyond the boundaries of her village, a short walk from the solar academy through dense scrubland.
Mwanjiwa has a burning ambition to better herself by grasping the opportunity she has been offered to create a career in a new industry with the potential to change Malawi’s future.
“I’ve no idea what job I want to do, but I know I will have to move away to Lilongwe to reach my goals,” she said.
“The academy has given me a new opportunity in life. I had nothing else to do so decided to come here to learn.”
A second chance for women
A women-only course is proving a resounding success in the community, offering a route back into the classroom for many women who left school as young teenagers to have children.
Those new skills are helping single mums deserted by their husbands and partners who are either not supporting their families, or have moved to nearby South Africa and Tanzania in search of work.
One of those students is Mary’s grandmother, Joyce Mhango, 53. She has six children – four boys and two girls ranging in age from 30 to 17 – and has just become a grandmother for the seventh time.
It hasn’t been easy for Joyce, going back to school after 40 years while trying to manage a busy family home.
“Like many women here, we do nothing except raise our children and look after the home,” she said.
“In some cases when a husband dies or leaves the village, women are left on their own.
“With these courses, we can learn new things and create a business.”
Courses at the academy do not just focus on solar energy, but also on how to make families more self-sufficient.
Joyce and her classmates have learnt how to use manure, cultivate land and fix a borehole.
She proudly grows her own vegetables now, with onions and tomatoes in regular supply.
“To be able to repair these things ourselves is helping us every day,” she said. “Our children are also learning from all of us.
“They like that we have gone back to school. I don’t have solar at my home yet, but I will want to use it in future.
“My neighbours who have solar panels have had to call in engineers from town to do repairs.
“That is expensive, so now they can ask us to do the work for them.
“It is cheaper, and gives me an income.”
Spending wisely
One major obstacle in the way of developing reliable access to solar power in Nkhata Bay, and much of Malawi, is the import and resale of substandard equipment.
Families can save up for months to buy solar panels and battery charging units, only to find the goods they buy from local markets are often fake or damaged.
Some of the panels being sold are just photocopied sheets of paper inside a laminated case.
An average monthly wage in Nkhata Bay, an area dominated by fishing in the vast Lake Malawi and subsistence farming, is about MK28,000 (Dh142).
George Kulaso, an instructor at the Zayed Solar Academy, is leading courses to help people identify substandard solar equipment to ensure they spend their hard-earned kwacha wisely.
It is a problem that is growing in alignment with the popularity of solar, and is proving a lucrative industry for rogue sellers on the black market. There is little quality control on cheap equipment imported from India and China.
“This is big business for the guys in town,” said Mr Kulaso, who has become a mentor for many of the
My grandsons now have a very bright future, and a chance in life that was not there before FUKAMALAZA Maula area chief
young students passing through the academy.
“When we are going out to buy the batteries we take a tester with us to check they are working. Most people don’t know what they’re looking for when they go to buy solar equipment. “The quality of batteries and solar panels being sold here is very poor in some of the markets, people are spending the money but they are not lasting long before they become useless.
“The police are not interested, but we want the government to take more control and regulate what is being sold, with more border guards to check the quality of what is being imported here from other countries.
“People who have bought these items have no chance of getting their money back.”
A major challenge is the quality of equipment being shipped into Africa. Experts estimate that 80 to 95 per cent of that equipment is defective, with some batteries filled with glass or stone.
A technical document and instruction manual has been developed by the academy in response to this booming market for fake and sub-standard equipment.
This research was presented to the Malawi regulatory agencies, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the United States and the PV Business Division of the China General Certification Centre in Beijing.
Once published, it can be cited and used in an official capacity by standards bureaus worldwide to mitigate the flow of fraudulent solar equipment. The visual inspection manual can be used by the solar industry as well as students to identify major quality concerns without any expensive electrical testing equipment.
A better life
As much as solar is at the heart of teaching at the academy, other skills are also being taught.
A small brickwork building tucked away in the African bush, just off a dirt track linking Nkhata Bay to the next nearest town, MzuMzu, an hour’s drive away, it is perfect as an auxiliary classroom for packed schools nearby. It is helping children living in remote areas gain an education that may have been out of reach before the academy was built.
More than 10,000 children attend the village’s school, with huge class sizes meaning some children struggle.
Children can go to the academy for two days a week, while an outreach programme is going into schools to teach IT skills and solar engineering principles.
The academy itself is powered entirely by the Sun.
Each of its four solar panels pump out 150 watts of electricity.
The system can run the school for two days.
“This is a remote area,” Mr Kulaso said. “I’ve been here for three years, and there are some talented
students here but they cannot afford to go to any of the six universities in Malawi.
“There are more than 400 students fighting for just 120 places each year at those universities.”
University places were government subsidised up until three years ago, and many can’t now afford the fees at expensive private universities, where annual fees are about MK300,000.
There are also five programmes in welding, electrical soldering, information computer technology, carpentry and brick laying, but solar power has become the focus of the academy.
As the technology develops, the price of solar-powered equipment is also beginning to drop. Some homes have the luxury of a solar powered iron, or even a fridge. Early graduates from the Zayed Solar Academy are beginning to make their mark in the community, and becoming a crucial part of its economic infrastructure.
Alec Mbanda, 30, is one of almost 2,500 students to benefit from the Zayed Future Energy Prize.
Mr Mbanda attended the academy two years ago, shortly after it opened, and has now established a small business to support his wife and two young children in the village.
His start-up has been such a success he now wants to expand, take on an assistant and buy a bicycle so he can reach homes outside the village.
He has become the go-to man for solar installations and maintenance, as well as electrical problems that arise when power is available.
“I enjoyed science and fixing electronics at school, but could not afford to go to university,” he said.
“Since I left school, I have been staying at home with my family. There is no work, so I have been farming, but that was it.”
Now trained as a solar panel technician, he can install and maintain the panels that are slowly starting to become more common in his village near Nkhata Bay.
“Before the academy, I had no future and no skills,” he said.
“Now I can earn money and plan for the future. I want my children to have a better life.”