Conclusion

The findings from the project & recommendations for further development

The stages of the proposed methodology, which has been discussed in detail throughout this website, is presented below.

This methodology looks beyond the immediate technical feasibility of the project to take a holistic approach to energy-for-development project by considering the community and their development needs with the systems proposed. Based upon findings of the literature review and the case study system design, it is the opinion of the authors that this approach is necessary in order to design energy solutions for developing communities that will be successful. Using this methodology will result in renewable energy systems which are more likely to succeed in the long-term through the following:

  • Working closely with the community and their aspirations for energy development
  • Ensuring the energy system is technically, financially, socially and environmentally viable in the design stage
  • Having an implementation model in place to ensure there are people responsible for future operation and maintenance of the system
  • Improved data collection methods as demonstrated throughout the case study


    • Further Development

    As the development of a community is complex and open ended, the findings in this project are not extensive and, going forward, there are many opportunities for further development. Here are some areas which have been identified as potential next steps for taking the methodology further:

  • Gaining feedback from the case-study community concerning the energy system proposed here. Results from this discussion can be used as a means of improvement of the methodology.
  • There is scope for going into the methodology in more technical detail. For example, creating toolkits for energy system design or models for solar resource analysis
  • Further validation of the methodology with a range of different case study communities in different countries, allowing this to advise further evolution of the methodology
  • Testing the methodology with a fully-implemented renewable energy project and a continued assessment of the results. This also creates potential to include a further stage of "Project Follow-Up" into the methodology



    • Acknowledgements

    A very big thank you to the following people for all of their time and input into our project:

  • Dr Nick Kelly (supervisor)
  • Dr Paul Tuohy
  • Ang Nuru
  • Dr Scott Strachan
  • Kirsty Bruce
  • Strathclyde Energy for Development:  Damien Frame, Aran Eales & Hannah Buckland
  • Parag Rastogi


    • Bibliography
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