SUN PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL
CURRENT PROJECTS
Kao La Amani Children's Village
(Boma Ng'ombe, Tanzania)
Phase I - 1H 2023
Phase II - 2H 2023
Phase III - 1H 2024
Tir Na Nog, an Ireland-based charitable organization (www.tirnanogorphanage.com), operates the Kao La Amani orphanage for 60 children in Boma Ng'ombe, northern Tanzania. The existing facility is cramped and ill-suited to house and care for so many children. As a result, Tir Na Nog worked with Article 25, a London-based non-profit architectural firm, to design, engineer, and oversee construction of a new Kao La Amani orphanage in the same vicinity. Since the new Kao La Amani orphanage is off-grid, Sun Partners supported Tir Na Nog and Article 25 by funding and engineering solar PV/lithium-ion battery systems to power lighting, cooking, a groundwater pumping system with elevated storage tank, as well as solar thermal systems for water heating (Phase I). Due to excessively high levels of naturally-occurring fluoride in the groundwater at Kao La Amani, a solar-assisted reverse osmosis water purification system has also been implemented (Phase II). Phase III will involve powering an additional children cottage, the administration building, and new teacher and guest housing. To see and hear the compelling story of the Kao La Amani orphanage, check out https://tirnanogchildrensfoundation.com/kilimanjaro-mama/.
Rift Valley Children's Village
(Oldeani, Tanzania - 1H 2023)
Rift Valley Children's Village (www.tanzanianchildrensfund.org) - located in a very remote location in northern Tanzania on the broad shoulders of Mount Oldeani - is a campus-style home for over ninety (90) children without families. RVCV currently pumps water from a borehole to a large central water tank using a loud, inefficient, and costly petrol-fueled generator. From the central water tank, water is pumped to each of the campus buildings and dormitories, also by a petrol-fueled generator. Sun Partners is partnering with RVCV to replace the two petrol-fueled generators with two separate solar-powered DC pumps to eliminate generator noise, fuel cost, and emissions.
FAME Medical Clinic - Phase II
(Karatu, Tanzania - Ongoing)
Sun Partners is assisting the FAME Medical Clinic in Karatu, Tanzania to assess strategies and equipment to improve the electrical efficiency and the reliability of power delivery to its multi-facility campus. The assessment includes data collection of the timing and magnitude of electrical loads, the intermittency and inconsistent quality of grid power, and their impacts on the Clinic's computers and medical equipment. The assessment also includes a review of strategies and equipment to better integrate grid power, solar and battery power, and back-up generator power. Following the assessments, it is anticipated that the 26 kW Phase I solar system previously installed by Sun Partners at FAME will be expanded to approximately 40 kW. The storage capacity of the Phase I lithium-ion battery system will also be doubled to provide greater electrical carry-through during power outages, which frequently disrupt clinic operations.
PROJECTS - COMPLETED
Video: Operation Breakthrough and its solar-powered Ignition Lab
Operation Breakthrough's Ignition Lab
(U.S. Kansas City - 2021)
Operation Breakthrough (www.operationbreakthrough.org) provides before- and after-school educational programs and social services to 650 disadvantaged children from 6 months to 14 years. Sun Partners led a consortium of Kansas City-based organizations including Black & Veatch, MRIGlobal, JE Dunn Construction, and RisingSun Solar which donated funds, equipment, and labor for the planning, engineering, and construction of a 35 kW solar PV system on OB's new Ignition Lab (architecture + design by Clockwork) in mid-town Kansas City. Besides offsetting electricity costs for the Ignition Lab, the solar system complements OB's existing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs and Ignition Lab's STEM-curricula (including Green Tech) for older youth ages 15-18. The solar system also visually introduces sustainable power to the local community. For a closer look at the programs and services provided by OB, the story behind the Ignition Lab, and a bird's eye view of the Ignition Lab's solar system, check out the informative video produced by Black & Veatch above.
Nompumelelo Learning Center
Caring for Orphans in Rural Areas (CORA)
(Eastern Cape, South Africa 2018-2019)
UNICEF estimates approximately 4 million orphans in South Africa. Nearly 20 percent of all children there have lost either one or both parents, primarily due to HIV/AIDS. The number of children growing up without parents in the Eastern Cape of South Africa alone has doubled in the past five years, from approximately 350,000 to more than 700,000.
A collaboration of corporate sponsor Black & Veatch, non-profit partner Caring for Orphans in Rural Areas (CORA), and Sun Partners International provided funding and engineering support for the implementation of a four kilowatt solar system with battery backup at the Nompumelelo Learning Center in the Eastern Cape village of Nqonoqweni, 50 kilometers from the nearest established town.
The Nompumelelo Learning Center center consists of classrooms, a kitchen, and play area. The solar/battery system powers indoor and outdoor lights, a refrigerator, a cooking kettle and a personal computer. The battery system provides multi-day electricity storage in the event of extended inclement weather. The power enables Learning Center staff to prepare warm meals for the children, and members of the local village are able to use the Learning Center after hours. Most villagers in Nqonoqweni have never had access to electricity.
FAME Medical Clinic - Phase I
(Karatu, Tanzania 2017-2019)
Sun Partners funded and engineered the installation of a 26 kW solar PV/battery system for FAME Medical Clinic (www.fameafrica.org), a U.S.-run non-profit rural hospital near Karatu, Tanzania. FAME consists of an outpatient clinic serving 1,600 patients per month, 24 bed inpatient hospital with emergency room and 2 operating rooms, laboratory and radiology facilities, and staff and volunteer housing. Delivery of health care by FAME is inhibited by a highly unreliable supply of power (average of 10+ power outages per week) from the grid and backup diesel generator.
FAME also operates a mobile “clinic on wheels” that visits weekly the remote Rift Valley Children’s Village (www.tanzanianchildrensfund.org), a large, rural, off-grid orphanage/school facility. In 2022, Sun Partners will be pursuing a partnership with RVCV to implement a solar-assisted water pumping system.
The solar PV system for FAME improves the safety and health of surrounding communities by eliminating frequent power outages that interrupt medical exams and procedures and reduce the overall effectiveness of FAME to provide consistent, quality patient care; the Project minimizes diesel fuel for the back-up generator, thus minimizing atmospheric emissions and noise in a very remote, environmentally-sensitive area of Tanzania (FAME is located adjacent to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro ecosystems); and the Project targets a diverse patient population from the rural Maasai Tribe and multiple ethnicities in Karatu (population 180,000).
Idetemya Girl's Dormitory- Phase II
(Idetemya, Tanzania 2015)
Sun Partners International again partnered with Africa School Assistance Project (ASAP) to electrify Phase II of the Idetemya Girl's Dormitory in Tanzania. The Phase II project involved the engineering, procurement, and installation of a roof-mounted solar array, battery storage, the DC-AC conversion system (i.e. inverter), the AC distribution panel, and the AC electrical system to power the dormitory's computer room and provide interior and exterior security lighting for a second dormitory building, the kitchen pavilion and equipment room, and the perimeter security wall. The Phase II project expanded the capacity of the dormitory from 48 girls to 96 girls.
Idetemya Girl's Dormitory- Phase I
(Idetemya, Tanzania 2014)
Sun Partners International partnered with Africa School Assistance Project (ASAP) – a Denver-based non-profit organization that builds schools in rural Africa – to electrify a girl's dormitory in Idetemya Ward, a remote, unelectrified area of Tanzania. The Idetemya Girl's Dormitory was built to provide a safe, secure facility for teenage girls to reside and study to minimize risks associated with walking long distances daily to attend Idetemya Secondary School.
To enable the dormitory to function, a solar PV-powered electrical and lighting system was completed for Phase I of the dormitory (housing 48 girls) in October 2014. The Phase I project involved the engineering, procurement, and installation of a roof-mounted solar array, battery storage, the DC-AC conversion system (i.e. inverter), the AC distribution panel, and the AC electrical system to power the dormitory's computer room and provide interior and exterior security lighting for the initial dormitory building and toilet/bathing facility.
Chibolya Community School
(Lusaka, Zambia 2013)
Through a partnership with Children International, Sun Partners completed a solar PV-assisted water pumping project at a community school in Chibolya District, a mega-slum area which lies at the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia and which is served by a Children International community center. The Chibolya Community School has 1,400 students, yet the School's water supply system had failed due to an unreliable hand pump on its water well.
The Chibolya water pumping project involved the engineering, procurement, and installation roof-mounted solar panels, 5,000 liter water tank and tank stand, DC submersible pump, and associated plumbing to deliver water to students, administrators, and the community-at-large. The solar-assisted water pumping system is producing, on the average, 3,000 liters of clean water per day, a precious resource in an otherwise resource-scarce slum area of Lusaka.
