Renewable vitality methods are sometimes essentially the most dependable choices for supplying constant energy in battle and conflict zones as a result of methods’ decentralized nature. Onsite solar energy methods — and mini-grids specifically — can save lives in some ways. They energy well being clinics and hospitals that look after the wounded. They quietly energy safety perimeter sensors and cameras in addition to onsite safety lighting. They scale back the necessity to truck in costly gasoline throughout harmful roadways which are topic to assault. They’ll safely purify accessible water onsite. They usually inform the native populace about related information, occasions and bulletins.
Working in a battle zone has distinctive challenges that may fluctuate, as I’ve realized from working in Guatemala in the course of the civil conflict, Chiapas in the course of the Zapatista rebellion, Chihuahua in the course of the narco wars, and Afghanistan. I’ve additionally skilled repressive dictatorships comparable to in Pinochet’s Chile, Stroessner’s Paraguay, Ortega’s Nicaragua (each occasions) and Castro’s Cuba. I’ve been lucky to have barely missed a number of main terrorist assaults just like the al-Shabab Westgate Mall assault in Nairobi. (I had lunch there twice that very same week.)
I first got here to Afghanistan in 2006 whereas working at New Mexico State College supporting an Italian consumer on some early photo voltaic capacity-building actions. I had the chance to conduct a photo voltaic pilot demonstration for the final king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, on the royal palace. He was a humble man who was at all times an enormous supporter of photo voltaic vitality for his nation and was typically properly appreciated by the Afghan folks. The royal household went into exile in Italy whereas overseas in 1973 after the Daud coup. The Italian sponsor was a well-heeled billionaire consumer who proved to be a mafioso who didn’t wish to pay his payments.
I later lived in Afghanistan from 2008-2012, implementing photo voltaic tasks first as deputy chief of occasion of the US Company for Worldwide Improvement Afghanistan Water, Agriculture and Know-how Switch Challenge for the New Mexico State College Faculty of Agriculture. Then later, I used to be the chief engineer for the USAID Afghanistan Clear Vitality Program for IRG and Winrock Worldwide, the place I additionally served because the WI nation supervisor.
ACEP was a $22-million program primarily centered on photo voltaic vitality. It has been the only largest USAID-funded photo voltaic vitality initiative so far. WI offered engineering technical help. The first exercise was the set up of photovoltaic methods for villages in 21 Afghan provinces.
Among the provinces have been fairly harmful. In just a few cases, work crews have been kidnapped by Taliban or jailed by corrupt native authorities, however all have been fortuitously launched unhurt. Some PV methods within the south skilled theft or sabotage.
Many rural Afghan folks usually reside in small villages, usually scattered over difficult mountainous terrain. There’s little probability for a lot of of them to ever obtain electrical energy from the nationwide grid. Solely by photo voltaic or micro hydropower applied sciences can many of those rural Afghan villages hope to get pleasure from fundamental electrical service.
Working in a battle zone clearly has its personal dangers. Psychologically, it’s tough. Not everyone seems to be as much as the problem. I noticed a number of colleagues actually go bonkers residing in a safety straightjacket. You additionally must take accountability on your personal safety even when you have a safety element and know when to say no. This saved me from a minimum of one kidnapping in Wardak. Sadly, the driving force they despatched was kidnapped.
You need to by no means tackle any war-zone project only for a pleasant paycheck. It was typically mentioned that there have been 4 sorts of people that got here to work in a conflict zone like Afghanistan: missionaries, misfits, mercenaries and mofos. I fell into the primary class. My native colleagues affectionately referred to as me the “photo voltaic mullah.”
Your perspective on what issues in life modifications after you’ve got confronted the chance of being blown up, shot at, stabbed, clubbed and stoned with rocks.
I’ve needed to cope with employees and work crews being kidnapped in addition to myself as soon as in Mexico.
A number of colleagues in Afghanistan have been murdered or died throughout bungled rescue makes an attempt. Thankfully, I by no means misplaced a staffer. It could be heartbreaking to unknowingly ship somebody to their loss of life by hiring them.
Since 90% of suicide bombings have been within the morning, conferences in Kabul have been typically scheduled within the afternoon to reduce dangers. The going pay scale for suicide bombers was about $25,000 — paid out to their survivors.
Because the lead technical man, I used to be usually the primary to identify corruption and alert superiors when shady colleagues have been taking kickbacks or stealing {hardware} or money. One U.S. colleague ended up doing jail time in Huntsville consequently. Others returned the {hardware} to keep away from jail. And but others coated their tracks properly sufficient and acquired away with it.
Nothing hits you tougher than an outright betrayal by a trusted staffer you’ve got labored with for a number of years.
One problem to working in a battle zone is that you’re usually in a residing scenario along with your coworkers. Think about residing along with your coworkers 24/7, generally with shared rest room services. There’s nothing like seeing your boss of their skivvies very first thing within the morning!
You must be diplomatic. You have to be cautious to not carry work points residence and likewise to not carry residence points to work.
As I advised one feminine colleague from Mexico, you obtain further pay probably not due to the dangers, however due to the truth that it’s a must to reside with a bunch of whiny 40-to-70-year-old males who by no means realized methods to maintain themselves. I’m certain I by no means need to reside in a retirement residence.
So far as mission implementation is worried, logistics is usually the largest problem in battle zones. Every part prices greater than it usually would. Must you take an armed safety element? Is it higher to fly below the radar and go native?
As soon as, whereas organising a meteorological tower in Parwan about 20 miles north of the Bagram Airfield, we had a go to from the U.S. Military, which circled us in two helicopters to ensure we weren’t organising a Katyusha rocket launcher.
Thankfully, I had remembered the expertise of a colleague in Lebanon who had the same situation with the Israeli navy whereas organising a meteorological tower. So I had all of the employees put on orange development vests and yellow laborious hats. I had our armed escort preserve their firearms out of sight contained in the automobiles. So we gave pleasant waves and the navy guys circling above waved again and went on their merry approach.
There are particular challenges to importing {hardware} to a landlocked, war-torn nation like Afghanistan. It took over a yr to ship in six meteorological towers. They have been caught in Pakistani customs. They required 33 signatures for launch (one among which was within the flawed place and needed to be redone). Additionally they required extreme warehousing charges. The charges inspired customs to maneuver slowly.
However I used to be fortunate. Some colleagues would finally import a “sealed” container by Pakistani customs solely to search out that the contents had been stolen and it was now full of dust and rocks.
Photo voltaic Well being Clinics
We electrified 32 clinics with PV methods in a dozen Afghan provinces. We additionally offered every clinic with a photo voltaic hot-water system. These well being clinics usually serve over 200 sufferers per day. The system powers autoclaves, ventilators, microscopes, electrocardiograms, ultrasounds, toddler heaters, and different medical tools. It additionally powers lights and computer systems.
ACEP labored in collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Public Well being. The common photo voltaic clinic was saving about $500 a month in averted generator gasoline. Usually, these clinics have been the one sources {of electrical} energy of their communities, so many neighborhood members additionally used them to cost cell phones.
Every clinic was additionally offered a DC fridge for vaccines.
Photo voltaic Colleges
Our program electrified rural faculties in Afghanistan. This included set up of two 2-kWp PV methods with inverters on coed faculties in Yawkaland District close to Band-e Amir Nationwide Park in Bamiyan.
These methods energy lights, computer systems, projectors and extra. They have been put in on the request of the USAID Bamiyan Provincial Reconstruction Workforce in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Extra faculties have been electrified in Nuristan, powering pc laboratories for each adjoining boys’ and women’ faculties.
As generally is the case with growth tasks, there will be unintended penalties. We additionally offered some photo voltaic streetlights on the highway intersection main to a college. The Taliban shortly used them to conduct goal follow at evening from the close by native police station. We needed to shortly take away these explicit photo voltaic streetlights to keep away from unintended casualties.
Photo voltaic Streetlights
We put in 735 photo voltaic streetlights all through the nation. In contrast to earlier photo voltaic streetlights utilized in Afghanistan that usually solely lasted for just a few months as a result of poor design and {hardware}, the ACEP solar-streetlight methods used 50% extra photo voltaic and battery storage whereas offering 1/3 extra gentle than these beforehand deployed in Afghanistan by earlier tasks.
The sooner lighting usually had failed inside months as a result of utilizing shallow-cycle batteries. The groups had the “lowest bid” procurement as a substitute of the “finest provide.” Many of the ACEP photo voltaic streetlights lasted about seven or eight years on common earlier than the primary battery replacements have been required.
ACEP additionally served as a check mattress for some early demonstration pilots utilizing Japanese photo voltaic streetlights that use lithium-ion ultracapacitors that ought to present over 50,000 hours of service earlier than any replacements are wanted.
These have been put in at faculties in Bamiyan and Nuristan. The final evaluation performed in 2019 confirmed that these streetlights have been nonetheless working properly after a decade regardless of frigid winters (usually -20°F).
Photo voltaic Water Pumps
This system put in over two dozen PV water-pumping methods, with half of those in Nangarhar Province and the remaining in Balkh, Bamiyan, Kapisa and Parwan. These pumps are largely for varsity and neighborhood water-supply methods.
These direct-drive PV methods use high-quality AC pumps and will present 20 or extra years of helpful service. They have been used ostensibly for neighborhood water provide, but additionally usually offered badly wanted water for small-scale irrigation of farm plots.
The methods usually pumped from 25 to 40 cubic meters of water per day.
Sometimes, essentially the most tough a part of the mission was the ~10-month-long inefficient customs-clearance course of on the port of Karachi in Pakistan.
Photo voltaic Residence Programs
Our staff put in over 700 small photo voltaic residence methods for seven villages in Khost Province. These newer methods represented a big enchancment over previous methods put in in Afghanistan. Many of the earlier methods have been tormented by issues as a result of undersized photo voltaic panels, inappropriate batteries comparable to ones for cars and undersized wires. The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Improvement had prohibited PV methods in its packages consequently.
Once I first arrived to work in Afghanistan in 2008, I used to be persistently advised that PV didn’t work as a result of poor-quality Chinese language PV modules. I lastly satisfied MRRD to take me out to a few of these downside methods. The very first thing I seen is that they have been utilizing Japanese Kyocera modules. Their issues have been systems-related and needed to do with poor module tilt, flawed orientation, automobile batteries with shallow cycles, and undersized wires with excessive voltage drops throughout lengthy wire runs.
We launched high quality methods by our new packages and capability constructing.
Photo voltaic Lanterns
Our program offered over 10,000 photo voltaic lanterns for various nomadic tribal folks in Afghanistan. This included over 1,700 photo voltaic lanterns in Badakshan.
These small methods are used to help rural nomads in Afghanistan with fundamental LED gentle to exchange kerosene lamps and to offer an possibility for cell phone charging.
ACEP distributed greater than 1,600 of those lanterns to villagers in Kirghiz and Wakhi nomadic communities within the Badakshan province’s Wakhan Hall. We labored in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Extra lanterns have been offered to the Kuchi folks in japanese Afghanistan.
Photo voltaic Mini-Grids
One of many world’s largest photo voltaic mini-grids was put in for Bamiyan in central Afghanistan in 2013. The 1-MWp PV/diesel hybrid mini-grid was put in by Sustainable Vitality Companies Worldwide for the New Zealand Ministry of International Affairs.
I served because the commissioning engineer for this technique in 2013. The set up started in 2012, with the system starting operation in late 2013. The overall mission value was $14.1 million, together with all transmission and distribution traces and capability constructing. After development, the system was turned over to Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, the nationwide utility firm.
SESI maintained shut contact with the neighborhood, soliciting opinions and asking for help in development and monitoring. All the native laborers have been employed from communities close to the power-plant websites. Shoppers use pay as you go pay-as-you-go playing cards to buy kWh.
Capability constructing centered on educating DABS about methods to function and preserve the plant. Along with the engineers, clerical and administration employees have been skilled in methods to correctly handle {an electrical} distribution system, buyer connections and an correct accounting system.
Constructing Capability
The cornerstone of any profitable solar-development program is constructing capability to develop native experience. Particularly, ACEP centered on long-term capacity-building at universities and technical institutes in collaboration with completely different ministries – notably the Ministry of Vitality and Water and MRRD.
ACEP additionally labored to ascertain the KURE Laboratory for methods check and analysis. Challenge installations additionally served as a method for coaching native technicians on good PV-system design and set up practices and educating communities about solar energy.
Our program was the primary to introduce high-quality PV methods and a nationwide PV electrical customary to Afghanistan. This helped enhance the general high quality and reliability of PV methods.
Many earlier PV methods deployed in Afghanistan had skilled widespread failures as a result of poor design and set up practices. MRRD had put in over 100,000 PV residence methods, virtually all of which had early failures to the purpose that MRRD had banned using PV methods in its growth packages. These points have been as a result of sizing, design and set up issues.
These kinds of errors have been usually discovered with worldwide donor tasks, which generally relied on inexperienced native suppliers for technical steerage concerning PV-system design and awarded bids primarily based on the bottom value. This follow encourages undersized and substandard methods which are designed to fail. Many of the sponsors didn’t have any in-house experience or understanding of detecting poor-quality PV design or set up.
We developed a nationwide photo voltaic guideline which revolves round utility of an Afghan Nationwide Electrical Code for design and set up. We additionally educated the Afghan rural-development companies on what a correctly sized and put in high quality PV system appears like. We wrote a complete nationwide photo voltaic guideline and customary adopted by MEW/MRRD.
Photo voltaic program success in the end depends upon native capability constructing for engineers, technicians and suppliers. Higher technical capability of suppliers results in better-quality methods and larger shopper confidence.
Program companions, together with business, realized about right PV-design approaches by workshops and seminars. Additionally they realized methods to carry out technical-acceptance checks of put in methods.
Lots of the KURE Laboratory graduates now type the core of as we speak’s Afghan photo voltaic business. It stays to be seen what is going to occur with the lab and what alternatives will stay for girls’s photo voltaic schooling now that the Taliban are again in management.
Concerning the Writer
Robert Foster is a world renewable vitality skilled with over 35 years of expertise in 44 nations. He has supported dozens of worldwide renewable vitality growth packages for the U.S. Division of Vitality, United States Company for Worldwide Improvement, the World Financial institution, Asian Improvement Financial institution, United Nations Improvement Programme, the Nationwide Aeronautics and House Administration, the Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory, the Nationwide Science Basis, Sandia Nationwide Laboratories, and several other nationwide governments. He’s the chair of the American Photo voltaic Vitality Society Board of Administrators.
On-line Word: A Technician’s Story
Shafiqa Jamal Yahyazada mentioned in an electronic mail despatched by her daughter to Photo voltaic At the moment that she is “one of many ladies who’s fought with life and in a society like Afghanistan to attain her objectives and enhance herself.”
She mentioned she participated in a photo voltaic coaching funded by the German Technical Company and the MEW from 2006 to 2007. This system included photo voltaic vitality, enterprise administration, fundamental English and pc science. She earned a grade of 95% on her ultimate exams.
In 2010, she mentioned, she joined SESI. She was there for two.5 years, working in numerous components of Afghanistan comparable to Kabul Province, Panjshir Province, Herat Province and Bamyan Province.
Now, she lives in Auckland, New Zealand together with her youngsters. She mentioned she desires to proceed her photo voltaic work.
Concerning ladies’s participation within the photo voltaic business, she mentioned, “There are firms which are outright expressing an curiosity in ladies, however I do assume it’s a tradition change, like how job descriptions are written and who really goes out and representing firms within the recruitment course of. It issues. There are many ladies who’re fascinated about photo voltaic; we simply need to do a greater job of getting them concerned.”
