Big rainstorm this morning. A great, huge, the-rainy-season-is-not-going-away-without-a-fight storm. The next thing is predictable, it’s just a matter of when. Sure enough, just as I’m getting ready to back up my computer, there is a “lights out,” the local euphemism for a power outage. A second later the huge diesel generator in the parking lot thunders to life. But still no lights. In our apartments, we have to go out into the stairwell and twist a huge switch to the backup generator setting. Ready to rock. But…wait for it… Our outages always come in pairs. Once the grid is re-established, they turn off the generator, everything shuts down until we flip the switch back. This morning I forgot this quirk and tried to restart my backup too soon. Now Windows is off licking its wounds.
When I ask the leaders of my client companies what should be the highest priority for government to stimulate business growth, they say one word: “Power.” They rank it above education, roads, and employment programs. Ghana has a huge hydroelectric plant near Lake Volta, one of the largest manmade lakes in the world. At one time, they made so much power that they sold about 25% to neighboring countries. Now they cannot keep up with growth. To run a manufacturing or data center operation, an apartment complex, or even a modern household, you must have a generator.
The generator at Stanford SEED
Size matters. Some of my clients are constrained from adding critical equipment because their generators are too small. Some can work around it: when you’re blowing plastic bottles, you turn off the filler. It gives a different sort of twist to production process analysis. Since the power is not clean some other strange things happen. When one of the “legs” of a 3-phase supply is too low, machines can run backwards. This can be slightly humorous and messy for a bottling machine, evoking images of Lucy and Ethel. However, it can be downright life-threatening when operating a saw. And it’s no laughing matter when an expensive computer circuit packs it in from all the abuse.
During one of my business trips to Nigeria, I decided to count the outages one day. I gave up after a dozen. The wry joke there is that you buy a big generator for your business and use the national grid as backup. They all run on diesel, which is a significant budget item for most companies. An internet service provider or anyone whose business must have uninterrupted power doesn’t even bother hooking to the grid. The generator runs 24×7. This puts significant pressure on costs and the environment.
Where there is challenge, opportunity blooms. We have visited villages that are not even bothering with the national grid nor diesel-generated electricity. They are working directly with solar power and are able to keep phones charged and small computers up and online for classrooms. Perhaps the paucity of power supplied by utilities companies will make solar a “leapfrog technology.” Dump the diesel, reap the African sun.
The library at Asiafo Amanfro Community School. Solar Charging for the computer lab