Robert Van Buskirk, LBNL

Contact: 510-495-2310, rdvanbuskirk@lbl.gov

Role in the Energy-Water Nexus

The purpose of the Eritrea Wind Energy Project is to remove barriers to implementing feasible wind energy projects in Eritrea, East Africa. For approximately 12 percent of villages in Eritrea wind energy could be a key element of providing clean and safe water access for domestic and productive agricultural applications.

Research Objectives

It often is difficult to transfer clean energy technology to support sustainable development in low-income countries. The Government of Eritrea (GoE) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have embarked on a three-year, $5.2-million project to remove barriers to developing a wind energy resource in Eritrea. Members of the Water and Energy Technology Team (WETT) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) are subcontracted to the prime contractor, Distributed Generation Systems, Inc., as part of the project’s Technical Advisor team. LBNL’s project component is to research and design policies, procedures, and organizational systems that can maximize the contribution that the GoE/GEF wind energy effort can make to sustainable development.

The LBNL’s work consists of: (1) developing for the GoE data and analysis systems for wind and solar resources; (2) designing policies and procedures for developing and contracting wind energy supply services; (3) analyzing the capacity of the electricity grid for distributing wind energy; (4) analyzing and optimizing wind energy operations; (5) designing procedures, processes, and financing mechanisms for implementing projects; (6) formulating renewable energy projects that can take advantage of the Kyoto treaty clean development mechanism (CDM); (7) performing cost/benefit analyses of wind energy projects and activities; (8) monitoring projects; and (9) designing educational programs regarding wind energy.

Approach

Despite substantial investment in research, investigation, and capacity-building with respect to wind energy in Eritrea, substantial barriers remain. The project’s strategy is to research, understand, and help remove those barriers, which include awareness/experience barriers, capacity/institutional barriers, and technical barriers.

Awareness/experience barriers include a lack of experience or examples of grid-connected wind parks in Eritrea, which results in a lack of practical experience among staff of the Eritrea Electric Corporation and the Ministry of Energy and Mines Energy. Eritrea’s Energy Research and Training Center has limited experience with one demonstration 1-kilowatt grid-connected wind turbine. The private sector also has limited experience with wind energy, and there is little public awareness of the contribution that wind energy could make to Eritrea’s development.

Capacity/institutional barriers include insufficient technical know-how and human resources in the area of wind energy, lack of procedures and institutional mandates for implementing wind energy projects, lack of appropriate financing mechanisms for projects, and lack of tested model contracts.

The technical barriers to developing wind energy include the high possibility of failure for segments of the grid to which a wind farm is connected, and the lack of a suitable grid connection at the identified location of a wind park.

Accomplishments

As of November 2005, LBNL staff had drafted six project concept papers, designed a database and a structure for the wind energy information system, and drafted a procedures manual for decentralized renewable energy projects. The project concept papers emphasize options for both pumping water and desalinating water supply for those villages in Eritrea that have a good wind resource.

Significance of Findings

More than 300 of 2,500 villages in Eritrea potentially could take advantage of wind energy to provide clean water supplies for domestic and productive uses.

Related Publications

Lebassi, B., and Van Buskirk, R., “Numerical Simulation of Wind Distributions for Resource Assessment in Southeastern Eritrea, East Africa,”
URL: EriSouthWind20050715.pdf

Acknowledgements

This work is performed under Work for Others agreement No. LB05-001471 between Distributed Generation Systems, Inc., and the Regents of the University of California as the management and operating contractor of Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory operating under Prime Contract No. DE-AC03-76F00098 for the U.S. Department of Energy.