Beginning this Friday, eight student members of Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering will spend two months in Rwanda implementing a "pico-hydro" system an accessible means of generating hydroelectric energy in rural towns, according to Yi Yang '14, a student involved in the project.
"The pico-hydro system is basically a small-scale hydropower," Yang said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "It's an inexpensive and sustainable way of delivering electricity."
The system diverts water flow from streams near waterfalls into a large pipe, Yang said. The energy from the falling water is then used to move a turbine that generates electricity at the base of the waterfall. Batteries are connected to the turbine, and the potential energy from the system is turned into electric energy, Yang said.
This setup eliminates the need for "expensive electrical grids and the associated, potentially dangerous high voltages," making the system accessible and safe for general use, Yang said.
The energy created by this process can be used to recharge cell phone batteries or lights for homes, Yang said.
Project leader Theodore Sumers '12 will also travel to Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday to help implement the system.
"I became involved in the project because I wanted real world, hands-on engineering experience," Sumers said in an email to The Dartmouth.
As project leader, Sumers is charged with managing research at the Thayer School of Engineering, maintaining communications with non-governmental organizations and overseeing DHE's budget, he said.
The eight Dartmouth students will stay in Rwanda from July 15 to Sept. 15, Sumers said. During that time, they will work to implement their designs and build relationships with NGOs in Kigali.
"We'll be revisiting two hydropower sites we built in the town of Banda in 2008 to replace a worn-out turbine with our new design," Sumers said.
DHE constructed the two turbines which were designed to imitate other hydropower plants in Rwanda in 2008, according to a Thayer press release.
The eight students will also try to select a local NGO in Rwanda with whom they can work, Yang said. Though the trip's original goal was simply to fix the 2008 turbine and install new ones, the lack of a prior established connection with a Rwanda-based organization has forced the group to expand its original intent.
The organization is currently affiliated with United Kingdom-based e.quinox, a humanitarian engineering group run by Imperial College London, the release said.
"Our first goal is to improve the pilot site of the turbine in Banda, but we also want to establish an NGO network," Yang said.
Yang said that connecting with a local organization will be the most challenging part of the project, according to Yang.
"We don't have any on-the-ground contacts at all," she said. "We just have a few personal contacts and students we've kept in touch with."
Before the first turbine's failures, it significantly improved the quality of life in the rural community of Banda, according to Yang.
"From what I have gathered, while it worked, it was a great resource to the community because these rural areas are so far away from expensive electrical generators," she said.
Yang said she has already benefited from the group's preparations for the project.
"During the course of Spring term, all eight of us have really gotten to know each other," she said. "Knowing that I have teammates who I can trust is very assuring."
The project is funded by a grant from the National Collegiate Investors and Innovators Alliance and from the DHE general fund, according to Yang.
