The CILSS-Project: a large-scale application of photovoltaics in Africa

Today, a hundred million African people live far away from the electric grid in small villages with only a very small chance to get access to centralised power within the next 20-30 years. With a high cost of about 130,000 DM/km for a 66 kVA power line in sparsely populated areas inside Niger, it becomes apparent that under these circumstances conventional power generation with an extensive grid is not affordable and uneconomical. To bring electricity into these areas requires high reliability of power systems, no or little maintenance, a high degree of acceptance on the customer's side and a local service structure, requirements that are met by PV power systems installed by Siemens Solar within the CILSS Project described in this paper. Although the total power installed in the project is only about 1.2 MW/sub p/, PV power provides essential services such as water, light, etc. to nearly one million people, showing again that the importance of solar electricity is not measured by megawatts alone.