Electricity, water and heat from the same appliance

NAIROBI, Kenya, 25 November, German energy company Schneider Electric with operations in more than 100 countries, used a rural setting in Kenya to test its modular Microsol technology for producing electricity, drinking water and heat simultaneously, primarily to benefit micro-industries located in rural areas of countries with lots of sunshine.
Microsol is based on the principle of cogeneration of electricity and heat, applying a new approach to a technology that is already widespread – solar thermodynamics.

The solution focuses its constraints on the design of thermal storage that only uses environmentally-friendly products.
Its purpose is to simultaneously meet three basic needs regularly expressed by these people: Access to electricity that is reliable, efficient and inexpensive; Clean drinking water that is produced economically and consistently; and Heat generation that is continuous and environmentally sound.
Microsol can help the tourist industry by providing the energy needed for many premium services: electricity for HVAC, refrigeration or security; heat for hot water, laundry or heating; water for drinking or cooking.
A Microsol installation produces 50 MWh/year of electricity, 1000 m3/year of drinking water, and around 800 MWh/year of thermal energy.
Each installation has an expected life of at least 20 years.
Gilles Vermot Desroches, Senior Vice-President, Sustainability, Schneider Electric, said: “All countries with high levels of sunshine are potential targets for marketing Microsol.
 After market research, the consortium led by Schneider Electric chose Kenya as pilot country for the industrialization and commercialization of Microsol.
Kenya meets a set of favourable conditions for the establishment and development of this solution. The consortium plans to start the commercialisation phase in 2015.