And just like that, the first 2 systems are on their way!

As of 7pm tonight, Justin, Harrison & Levi have the first 2 systems ready for shipment.  They leave tomorrow morning for Bamako, Mali.  Cool stuff.  The remaining 22 systems will be on their way shortly. . .

The PV mounting structure was installed, as shown in the picture below. The structure went up very very quickly. I barely had time to click a few pictures before it was up. (I just wish they were as fast at obtaining all the necessary materials for the AC side, as they were at assembling the PV mounting structure!)

Much of the last week has been focused on this distribution system.  In the interest of getting a robust system in place quickly, that we can learn from, we have  not optimized the cost of this system.  Below are pictures of the piping containing the wires (before the pipes were buried).

Though this week we’ve been focusing mainly on the AC side of the system, the batteries were stacked so as to make enough space in the shed for working on the meter this weekend.  (Too bad the batteries were stacked incorrectly, meaning re-situating each of the 6, 100kg modules!)  Next week we’ll be wiring up the DC side of the system!

Every day on our drive to this pilot site in Ruhiira we pass two billboards as we leave Mbarara.  The first shows the dangers of stealing electricity!  (SharedSolar should decrease a consumer’s ability to steal electricity, because of the way the “shed” is designed and the nature of pre-payment.)  The second picture is an interesting take on marketing and incentives.  Some in some settings beer is marketed with sports cars and models, others with bananas.

The amount of equipment and tight deadlines to which we are working requires a level of organization to which some graduate students may not be accustomed.  We’ve implemented a manufacturing process adopted from the lean manufacturing world.  The most important part in our process is the router document.  This document lists top-level, step-by-step directions to completing an enclosure.  In order to build a system, a router is printed for every enclosure involved.  As a step is completed, the operator signs his or her initials and the date and time at which the step was completed.  This router serves two major functions: one, to give the operator  a list of instructions and two, to lend accountability and traceability to the build process.  At the end of each day, each of us can take the routers we’ve worked on and upload to a shared document the latest step completed and the date and time at which it was completed.  This will eventually allow us to see how much time it takes to build each system (hopefully over time this number will improve) and predict the completion dates.

A manufacturing router for metering enclosure.

 

Another component of the process is what we’re calling a “construction document.”  In industry, this type of information would be captured in a detailed engineering drawing, assembly drawing, or manufacturing drawing.  Since we’re in the business of assembling off-the-shelf components into an enclosure and not building the components themselves, we thought the best way to capture the necessary technical information would be in a document.  The construction document contains standard wire lengths, more detailed instructions, and photographs of the building process.

Here’s the first mass-produced metering enclosure!

Our first mass-produced metering enclosure.

We have been receiving data from the pilot site for a few months now and are able to look at the consumption patterns of our customers.  The plot shown is the accumulated energy consumption for that day.  The black line is a binned average for each hour.  The slope of the black line is the average power.  This shows that our customers primarily use electricity during the evening hours, which presents a challenge for a solar system and necessitates a battery system.  The low consumption customers (< 50W) only own lightbulbs while other customers have entertainment appliances such as televisions or radios.  Many are also using cellphone chargers.

As designs and processes are finalized, all the needed tools are getting a fancy home.  And we all know that productivity is directly proportional to organization.

Those fiberglass/plastic enclosures and aluminum plates are no match for these bad boys. . .

Power drill, hole saws, screw drivers, tap w/ handle.  Game over.

Here is a really quick video tour of the assembly lab.  As you can see, we just got a shipment of enclosures and other goodies, hence the stacks of boxes.  Yes it’s full.  Yes it’s a little messy now.  Yes Justin is trying to smile even though it’s late and we’re both still here.  But this is where the magic will happen, soon enough.  Stay tuned for more (admittedly low quality) video updates from the assembly lab.