Schneider Electric has won the 2016 Intersolar Award for Innovation in the Outstanding Solar Projects category.
The company received the award for a project that brought solar power and storage to 172 schools and 11 public health centres in rural Nigeria. This came about through an initiative of the UK Department for International Development and the state government of Lagos, Nigeria.
To deliver on the project, the Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB) engaged trained local Nigerian partners, and used Schneider Electric’s Context family of solar and battery-based inverter/charger systems with online monitoring. The Context XW+ models were chosen for the project by the LSEB due to their long-term record of reliability in Nigeria’s rugged market, as well as their technology to improve battery life in a solar and storage system, said Lincoln Dahl, Principal at African Energy.
According to Schneider Electric, Lagos’ water pumps now run for days, health centres can deliver babies day and night, and the fuel costs for diesel generators have been eliminated. Furthermore, at schools across the province, science and computer laboratories are able to operate full-time and students can charge their tablets, phones and personal night-lights, meaning they can study into the night.