Insight
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, Engineers from Europe were not able to reach the remote villages in Africa. Therefore, the AEC(Alternative Energy Committee) started to explore ways to enable the local technicians to assist with maintenance of existing systems in countries where government lockdown protocols allowed free intercity movement. Tanzania is one of the countries where we were able to start the work.
What we did
Before the work could begin, the UK and Germans engineers conducted virtual training sessions with local technicians in Tanzania to train them in the maintenance of existing solar systems installed.
Since the last 10 years approximately 50 solar systems have been installed across various regions of Tanzania. All of these systems were due for a major maintenance this year, as the batteries had reached their service life.
The maintenance equipment was sent from Europe and China prior to The COVID-19 outbreak. This enabled the team to progress without delay of purchasing components from local market in Tanzania.
The team of 3 technicians have been traveling to the various regions of Tanzania and have now completed the maintenance of almost 70% of the solar systems. The team in Europe support the onsite team through video calls and answers queries on any maintenance related challenges.
