I am Dr. Mark P. Odero from Kenya. I recently attained a PhD in Analytical chemistry under the African Center of excellence II in Phytochemicals, textiles and renewable energy (ACE II-PTRE) scholarship. This scholarship, has given me the chance to have hands on skills in analytical chemistry while allowing me to interact with scholars from my field of study. As a result of collaborative research with other peers in ACE II-PTRE, we have collaboratively published 8 peer reviewed papers and presented in 1 paper in an international conference.
A BRIEF ABOUT NOCART FINLAND
- They have offices in Finland, London and Nairobi. 80% of their ventures are in Africa.
- They have a Biogas Power Plant in Nyeri: 200 cows that collect manure and generate electricity through turbines.
- They are working on solar panels.
- In Zambia they utilize Bagasse and this produces 100 megawatts.
- They work with wood products/waste materials which they use to produce heat especially for steam industry (by gasifying wood material and denying it oxygen and this turns it to gas) and as such they respect the Environment – since wood has sulfur and when burned in presence of oxygen produce sulfur dioxide
- They can utilize any Renewable Energy Solution using Hydro or Solar.
NOCART, Finland is one of ACE II-PTRE’s Private Sector Partner, the Moi University Vice-chancellor signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with NOCART in December 2017.
AREAS OF COLLABORATION WITH ACEII PTRE CENTER
a) STAFF /STUDENTS EXCHANGE
Students exchange through their Education Expo which is in Ghana and financed by Ghana. They have educational platforms E.g. Technical University of Leperanda (LUT) in Renewable Energy (Practicals) which serves as a Research Center and we can partner on Intellectual property. This will be achieved by:
- Students identify the energy demands
- incubation Center should target part of the Energy the University is using
- Need to do something that is scalable i.e. One that is best suited for the university
- Choosing the model we want and the action points
- Getting funding to replicate Energy Center at the University
b) WATER TREATMENT PLANT
c) NOCART POWER MANAGEMENT UNIT (PMU) will be useful for buffering up the generators.The PMU controls the power flow between various energy sources, like solar panels, battery storage, diesel generator and the grid. PMU also combines the UPS Battery charger, diesel generator control, reactive power compensation and an active filter.
NOCART has tried Napier Grass growing day and night using solar and this has given them great yield and thus good value for money.
d) SET-UP OF THE ENERGY CENTRE
This will be done through a joint proposal by NOCART and Moi University.