Letters From the Field

Julius has been volunteering with LIRE this year assisting with developing hybrid (solar/diesel or hydro/diesel) power systems and solar powered water purification projects.

Posted by Michael Ferguson to LIRE Hybrid Power Systems & Water Purification project, 29th July 2009, 8:50pm

I’ve been in Laos for three months now, working with the Lao Institute of Renewable Energy (LIRE) and their partners Sunlabob Renewable Energy. My job is predominantly in the area of rural development (eg. hybrid solar/diesel or hydro/diesel power systems and solar powered water purification projects), and it has taken me to regions in Laos well off the standard tourist maps. Below are the two main projects I’ve been involved in so far:

1) Ban Phakeo – Luang Prabang Province

Laos is ruggedly mountainous and the rural areas are sparsely populated and economically poor. Consequently, the national electrical grid doesn’t extend very far from the regional capitals leaving many rural areas without mains electricity. These areas either have to make do without electricity or use off-grid solutions such as solar, hydro, diesel gensets or rechargeable batteries.

Situated high in the mountains approximately 350km north of Vientiane, Ban Phakeo is a small farming village where we installed an off-grid solar/diesel mini-grid system. I took over the project during the final stages of construction and recently, we completed the commissioning of the system and turned on the electricity for the first time.

2) Ban Sor – Vientiane Province

Ban Sor is a village 2 ½ hours drive northwest of Vientiane, and is taking part in a solar-powered water purification pilot project. The village is of moderate income by rural Lao standards, yet they still don’t have ready access to clean drinking water.

The water they get from the river needs to be boiled, which also adds the burden of collecting firewood. Occasionally a truck from Vientiane comes up to sell bottled water, but this isn’t a regular occurrence. As a result, there’s a definite need to provide convenient, clean drinking water to the village, which was the point of the pilot project.

When I arrived in country, the pilot project had just been installed by my EWB predecessors. My current role at Ban Sor is to resolve some ongoing technical issues and coordinate the monitoring and evaluation phase of the project.

The work hasn’t been without its challenges. The general standard of engineering isn’t particularly high and the language barrier has been a problem at times. Lao is a tonal language (with six tones) and the same syllable can have very different meanings depending on the tone used. For example, Gai can mean close, far or chicken.

However I have ultimately found it fulfilling to work on projects that I care about, and would wholeheartedly encourage others to consider development work if the opportunity presents itself.

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