Students from the University of Strathclyde will travel to Rwanda to test a novel new smart grid controller, which they believe could help people trade electricity.

The device itself will connect solar energy systems in around 10 households in the village of Murambi, located in the north of Rwanda, to create the microgrid. Inhabitants are then able to buy and sell electricity from each other, even using mobile phones if they choose to.

The trial is part of the global final for the IEEE Empower a Billion Lives competition, which aims to support the development of scalable technology to the one billion people who currently live without electricity.

Bartek Soltowski, who is studying for a degree in Wind and Marine Energy Systems, developed the smart power management controller. As part of his research, Soltowski was supported by third-year MEng Computer & Electronic Systems student Kyle Lawn, PhD student Jonathan Boews and MSc Political Research student, Fraser Stewart.

The Strathclyde team was successful in winning the Best Student team award at the Europe and Africa regional final of the competition to secure funding for the project. The field trial will commence in August and last for two to three weeks. The team will then travel to Baltimore to present their results before a panel of experts in the global final.

Success here, the team believes, could help to develop the Energy Box further and, ultimately, deploy this technology at scale to improve quality of life for some of the world’s poorest communities.

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Solar Home Systems (SHS) are proving to be a fast and effective means of bringing basic electricity services to rural areas. While these systems are making a difference, anywhere up to 60% of electricity generation can be wasted. Many people also cannot afford them, thus preventing them from accessing basic services.

The Energy Box developed by the team will be used to connect standalone SHSs to create a community microgrid and allow for unused energy to be shared across the network.

The standalone systems will be installed by BBOXX, a spin-out company from London’s Imperial College.

Commenting on the project, Soltowski explained: “Unlocking this energy also unlocks potential for people to buy and sell surplus energy to their friends and neighbours which is currently going to waste.

“After supplying their lights and charging their mobile phones, those with an SHS installed at their home can sell their surplus energy or use this to power higher-energy devices, such as TVs or refrigerators – perhaps even cookers.

“Meanwhile, people unable to afford their own SHS can benefit from the surplus energy generated by those belonging to others by simply ‘plugging into’ this newly-formed microgrid – and so obtaining an electricity supply for basic lighting and phone charging, without the substantial upfront cost of solar panels and batteries.”

Soltowski noted that the villagers of Murambi are “really excited” about the upcoming trial and that the team is “eager to see the outcome”.