Technical and Economic Performance Assessment of Solar Milling Plants in Zambia

Abstract

In 2015, the Zambian government embarked on a proactive endeavor to enhance the accessibility of economical maize meal through the inception of the Solar Powered Milling Plants (SMPs) Project. The Chinese Government and the Government of the Republic of Zambia jointly provided co-financing, supporting this audacious initiative with a significant financial commitment of US$200 million. However, there have been no documented results on the technical and economic performance of the solar milling plants. To this effect, this study aimed to establish the technical and economic performance of the milling plants installed by the Zambia Cooperative Federation. To achieve this, the study sought to: (1) establish the technical operational characteristics of the installed SMPS; (2) establish the factors that influenced the sitting of the plants; (3) determine the economic benefits of the SMPs; and (4) benchmark the technical operating conditions of the installed SMPs. The study employed a mixed methods approach, where benchmarking observations and semi-structured questionnaires were used as data collection instruments. The sample size of the study was 168, comprising cooperative leaders, solar milling plant operators, and community members from the 12 sites in Masaiti, Chikankata, Solwezi, and Kapiri Mposhi districts where the milling plants were installed. The field observations and questionnaires that were used for the study showed that all twelve sites in the Solwezi, Masaiti, Kapiri Mposhi, and Chikankata Districts needed the same amount of power to run, which was between 7.5 kW and 9.0 kW. However, only Site 3 in Solwezi and Sites 4 and 5 in Masaiti Districts strictly followed the standard operation time of 8 hours. The study has also shown that the two main factors that influenced the placement of the solar milling plants were proximity to the main roads of the communities and the availability of land near the Food Reserve Agency(FRA) shades. With regards to economic benefits, the generated results showed that the installed milling plants brought about employment creation as two operators were employed for each of the 12 sites. However, the revenues generated by the solar milling plants were not economically viable for loan repayment. The study recommended that predictive and corrective maintenance, in addition to project management training for cooperatives and operators, be carried out to improve the technical and economic performance of the solar milling plants.