United Solar Initiative has been working to facilitate solar energy solutions to address energy and water poverty in underdeveloped communities around the world. One of our partners in this effort is World Vision who has been promoting efficient and sustainable options for water supply systems and has introduced the use of solar powered systems.

USI was asked by World Vision to organize international training sessions to build the capacity of their WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) staff. The first training took place in Tamale, Ghana in June of 2016. Further trainings were conducted in Namanga, Kenya and in Choma, Zambi in February of 2017.

The trainings led by Ed Witkin and Jay Peltz, both USI members, were designed to equip the WASH staff in the basic understanding of the Design, Installation and Troubleshooting of Solar Powered Water Supply Systems. Each session brought together 20-25 participants from several World Vision (WV) National Offices, and the trainings consisted of both classroom time and field visits to existing solar water pumping sites.

We discovered that there were common design and installation issues with many of the solar water pumping systems we visited. Some of these issues include a lack of system monitoring, improper sizing of the solar array, pump, water pipes, etc. This provided a great teaching opportunity, and our hope is that future systems will work more efficiently and reliably.

United Solar Initiative looks forward to continuing to provide training to World Vision staff in the years to come.