A delegation of Cameroonian mayors meets with Idénergie
A delegation of mayors of communes in Cameroon visited Idénergie on November 9, 2016. We discussed the challenges of electrification in Cameroon and the potential contribution of Idenergie to these communities. Pierre Blanchet, CEO, first carried out an initial assessment of the company’s activities, followed by a visit to Idénergie’s assembly workshop. The first machines were deployed in Alberta in the summer of 2016 and an installation including solar panels and a generator was installed at an off-grid site in Northern Canada.
Systems to reduce off-grid gasoline consumption
The problem with off-grid locations is that transportation costs are very expensive. “We will leave as little room as possible for the generators in the design of our systems to save on money usually spent on fuel transportation,” Pierre Blanchet explained. A generator can be integrated into the systems and set to automatically start only during energy consumption peaks or low battery state of charge. Various combinations of renewable energy systems were presented to the delegation to this end.
A river turbine: no civil works, no dam
Mayors then visited Idénergie’s assembly workshop in Montreal. Gilles Trottier, head of the mechanical engineering department, presented the main assembly steps of the turbine.
“Everything was done to make things simple”, he said. Even though the interior of the generator remains a little more complex, the assembly was designed to allow for a quick installation in a river with only a few tools. The length of the blades can also be adjusted in order to get more power if needed. The hydro-turbine is taken into the river by means of a transportation device, and is then anchored to a rock using a steel cable. A new stand has also recently been designed to improve stability.
Last stop: the electric lab
Idénergie strives to be at the forefront of power electronics technology, making the electrical lab is an unavoidable stop to get an idea of the company’s latest research and development activities. Pierre Blanchet then outlined his vision for Idénergie’s development: adapting the technology of the river turbine to the field of smart solar converters and “smart grids”, networks that use digital communications to detect and react to power fluctuations.
This visit will be concluded by individual meetings to answer communities’ more specific questions.