Nova Scotia Community College
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Mikumi Solar Project 2014-2018

In May 2014, a team of faculty and students from NSCC and VETA Mikumi Campus in Tanzania collaborated to design and install a small-scale solar electrical system on the Mikumi Campus to provide a backup power source during the frequent outages.

In 2015, another team designed and installed a solar powered water pumping system to provide a constant supply of water to the accommodations and restaurant on campus.

In 2016, the project evolved to designing and installing a solar water pasteurization system and a weather station to monitor the effect of weather on the solar panels. The project was developed to help soften the water which was corroding the pipes and reducing water flow.

In 2017 and 2018 NSCC students and faculty once again worked on a project at Mikumi VTC with the plan to heat water using solar technology. The campus was heating their water for the restaurant and the student accommodations with firewood and this process lacked efficiency. To increase the sustainability of the project the team also worked on improving some of the previous work done on the solar projects.

The students and faculty from NSCC were from various engineering technology programs (Environmental Engineering Technology, Energy Sustainability Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology, Mechanical Engineering Technology and Electronics Engineering Technology).

Throughout the project, curriculum modules have been developed on various aspects of these projects, including skills training in installation, maintenance and repair of small scale solar systems, to enhance electrical trades, technician and technology training programs. Entrepreneurship, problem solving and teamwork are all valuable “soft skills” that have been gained by the Canadian and Tanzanian students through the hands on project-based learning.

NSCC began working with VETA Mikumi in 2009 on a Government of Canada funded Association of Canadian Community Colleges Education for Employment (EFE) project to improve the quality of its tourism training programs. Frequent power outages prompted the Mikumi Campus to approach NSCC for help in developing a renewable energy solution and the Mikumi solar project was established.

The joint Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC www.international.nscc.ca www.nscc.ca) and Vocational Education Training Authority (VETA http://www.veta.go.tz) Tanzania “Mikumi Solar Project” was awarded the 2015 Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) Panorama award for excellence in international education. A video about the project can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w0Q1Yv0ols

Grenada Weather Station Project 2017-2018

The Weather Station Project provided an opportunity for students from the NSCC School of Trades and Technology to travel to Grenada in the Caribbean to participate in a two-week program in May 2017. NSCC offered this program in partnership with the T.A. Marryshow Community College from Grenada (http://www.tamcc.edu.gd/) and Grenlec the local power utility. NSCC program participants collaborated with counterparts from the T.A. Marryshow Community College (TAMCC). The joint team built two weather stations and installed them at locations identified by the local power utility (Grenlec). The purpose of the weather stations was to capture solar irradiance, outside temperature, humidity and provide visual images of the sky. The solar weather station had the potential to provide Grenlec with a representation of how much solar energy is available at locations where the two devices were installed.
The 2018 phase of the project consisted of the design and development of an in-situ data acquisition platform which also allows the graphical display of captured data and cloud cover images. At the same time, students from NSCC and TAMCC worked on enhancing the reliability of data collection. Features include a ring database to prevent storage overflows, error checking protocols between various sections of the system and integrated design facets focused on mitigating environmental based degradation.

The project will continue on in 2020 with the design and installation of a solar bench at the TAMCC campus that will serve as a charging station for cell phones.

Solar Innovations Project 2019

In June 2019, NSCC students and faculty from the School of Trades & Technology travelled to Arusha Tanzania to participate in the Solar Innovations Project. NSCC partnered with the VETA Hotel & Tourism Training Institute (VHTTI) to design and construct a solar bench with the capability of being a charging station. Solar energy would be converted using PV panels, stored using batteries and then used for several USB docks for charging. The NSCC team worked with students and employees from VHTTI to implement the project along with contributions from the local community. The bench is located at the training hotel on the VHTTI campus and is currently available to guests.