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Bouma Primary School  (1232 Cakaudrove)

About

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Specifications

Works & Maintenance

CO2 & $s

Contacts

Charge data

Term Reports

Procedures

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About

Bouma Primary is on the North East coast of Taveuni, Fiji's 3rd largest island. 9 teachers are providing classes from years 1 to 8 and kindergarten.

The school had a diesel generator that ran for an average of two hours per day and on a needs basis in the evening for the teachers to get their work done and night study during the lead up to exams. Because of the lack of wiring, the generator did not supply any power to the teachers’ homes. Instead teachers used their own small generators or kerosene or battery lamps. So, as well as powering the school, a new circuit was laid to provide power to the teachers' home and the new library that was away from the main school buildings.

The original solar system was installed in 2015, including the wiring works. Those old technology batteries were replaced with new Simpliphi Lithium batteries in July 2023 along with some wiring repairs.

School Role & Facilities
Students:
Teachers:
Classrooms:
Kindergarten:
Offices:
Library/computer area:
Teachers homes in the school grounds:
Boarders (live-in students):
Hostels (Boarding houses):
Dining rooms:
Date entered:
Project Funding

The project was funded by Mr Peter Bickerton, the Rotary Clubs of Lindfield, Ku-Ring-Gai, Roseville Chase and Taveuni (Fiji) and other generous direct donors.


Carbon Dioxide and Financial Savings
Document

Bouma Primary School

Annual school fuel saving (litres) (1)

900

Annual fuel saving 8 teachers' homes getting solar (litres) (2)

400

Annual cartage saving (litres) (3)

135

Total annual fuel saving (litres) (4)

1,480

Fuel saving over 30 years (litres)

44,400

Annual CO2 saving (kgs)

3,774

CO2 saving over 30 years (kgs)

113,220

Annual AUD saving (8)

$ 3,660

Annual USD saving

$ 2,488

Annual FJD saving

$ 5,490

30 yrs AUD saving

$ 109,800

30 yrs USD saving

$ 72,810

30 yrs FJD saving

$ 160,650

Total of All It's Time Solar Schools

Total annual school fuel saving (litres)

20,540

Total annual fuel saving 91 teachers' homes getting solar (litres)

4,150

Total annual cartage saving (litres)

3,081

Total annual fuel saving (litres) (4)

27,886

Total fuel saving over 30 years (litres)

836,580

Total annual CO2 saving (kgs)

71,103

Total CO2 saving over 30 years (kgs)

2,133,277

Total annual AUD saving (8)

$ 78,672

Total annual USD saving

$ 53,489

Total annual FJD saving

$ 118,008

Total 30 yrs AUD saving

$ 2,360,160

Total 30 yrs USD saving

$ 1,578,540

Total 30 yrs FJD saving

$ 3,482,640

Assumptions

Fuel cost in the islands in AUD/litre (5)

2.00

Fuel cartage consideration % (3)

0.15

Annual fuel consumption per teacher's home wired (litres) (2)

50.00

Annual generator maintenance consideration AUD (6)

1500.00

CO2 produced per litre of fuel burned (kgs) (7)

2.55

AUD to USD conversion rate used

0.68

AUD to FJD conversion rate used

1.50

Notes

(1) This is the annual fuel consumption based on reporting from the school at the time of school survey and affirmed at the time of installation. It refers to direct fuel use by the school, not including teachers' homes.

(2) The fuel consumption of teachers' homes varies considerable between homes and over time. Their sources of energy varies from their own small generators to shared generators, still some use kerosene for lighting and some small solar (often failing) for lights and charging. Recently on Beqa Island two of the 7 households at one school were each using 10 litres of fuel per week and some were using very little. So, we have chosen the conservative underestimate of each household saving of 2 litres per week (approx. 5 kgs of CO2).

(3) Most schools have a cost to get fuel to the school - usually small boats and car/truck on the mainland. The costs vary from small amounts to some schools where the cartage cost is almost the same as the cost of the fuel itself. The cartage consideration (dollar and carbon cost) is a percentage of the total fuel consumption, because it varies widely from school to school we have chosen quite a conservative estimate.

(4) Includes cartage and teachers' home consumption estimate that therefore contribute to the total CO2 saving. But we do not include the teachers home in the financial saving - rather we just refer to the savings from the school generator.

(5) This is the current published diesel price in Fiji presented in AUD. Often the islands pay a higher price, but that is not factored in, so generally the price will be a small under estimation.

(6) Generators often require repairs and eventually replacement. That cost varies significantly from school to school, so a conservative value is applied to represent this component of cost/saving for all schools. It is not possible to calculate that accurately for every school, hence the estimate across all.

(7) Burning diesel produces CO2 at a rate of 2.68 kgs/litre, whereas petrol produces it at a rate of 2.31 kgs/litre. We have chosen 2.55 as the approximate for our calculations because there is more diesel used than petrol in the school generators.

(8) The fuel savings in the teachers' homes are not included in the calculation of financial savings for the school. Although teachers are asked to make a small contribution each term (FJD70) for their now 24-hour power and this goes to the school to buy more education resources.

Specifications
Document
13 December 2015

AC Coupled

Inverters

Inverter type

SMA SI4.4

Grid-tie inverter

SMA SB3000TL

Panels

Panel type

Yingli 275W

Number of panels

12

Array (watts)

3300

Mountings

Mountings

Roof mounted

Brand

Clenergy Solar Terrace II

Batteries

Battery type

Simpliphi PHI 3.8 Lithium Ferro Phosphate

Number of batteries

6

Kilowatt hours

22.5

Batteries mounted

Simpliphi Boss 6 Cabinet


General electrical works

Wiring in the school rooms was repaired and replaced were absent. The teachers' homes had no wiring, nor did the new library (approx. 100m form the main school building). A new 350m underground circuit was laid to supply power to the library and the 5 teachers homes. All with new LED lighting and power outlets.

4 amp breakers are installed into the teachers' homes - this limits appliances to less than 1000 watts (so no electric cook tops etc., but capacity to use modest sized electrical appliances). That power limiting strategy means effective use of a reasonably sized school solar system and all in the community are very happy to have this level of 24-hour power supply.


Partners

Solar contractor

CBS Power Solutions

General electric works constractor

CBS Power Solutions

Contacts
Document

Enter all contacts e.g School Manager, Head Teacher, Principal. The more the better.
If a contact changes, for example the principal, edit the old record to show the new person’s details.

New First Name Last Name Position Phone Email FB Note Edited
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