The design of a Solar Home System series

Abstract

This graduation project was initiated as the continuation of Rixt Siebinga’s thesis: “The redesign of a Solar Home System - An expandable and understandable solar home system for rural Cambodian families". During this project, her results were evaluated and additional focus topics (that defined this project's design goal) were identified. The first six months were conducted in Cambodia, after which the design was finalized in the Netherlands. The redesign of Kamworks’ Solar Home Systems was developed based on the following goal: “Making clean energy more accessible to rural Cambodia”. Four focus topic were defined that needed to be tackled in order to achieve this mission: modularity, expandability, transportation and supply. The eventual result is an expandable and combinable Solar Home System series. The ability to expand a system anticipates to the growing energy demands of rural households. The integrated design can be compactly transported by motorcycle, allowing the supply of clean energy to the remote areas of Cambodia. Moreover, costs were reduced to make sure a higher percentage of Cambodia’s inhabitants can afford renewable energy. Throughout the project local shops, factories and markets were visited to explore the possibilities of the context. Prototypes were made and validated with users to ensure that the outcome would be feasible and contribute to the vision of the company: improving the rural areas of Cambodia. This thesis is an overview of the actions and considerations that led to the design of a next generation Solar Home System series.