SOLTRAIN - Southern African Solar Thermal Demonstration and Training Initiative

SOLTRAIN updates

Lesotho

Submitted by Puleng Mosothoane
Published 5 years, 10 months ago

SOLTRAIN Lesotho has provided updates on recent activities, including the 3rd SOLTRAIN Lesotho Roadmap Meeting, Quality Inspector training and further developments regarding its parabolic solar bread baking technology.

SOLTRAIN Lesotho: 3rd SOLTRAIN Roadmap meeting in Lesotho

The 3RD SOLTRAIN Roadmap Meeting was held at Avani Maseru in late February at which the results of the previous meeting were presented. Important guests who were present included Werner Weiss and Rudolf Moschik from AEE-INTEC. The welcoming remarks were made by Mr Liketso Ntho representing the Department of Energy. There were at least twenty eight 28 participants from different stakeholders including, solar companies, research institutions, government, academia and other interested parties.

SOLTRAIN Lesotho: Quality Inspector training

A quality inspector training session was carried out in late February at the Business and Community Development Centre (BBCDC). The course was led by Rudolf Moschik and Werner Weiss from AEE-INTEC and Martin Coetzee from the Institute of Plumbing SA (IOPSA). There were ten participants from different organizations who had all attended previous SOLTRAIN courses.

BBCDC solar parabolic bread baking technology technology making waves

In December 2016, Ivan Yaholnitsky and students continued with the development of their parabolic bread baking technology with the fabrication of a new parabola for export to a client in South Africa.

Solar power was used for all the cutting and welding needs of the parabola, thus minimising its embodied energy. The parabola is a robust, simple device, appropriate for supporting cottage food industries on a dispersed and decentralized basis. A full arc template was built from scratch for the shaping of the parabola.