A trial of equipment developed by Dundee firm Solariskit to provide cheaper access to hot water in Rwanda has “exceeded all expectations”.
Mechanical engineer Dr Faisal Ghani, founder and chief executive of Solariskit, has created a pioneering thermal collector flat pack kit.
Assembled in 30 minutes, the Solariskit solar collector can convert sunlight efficiently into hot water.
It has the potential to save energy costs of up to 70%.
Mr Ghani travelled to Rwanda recently to see how a trial of his product went. He said the trip “exceeded all expectations”.
The Solarskit chief executive added: “We had no idea what to expect.
“The collectors exceeded expectations in terms of performance.
“We expected them to heat water to 55-60 degrees Celsius and we found we could actually heat water to 67 degrees, so they performed much better than expected.”
He said local technicians were able to install, with the Solariskit product taking half the man power of current water heaters.
“The local technicians were able to quickly and easily understand how to assemble and it was much easier to install,” the Dundee entrepreneur said.
“Currently, they need four technicians for a whole day to install the water heater.
“With ours they needed two technicians and it didn’t take as much time.
“It was great to see in-country all the benefits.”
Financial benefits to families in Rwanda
Mr Ghani explained the financial benefits his product could have to families.
A typical monthly salary is 692,000 Rwandan Francs, or just over £500 per month.
Mr Ghani said: “Most people found it too expensive to run their shower because it was too expensive to heat the water using electricity.
“One household said they had an electric hot water system and they ran it for a month.
“Their bill was 80,000 Rwandan Francs. That’s about £60, a huge sum of money.
“They switched it off and the following month it was 30,000 Rwandan Francs (£22), so just heating water was about 60% of their energy bills.”
There is widespread concern there about Covid-19 too, which has led to some families using more hot water than normal.
“They were bathing their two kids twice a day because they were so worried about Covid,” the Solariskit founder said.
“They heated the water using charcoal and it took them about an hour each time to heat the water, bathe their children.
“Charcoal prices have also just gone through the roof.”
Mr Ghani said his trip had been postponed twice previously due to the pandemic.
He added it was “incredible” to finally see the product in operation.
“It was so rewarding to see our work of more than two years finally in country and making a difference to the environment, but also quality of life,” he said.
“This was our third attempt at trying to get to Rwanda. The previous two times the flights were cancelled.”
Plans to recruit and grow Solariskit
Solariskit is currently in discussions with another Scottish company to get its solution into camping and glamping sites across the UK.
The firm has also had discussions with housing developers in Kenya and the USA.
Its team has grown to five and moved into new, larger premises at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc.
Mr Ghani hopes to continue the firm’s growth over the next two years, not just in Dundee.
He said: “There’s potential for us to double our manufacturing capacity in the next 24 months, so we’d be going from three to six staff.
“We’re also keen to increase our engineering capacity too.
“We’re looking at a manufacturing hub in South Africa and possibly in East Africa too.”
