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Sign upSeptember 30, 2024
Chelal Tea Factory
Kebenet
Absolicon has deployed a groundbreaking 180 kW solar thermal installation in Kenya’s largest tea district at the Chelal Tea Factory, part of the KTDA cooperative. This innovative system, financed by the Nordic Climate Facility (NCF) and supported by WWF Kenya, Tealand Engineering, and Glofin, is the first in the world to integrate concentrating solar collectors with over 1 MWh of thermal storage. The system enables consistent tea drying operations by storing excess heat for use at night. This initiative addresses the environmental toll of traditional tea production, which relies on extensive deforestation and firewood burning. The project faced challenges, such as delays in importing components, but succeeded in showcasing the potential of solar heat for industrial processes in sun-rich regions like Kenya. The long-term vision includes scaling production of solar collectors locally to meet the tea industry’s significant energy needs sustainably.
This pioneering installation significantly reduces deforestation and carbon emissions by replacing firewood with renewable solar heat. It also safeguards water resources and showcases a scalable model for sustainable tea production. Strategic collaborations, including the UNIDO-led “Industrial Cleantech Platform,” aim to expand such solutions across Kenya, aligning the tea industry with global sustainability goals.
Heat is half of the final energy consumption and heat accounts for 40% of the CO2 emissions. Absolicon has created a concentrating solar collector that can produce heat and steam up to 160 C that can heat both industrial processes and district heating networks. Many industrial processes consume large amount of heat. To make one kilo of textiles, two kilos of coal is used, to make one ton of tea, five tons of fire wood is burnt. Using the sun has heat source, this can be changed. The Absolicon T160 has the highest ever measured optical efficiency for a small parabolic trough (less than 2 m). Over 76% of the direct solar radiation is converted to heat. The collector is following the sun within a fraction of a degree. The result is heat and steam up to 160 C that can be used in industries, district heating or solar cooling.
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