Inventor From Malawi Provides Electricity For His Whole Village Using The River And A Bicycle

There are so many sources of energy – fossil fuels, geothermal, hydrothermal, wind, and so much more. Great minds often converge to come up with the best solution, and this oftentimes requires millions of dollars.

However, an inventor from Malawi may have found a free energy source on his own. He didn’t obtain the help of experts and professionals to pull it off, and all he used was a bicycle. With his quick thinking and careful planning, he was able to provide light to his neighbors.

Euronews

To quote Thomas Edison, “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” However, there is also a more popular English proverb. It says, “Necessity is the mother of all inventions.” This basically means that people become innovative when the need ultimately arises.

As for Colrerd Nkosi, he was surrounded by all the junk he needed. He had always wanted to provide electricity to his small village in Malawi. They had none and he knew that something needed to be done about it. He not only accomplished his goal, but he also won an award from the Queen of England.

Nkosi made use of a repurposed corn-shelling machine motor and a fast-moving river for this. He built an electric turbine that’s helping light up homes for free in the town of Mzimba. He and his neighbors have been the happy recipients of this later endeavor.


Of course, this didn’t come easy. Just like his predecessor, Edison, he experimented constantly. At the start of the project, he simply placed a bicycle in the river and thought deeply about how the current moved the pedals and how this might be converted to power and electricity. What he did was use an old refrigerator compressor that converted power for the six surrounding homes. His neighbors wanted more and were asking for help, and he listened to their pleas by finding ways to upgrade.

According to the Nkosi, a self-taught inventor, his latest turbine has the ability to produce power sufficient enough to provide electricity to 1,000 homes. But that’s not all. He said that another turbine could once again be installed downstream as a way to expand the grid. Because he relies in hydropower, people are praising him for it because of the added benefits it provides. This source of electricity lessens deforestation by removing the need for the people in the area to cut down trees in order to get charcoal, which is another source of power.

Marawi is in dire need of an upgrade. Around a mere 11 percent of the population has access to electricity. If you visited the various villages, most of them would be devoid of electric lighting systems. Hence, the fact that Nkosi’s village now has a reliable and renewable source of energy, this has been a game-changer and a glimpse of home for the future. This big change could be the very thing that schools in the area need.

“In the past, we had to study by candlelight and whenever there was no money to buy candles, we could not study,” student Gift Mfune said to AFP. “Now that we have access to electricity, many more of us will pass our exams.”


This DIY power initiative (known as the Kasangazi Hydro-Electrical Power Plant) is not for profit. The driving force behind it is more than just for money. Rather, this is his way to give help because his service charge is a measly €1 per month in maintenance fee. Right now, more than 2,000 people have benefitted from his sustainable and locally generated electric power. In fact, so great was this development that in 2018, Mr. Nkosi won a Point Of Light Award from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II for his service and dedication to innovation.

 Nkosi has been the light of the village, literally and figuratively. While he did light up his neighbors homes, his ultimate dream is to bring enlightenment to them through education. Right now, he provides hands-on lessons in the basics of carpentry and engineering to the children in the village. He also hopes to broaden his own skillset with more advanced studies.

“I wish I could find a sponsor to help me fulfill my plan of going back to school to further my knowledge and pass on what I’ve learned to others,” he said in an AFP interview.

 

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