Joined-up thinking in tea supply chains: pro-poor, climate-smart and efficient business

As highlighted in a number of Business Innovation Facility (BIF) blogs and articles recently, renewable energy technologies (RETs) are of increasing importance in the Malawian context and a great deal of effort is being put into researching and implementing appropriate equipment.

In 2012, BIF funded a project working with Global Tea and Commodities (GTC) to assess the potential for development of renewable energy at three estates in Malawi. The three estates in question are geographically spread in Malawi and so vary greatly in terms of the renewable resource that is available to them. The aim was therefore to review how renewable energy could be used to meet current and future needs, while also benefitting the employees and surrounding communities.

During the GTC study a Malawian renewables expert worked with a team from Practical Action to review current energy usage at the three estates and then make recommendations as what technology could be put in place. As two of the estates are processing tea, a primary recommendation related to improving the efficiency rather than direct use of renewable technologies. One of the sites was deemed suitable for wind generation owing to its unique location and wind resource available, another is already using small-scale hydro power and so recommendations were put forward to increase the scale. The third site is currently using purely diesel generation and following calculations for investment in different technologies, the final recommendation was that this site should invest in a grid connection as a first step, then look further into RETs again in future. Since completion of the report GTC have begun investigations into further hydro power generation with ESCOM and the Ministry of Energy and hope to continue these investments in the near future.

Following on from the GTC report early in 2012 and building on its findings, a project was awarded to Imani by the Scottish Government, which includes an element of renewable energy investigation.

Trading with Climate Smart Supply (TraCSS) has a number of work-streams relating to renewable energy in Malawi including distribution and monitoring of fuel-efficient stoves, increased processing efficiency in tea and coffee and increasing use of RETs in the tea industry. The latter activity has been underway in 2012-2013 involving specialists from Green Energy Partners in the UK. These specialists are initially reviewing current practice at tea estates to see where efficiency improvements can be made, and will subsequently be making recommendations as to appropriate technology for installation in Malawi. The initial investigations covered six estates in Malawi and owing to the geographical spread and differences in topography and climate etc. the potential technologies vary between these locations. The below list gives an indication of some of the technologies that will be considered for the follow-on studies in 2013-2014 based on the findings:

• Briquettes for generating heat – further investigation into potential materials underway
• Micro-solar for accommodation blocks and remote pumping locations
• Solar air / water pre-heating
• Micro-hydro generation
• Biogas – scale depending on requirements at each site
• Improving energy efficiency

Each of the technologies is being considered with regard to its commercial potential as well as the difference it can make to the employees and smallholders associated with estates. With this in mind the study will assess affordability and viability of these technologies and the potential for their roll-out to other individuals and estates in Malawi. Economies of scale will be an important consideration both for each estate and when considering Malawi as a whole i.e. if estates are working together then access to technology becomes more of an option, as does the availability of expertise requirement for installation and management on-going.

Both the GTC and TraCSS studies have highlighted the need for introducing more RETs into the tea industry in Malawi. All of the estates have discussed the importance of these technologies, not only for large-scale generation at estate-level, but also for household energy provision in communities surrounding estates. It is hoped that the BIF / GTC and TraCSS projects will be able to identify affordable and practical solutions that these estates can implement and roll out to these communities in the near future.

Project Resource: Sustainable energy for sustainable industries