Craftskills Affordable Renewable Energy Equipment

We manufacture wind turbines christened WindCruiser. They range from 150 watts to 12kilowatts. We also make their charge controllers, dummy loads, inverters, lattice towers and fiberglass propellers. We produce all these partly by outsourcing services from metal milling places while the rest of the job is done at our workshop from metal fabrication, fitting, fiberglass molding, electronics assembly and testing. Our production is labour intensive and involves massive towers, turbines and propeller blades. We require engineers in electrical, electronics, mechanical and chemical engineering. We require electrical and electronic technicians to do the turbine and accessories assemblies and installation. We require skilled people in fiberglass, metal, woodwork and several artisans or handymen.

Our products are for supplying electricity in isolated situations where there is wind, solar energy and small rivers and streams. Mountainous areas in our country are flowing with streams and rivers untapped while the winds are ever bending the trees on the hill slopes. In the plains the sun is at its maximum radiation with free blowing winds where electrical wires have never reached. We target people across the economic divide; from poor rural village groups and semi-urban slum dwellers and rich individuals to public facilities like schools, hospitals, markets hotels and lodges.

Our main raw materials are iron bars and lines of different shapes, welding rods, metal plates (mostly recycled metal), bolts, nuts, bushes, bearings, fiberglass mats, polyester and epoxy resins, electronic spares, copper wire and permanent magnets. We get iron bars and alike from Insteel and Tononoka Steel factories which is are two of the many local steel companies in Nairobi. We get our electrical and electronic supplies from Kenya electronics, Power Technics, East African Cables among many local companies. We get our Fiberglass and resins from Henkel Kenya Limited. Our special magnets come from China from Smart Magnets Company which is our cheapest source overseas. Since 90% of our raw materials are available locally are available throughout the year and are delivered on site whenever needed.

Only 15% of Kenyans have electricity and my products are cheaper than solar panels. They also save families from using the ever rising cost of kerosene and petrol.

We will use local daily newspapers, feature magazines, radio and television advertisements, demonstration sites and roadside billboards.

Our Competitors are the Kenya Power and lighting company, solar panel dealers, biomass fuel like firewood and fossil fuel dealers. We have an upper hand in environmental friendliness, the cost of our equipment is low hence bigger long-term benefits. We sell at US$4 per watt while solar panels are selling at US$6 per watt. Our turbines after installation need minimal attendance and negligible maintenance cost wise because the parts are available cheaply in any motor vehicle shop all over the country.

My product is designed to utilise low speed winds to generate power as low as 1.8m/s. It is can be hybrid with solar and diesel generators or connected to main grid power. It can be ran by hydro power in small streams. It is can be a standalone power system.

We make permanent magnet generators, fiberglass propellers, charge controllers, lattice towers and do solar hybrid and hydro installations of our equipment. We have for the last seven years installed over 30 wind and hydro turbines all over Africa. We have solely conquered the vagaries of wind in different parts of Kenya which have made our turbine come a long way in development. To day we can proudly say we have a turbine for low wind speeds with all the safety controls and electronics. We have had to educate people about the turbines and power storage. We have had several turbine and failures which have kept us improving our equipment with the help of our local Universities (Nairobi and JKUAT). We have made small kits for low earners in rural homes, community kits for villages and big kits for big consumers like hotels and lodges in game parks.

We will create employment of over 50 people within the company and more than 240 people where we install the turbines. The people at the installations charge batteries, service turbines and are salesmen for our company after we train them to do so. Market places with our turbines will allow small entrepreneurs to start up businesses and repair shops hence create employment within their rural settings.

Families and institutions save money for other needy use because they do not buy fuel to run our turbines. Schools and homes give more light and reading hours to students while providing access to computers, entertainment and information interchange using mobile phones, radio lessons, video and television. Parents of the rural pupils will save money as they will not add any more fees for the school computer classes which are run by the school diesel/petrol generators.

Rural families will spend less money for respiratory infections due to the reduced indoor smock pollution due to availability of cleaner lighting and possibly electricity for cooking. Rural school going pupils will have the same advantage as urban ones and raise their performance as they will be using the same facilities due to availability of electricity. Rural health facilities will also have electricity to perform challenging procedures and offer better health care.