Grids

ICIMOD now charging its electric vehicles from a solar charging station

Since May they have been parked under a purpose built solar charging system where they can plug in and recharge at any time. The system has 28 photovoltaic panels each of 175 watt, which charge 24 2 volt deep cycle batteries, together with a recording device for the solar power input and usage meters with the necessary charge controllers.

Under ideal sunshine conditions, the station generates 4.9 KW electricity. Currently, the electricity generated from the station is used to charge the three electrical vehicles. Surplus electricity in the summer was used at night to power the lights of the ICIMOD compound through batteries.

ICIMOD is organising a competition for journalists with a thematic focus on climate change in the Himalayas. The aim is to capture published media reports and to encourage journalists to write on mountain, and especially Himalayan, issues. Articles and reports on a topic related to climate change and/or its impacts in the extended Hindu Kush-Himalayan region and first published in a printed or online publication between 01 August and 07 December 2009 (the start of ‘COP 15’ in Copenhagen) are eligible for submission.

About ICIMOD

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, ICIMOD, is a regional knowledge development and learning centre serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan – and based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Globalisation and climate change have an increasing influence on the stability of fragile mountain ecosystems and the livelihoods of mountain people. ICIMOD aims to assist mountain people to understand these changes, adapt to them, and make the most of new opportunities, while addressing upstream-downstream issues. We support regional transboundary programmes through partnership with regional partner institutions, facilitate the exchange of experience, and serve as a regional knowledge hub. We strengthen networking among regional and global centres of excellence. Overall, we are working to develop an economically and environmentally sound mountain ecosystem to improve the living standards of mountain populations and to sustain vital ecosystem services for the billions of people living downstream – now, and for the future.

www.icimod.org/