Skip to main content

Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS)

Investigating the potential for multi-vector cooking appliances.

Project leader

Dr Neal Wade

Dates

April 2019 to July 2023

Project staff

Dr Chris Mullen

Sponsors

Department for International Development (DfID)

Description

This project will investigate the potential for multi-vector cooking appliances. These are facilities for cooking that are able to run off a variety of energy supply sources.

We are using systems modelling to assess system lifetime (battery life). Our models take into account size, reliability, availability and energy use. We are modelling a variety of battery technologies.

By doing this, we can achieve higher availability of ‘cooking function’. For example, the battery may discharge due to sustained low photovoltaic (PV) output during a cloudy season. Having an alternative method increases availability compared to the solar PV solution alone. A similar benefit arises in the case of a weak or unreliable grid-connected clean cooking appliance.

The scenarios used in the project's case studies will take into account:

  • location
  • cooking device type(s)
  • cooking habits (number and type of meals/cooking styles per day)
  • weather conditions (particularly for insolation) over a year
  • electricity supply: grid, micro-grid, per-dwelling-PV
  • ability to recycle various materials (for example, the environmental impact of different battery technologies)
  • local cost of various materials