In February-March 2020, Master with Mening student Helene and her mentor Johannes completed their field assignment in Uganda.

In Uganda, wood and charcoal are the most widely used methods of cooking, which have low energy utilization, are harmful to health and are at the expense of biodiversity. The warm climate means that rural Uganda can be a favorable location for small-scale biogas plants, which are both more efficient and less harmful to health than traditional heating. At the Nyenga Foundation, a biogas plant has recently been installed which aims to provide the school with enough biogas for the daily cooking for all students and teachers.

The main focus of the master’s thesis is to investigate how profitable and energy efficient a biogas plant can be in rural Uganda, and to look at how the technology can be implemented to ensure local acceptance, profitability and environmental benefits. Opportunities for the plant and limiting factors have been mapped for further analysis during the master process. The goal is to pull out trends that may help several countries that want to implement biogas technology.

Helene and Johannes got a lot out of the field stay, and got to do all the tasks they had planned. In addition, they spent some time training the workers in the use of biogas, and helped to establish routines for the further operation of the system.

The team just managed to get home to Norway before the travel restrictions in connection with the Corona pandemic became even more severe, and now they are in quarantine for 14 days. Fortunately, the work on the master’s thesis can continue from home!

We will share the task on this page when it is ready, summer 2020.