ECOCA Digital Solar Powered Cooker - Ruth Komuntale

Nsambya, Uganda

Uganda National Alliance on Clean Cooking (UNACC)

The ECOCA is a compact, self-contained, multi-purpose home cooking unit, run by solar energy. It is to be imagined as a fully working kitchen, which can provide an entire family in a rural area with food and electricity throughout the whole day.  It consists of an electric base, which includes a battery pack, a solar panel array, and a highly insulated cooking pot that can keep food warm for hours.  ECOCA came in to solve the deforestation problem in the refugee settlement. It won the grant to design the solution. It is housed at CARITAS Uganda, as this made it easy for project coordination of the projects being run by the organization in the refugee settlements.  The ECOCA is the world’s first off-grid solar energy cooker is powered by a 275 watts panel that harvests energy from the sun. It consists of a 400W pot with an underneath heater. The pot is a double insulated pan which saves over 89% of energy.  The cooking set also comes with 3 Led lamps with USB ports, 5-meter-long cables, a movable solar light, and a portable torch.  The whole system is designed in Denmark under the Pesitho company. Manufacturing of parts is done in China and assembling is done in Uganda.  The stove has 3 cooking levels in which;  Level 1- For warming food  Level 2- For cooking soft foods  Level 3- For cooking hard or longer cooking foods.  The pot has sensors to lower heat and conserve energy facilitated by an inbuilt thermostat. Food cannot get burnt.  The ECOCA currently has 3 versions. The first version failed to cook beans and subsequently, there has been an improved version. 

1,750,000 Ugandan Shillings

Ready

The following ECOCA units have already been installed and in use: * 500 in Bidibidi refugee settlement under the Pesitho, ECOCA East Africa, Caritas Denmark and Caritas Uganda partnership; *60 in Kyangwali under the Pesitho/Ecoca East Africa, Care Denmark and Care Uganda; *100 in Rakai with Community Integrated Development Initiative (CIDI); * Another 225 in Bidibidi refugee settlement with the Mercy Corps partnership; another *An additional 50 units at CIDI for the commercial market; and * 230 units in Malawi under the World Food Program partnership. Beneficiaries of the ECOCA are always excited to give feedback on the technology and some of their testimonies have been referred to in the link below.