Can I hit the ground running in Malawi?

I have been trying to prepare myself as best I can for Malawi, so I can hit the ground running.

I've been reading everything I can on solar power in Africa, national energy strategies, photovoltaic introduction and dissemination reports, assessments of private verses NGO implementation of water and sanitation in developing countries. I haven't even read the last few papers on the rope pump yet.

Based on this research, it seems my initial plan to attempt to persuade as many local manufacturers and suppliers as possible to add the solar pump to their product list as quickly as possible would be counter-productive. However, I still definitely plan to install the prototype solar pump on as many different depths of well as possible, so that I can confidently specify the system requirements for any system.

However the reports I've read, on the rope pump in particular, state that a new product (such as the solar rope pump) can too easily gain a bad reputation due to poor economic and/or quality control management. So, I plan to carry out a thorough lifetime cost analysis of the pump, and its competition. With this information we'll be able to confidently state exactly the period over which the solar pump becomes competitive. And along with careful quality-control of the solar pumps' manufacture we'll be able to successfully achieve the pump's very promising potential!

The next time you hear from me I'll be in Malawi (and I'll hopefully include some photos) where I can put all these theories to the test. I can't wait!!

Cai