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Contributions from
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Tribune
Development stepchild: land reforms deserve donor support
Solar solutions for Andean people
Policy networks help to improve global governance
02/2006
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[ Appropriate technology ]
Solar solutions for Andean people
Remote villages depend on renewable energy sources as they will not be connected to national power grids any time soon. Solar devices make sense to llama and alpaca herders in Peru.
[ By Inge Bolin and Greg Bolin ]
Night falls between 6 and 7 pm year round in the Peruvian Andes. Many high altitude villages are far from any electrical grid. As petroleum lamps are too expensive for subsistence peasants, families carefully use candles that shed a dim light for the most urgent tasks performed after sunset in their small huts. People’s fate is dark in a very literal sense.
Renewable energy can greatly enhance the health, education and general living standard in the high Andes. Chillihuani is a village of 1500 llama and alpaca herders, located between 4000 and 5000 meters altitude. Solar energy has been introduced to this community and other remote settlements in the Department of Cuzco, Peru. Although wind energy and micro hydro are also relevant options, solar technology is the best choice given the social, financial and environmental conditions.
Before any solar projects were implemented in Chillihuani, we witnessed patients arriving at the small health station at night. As soon as the door opened, the wind blew out the candles. Sometimes, there was no light available at all – nor any possibility to warm the icy glacial water. Obviously, a reliable source of light and hot water were required for the health and first aid stations.
Without light, the educational system suffers as well. After school, many children walk up to three hours to get home and often arrive at dusk, too late to do their homework in daylight. Teachers have a hard time grading exams by candlelight and preparing for the next day. Education, however, is very important because the herding way of life no longer assures people’s subsistence. Moreover, global warming causes glaciers to melt, along with floods, droughts and other extreme weather conditions that affect pastures and high altitude crops in devastating ways. Many children will have to find work in the towns in the valley where, however, unemployment is already endemic.
Where other energy sources are unavailable, local people rely totally on the scarce plants and trees that grow at high altitude for cooking and boiling water, thereby further depleting the sparse vegetation. Although dried animal dung is also used as cooking fuel, much of it must be set aside to fertilize fields of potatoes and other Andean tubers. Moreover, attending fires in the earthen stoves causes health problems for eyes and the respiratory system.
To improve matters in Chillihuani, we took several steps in cooperation with the local population and the NGO Yachaq Runa. All participants acted on a voluntary basis. Funding was provided by the Red Cross – Landesverband Baden-Württemberg and the Landkreis Böblingen, both of Germany.
Our first cooker project introduced passive solar energy in 1992. Families can now cook one meal a day during the dry season and can also heat small amounts of water using these solar devices. Nurses and local healers are especially thrilled to be able to use the cookers to sterilize medical instruments. Solar dryers for medicinal plants were introduced in 1998. They are invaluable in remote regions since dried herbs can be stored for many months to be used in times when they are out of season.
Photovoltaic energy
Due to the dispersed nature of this village, nurses and healers must walk up to 16 kilometres to visit severely ill patients. Given the rough terrain and dark nights, particularly in the rainy season, the portable Solux solar lamp has proven invaluable. Chillihuani’s location at high altitude provides the strong solar radiation required for a photovoltaic system to function well, even during months of rain.
A 75 Watt panel installed in the health station in 2002 provides light to all four rooms. It continues to work perfectly. The solar light we installed in 2004/05 in a first aid station functions equally well and so does the 75 Watt panel for the school that lights up all four classrooms accommodating 164 children.
Solar water heaters were implemented in the health station of Chillihuani in 2005 and, earlier, in other villages. They conserve the sparse vegetation and promote hygiene in a region where parasites cause discomfort and disease. We hope that more funding becomes available for Chillihuani and other villages to install showers with large solar water heaters in schools.
During years of work in Peru we have learned about the do’s and don’ts of small-scale development. Our solar projects are socially and environmentally sustainable for the following reasons:
– Cooperation among the local people is excellent. They have been central to the initiation and implementation of the projects and are largely in charge of their maintenance.
– The entire village benefits from these projects, not only certain people or groups within the village. Unequal distribution of benefits among villagers causes problems within most societies and are to be avoided at all cost.
– Solar panels are an appropriate technology for remote regions. Neither the lengthy rainy seasons, nor frequent hailstorms, have affected the panels in negative ways. Once installed they require little maintenance as there are no moving parts. The only upkeep a solar panel requires is a cleaning of its surface with water once or twice a year to remove the accumulated dust. Should a battery require replacement, or an electrical contact be reconnected, the local inhabitants must be advised where to acquire these parts, how to reconnect electricity and who to contact for repairs.
– Since many parts of the Andes still lack basic amenities, small-scale development should be concerned with the implementation of solar systems in health centres, schools and wherever else possible. While this non-polluting technology serves the local people in many ways, it simultaneously helps to save the globe.
Dr. Inge Bolin
is research associate with the department of Anthropology at Malaspina University in British Columbia, Canada. She is the founder of Yachaq Runa and has been working in the Andes for 22 years. ibolin@telus.net
Greg Bolin
is a consultant on renewable energy sources and alternative subsistence methods in Canada and Peru.
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