Expanding Energy Access & Knowledge in Peru

Dear GlobalGiving Donors,

How time flies! The end of year is almost upon us, and we are delighted to have so many new updates to share with you from our renewables team, as part of our project: ‘Expanding Energy Access and Knowledge in Peru’. In our last report, we shared ongoing maintenance work on our PV systems, which has been continuing and expanding, and we also introduced our uninterruptible power system plan for the Buenos Aires Medical Centre. Since then, there has been a lot of progress made at home and around Peru, and even a new hire – find out about this and more below.

Solar PV and cookstoves maintenance

Our renewables team has continued our longstanding commitment to maintaining our installations and keeping in contact with our individual beneficiaries. In mid-August, the team visited 2 rural households in Lobitos which had recently benefitted from solar PV installations and cookstoves, ensuring round-the-clock electricity and a cleaner, more efficient way to cook. Take a look at these photos that demonstrate the importance of keeping all our modules clean in this hot, dry and dusty environment. Upon further conversations with our beneficiary families regarding potential improvements to our cookstoves, we came up with an original and inventive idea to reuse the residual ashes from the stove and mix them with mud, which creates a plaster that can be used for the walls of the house. We try to do all we can to ensure that we understand how our beneficiaries make use of our products and whether there is any room for improvement.

A new renewable energy coordinator in Cajamarca

We are delighted to introduce the newest member of our renewables team, Percy Suarez, who joined EcoSwell at the end of August, and is coordinating our upcoming resilient medical centre project in Cajamarca. Percy and Hugo, a longtime member of our renewables team, completed an 8-day site visit to the Cajamarca region, visiting four medical posts in remote villages to conduct analyses of potential stakeholders and sites. During these visits, they measured existing equipment and potential electrical load to be able to come up with accurate blueprints, as well as conducting interviews with medical staff in all four locations. 

Site visit to Buenos Aires resilient medical centre project

Last month, Hugo and Andres, our head of Renewables, visited the Buenos Aires resilient medical centre project to deliver materials that we have purchased, as well as those donated by our corporate partners. During this visit they also met with the electrician and welder for the project to work on the electrical foundations and connections of the PV system, as well as other necessities such as the metal doors for the equipment. As a result of the hard work of all involved parties over the last 2 and a half months, we should shortly be able to switch on the resilient system!

Solar comes to our HQ, and updates on Energy for Schools

This week, we finished the designs for the installation of a new PV system for our headquarters, EcoSwell House! The system should be installed by the end of this week, lessening the impact of blackouts on our work, and representing our commitment to embody sustainability in all of our practices, at home and away. 

Finally, progress continues on our Energy in Schools project, a planned comprehensive energy skills and employability course that will be rolled out as part of the curriculum to secondary school students in Talara. Our sponsor Schneider Electric has met with the foundation and we are currently actioning feedback on our proposal, meaning we should be able to start this course on-time next year.

A Heartfelt Thank You

Of course, none of this progress would be possible without the support of our generous donors and funders. We can only truly touch the lives of vulnerable people across rural Peru with your help, and are deeply grateful for your ongoing commitment and contributions that mean we can continue on this journey together.

Once again, thank you.

Andres Bustamante