Building resilient communities and healthcare through renewables

EcoSwell is a Peruvian NGO which implements renewable energy projects with vulnerable communities in a participatory way. They take a bottom-up approach to design bespoke systems and train end users for sustainable long-term use. Recently, EcoSwell installed a solar-PV based uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system in a central Medical Centre in Talara, Peru, allowing staff to safeguard vaccines. Other projects include a hybrid micro-grid system, residential energy consultations and PV systems and a solar distiller.

Highlights

• Creates more resilient communities (and especially health centres) in Peru through renewables and micro-grids and access to energy.
• Ensures sustainable use of systems through trainings for local people and staff, operation, and maintenance (O&M) manuals, and ongoing monitoring.
• Places communities’ needs at the forefront of decision making for bespoke, people-powered projects.
• Collaborates with Ministry and authorities to drive policy change and encourage the consideration of the intersection between energy and health.

Practice description

In Piura, northern Peru, frequent blackouts, extreme weather and an unreliable grid endanger access to electricity for many local communities, especially when employment is low and power prices are high. Indeed, around 1.5m Peruvians have no access to power. For the health sector, this situation jeopardises the cold chain supply for crucial vaccines and thus has serious knock-on implications for public health.

Sustainable development NGO, EcoSwell, develops participatory renewable energy projects to bring affordable, renewables energy to local communities. Noting the critical situation at a central Medical Centre in the city of Talara, EcoSwell ran interviews with staff and authorities to understand their electricity needs and the impact of blackouts. They worked with electricians and engineers to develop a bespoke UPS and solar panel system with maximum system efficiency and yield, including an oversized solar array to account for future electrical demands. This ensures the centre’s freezers are never without power supply. EcoSwell also trains local staff, creates guidance manuals, measures performance, and works closely with the Medical Centre team to ensure sustainable use of the system. They also communicate results for the public through their website.

This approach can be seamlessly transferred to other regions and multiplied by training local communities in management. EcoSwell has implemented another ‘Resilient Medical Centre’ in the small coastal town of Lobitos and will work with two more in 2023-25, aiming to reach ten in the coming years. Other projects include building a 13.04 kW solar and wind-based hybrid micro-grid for a community of 40 families in Nazca, southern Peru; residential energy consultations & PV system installations; and a solar distiller to overcome critical water scarcity.