Rural Nicaraguan Areas
Are Model for
Electrification System
For many who live in
rural areas throughout
the world, the basic
technologies necessary
for education, public
health and economic
development are not
feasible because of a
lack of electricity. But
in Nicaragua, a
U.S.-based nonprofit
company, blueEnergy, is
developing a model for
low-cost, sustainable
electrification of
remote rural communities
that can be replicated
around the world.
"You can't just take a
foreign technology,
install it somewhere,
give a week of training
and then leave," says
Matthias Craig, who came
up with the idea for
blueEnergy while a
graduate student at the
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT). "BlueEnergy
is a permanent
presence," he added.
"We're trying to build
the context of how we
can sustain an energy
service."
What distinguishes
blueEnergy from other
companies selling wind
and solar generators is
its commitment to
ensuring sustainable
energy services that can
be operated and
maintained locally. "If
we don't have the
capacity to ensure
proper installation,
operation and
maintenance, then we
won't sell you a
system," the company
says on its Web site.
The blueEnergy company
is working with a wind
turbine specifically
designed to be built
"without high technology
and without
super-skilled labor,"
Craig said. "If you
build the infrastructure
to do the construction,
then you already have
the infrastructure to do
the maintenance."
The blueEnergy system is
a hybrid of solar and
wind technology. The
solar panels provide the
power on calm, clear
days, while the wind
turbine generates power
on cloudy, rainy days,
which tend to be windy.
The power generated is
stored in a centralized
battery bank and then
either used directly in
DC appliances or
converted to AC power
with an inverter.
One of the biggest
challenges is
transportation, Craig
said, "because where we
work in Nicaragua, there
are no roads."
DEVELOPING AN INNOVATIVE
PLAN
Craig first became
familiar with the
difficulties of working
in remote areas as a
child. His mother was
involved in efforts to
document and revitalize
Indian languages in
Nicaragua in the 1980s
and began spending
several months each year
there. "We started
traveling down with her
in 1989 to the Caribbean
coast area, and
throughout the years
made several trips down
there," he said.
When Craig was an
undergraduate at the
University of California
at Berkeley, he had "one
of those light bulb
moments" while taking a
course in renewable
energy. He remembers
thinking "that wind
power was the perfect
mix of international,
environmentally friendly
and interesting from an
engineering perspective.
I realized that was what
I was going to do."
When he went on to
graduate school at MIT,
Craig continued to learn
everything he could
about wind power,
although his field of
study was information
technology. "All of my
spare time I was reading
about wind power and
talking to the people
involved in it -- sort
of building the
infrastructure of what
eventually became
blueEnergy," he said.
As a class project, he
had to develop a
business plan for a
product or service that
would help the world's
poor. His plan -- an
early version of
blueEnergy -- won in the
global markets category
in the MIT business plan
competition that year.
"It was a small prize,
but it gave me the nod
of approval that I
needed to continue
working on it
afterward."
The plan kept evolving.
"We were the worst
investment risk possible
-- high technology risk,
high social risk, high
political risk, high
environmental risk and
low return in a
dispersed poor market,"
Craig said. The
for-profit company he
imagined had to be
reconceived as a
nonprofit. His brother
and a friend came on
board as co-founders,
each bringing different
talents to the
organization.
"We didn't have any
financial backing. That
led to our moving
slowly. There's a lot of
work we could have done
earlier on if we had had
enough funding," he
said. "You've got to go
out there and do what
you say you're going to
do before anyone will
even listen to you."
To date, the company has
installed eight of its
systems in six
Nicaraguan communities
on or near the Caribbean
coast, with an estimated
1,500 beneficiaries. In
2008, blueEnergy plans
to expand within
Nicaragua, probably in
the Puerto Cabeza area
that recently was
devastated by a
hurricane. Once it
carefully has developed
and tested its project
model in Nicaragua,
blueEnergy intends to
expand its operations to
other countries.
This year, blueEnergy
won the Accenture
Economic Development
Award, which was
presented November 7 at
a ceremony in San Jose,
California. The
Accenture Award is one
of the Tech Museum
Awards, which are given
annually by San Jose's
Tech Museum of
Innovation based on the
recommendations of
international panels of
judges. The top laureate
in each of five
categories -- health,
education, environment,
economic development and
equality -- receives
$50,000. |
