We started out the New Year with a refresher course on solar electricity in the mountains west of San Jose, Costa Rica. Solar Energy International (SEI, www.solarenergy.org), a non-profit based in Colorado, offers an annual week-long workshop in Costa Rica where they install three or four solar electric systems (aka “photovoltaic” or “PV”) on homes in the community. About half of the participants in this year’s course were from a technical college in Madison, Wisconsin, but other U.S. states were represented, as well as a handful of “Ticos”- the preferred term for Costa Ricans. One of the really interesting things about SEI is that their courses tend to draw in people from all spectrums of life, from farmers, to students, to retirees, to restaurant managers, to wandering engineers. SEI has been running workshops in this area for the past seven years, with several including construction of biodigesters (processes poop into methane gas used for cooking!), solar ovens, and solar hot water heaters in addition to the solar lighting systems.
We were able to sit in on the workshop because we are participating in SEI’s INVEST program, which provides a small stipend for graduates of SEI’s courses who are willing to do some volunteer work and exercise their renewable energy knowledge. Our job over the next two months is to inspect systems installed by previous classes, talk to the owners about how the systems are working (or not working), and make any repairs we can. SEI needs to identify new projects for next year, so we’ll be visiting a local indigenous community where many people live without electricity. We’re also excited to work with a young local guy who is interested in solar energy as a career and has taken some SEI courses. Hopefully we can help him refine his troubleshooting skills and help move him move towards his goal of starting a solar installation and maintenance business in the area.
The local host organization for the SEI workshop and our follow-up work is Rancho Mastatal, an interesting place that we'll get into later. For now, some photos...
This large panel will provide power to a small vacation home for expat gringos. The gringo installations help to fund the local projects.
We were able to sit in on the workshop because we are participating in SEI’s INVEST program, which provides a small stipend for graduates of SEI’s courses who are willing to do some volunteer work and exercise their renewable energy knowledge. Our job over the next two months is to inspect systems installed by previous classes, talk to the owners about how the systems are working (or not working), and make any repairs we can. SEI needs to identify new projects for next year, so we’ll be visiting a local indigenous community where many people live without electricity. We’re also excited to work with a young local guy who is interested in solar energy as a career and has taken some SEI courses. Hopefully we can help him refine his troubleshooting skills and help move him move towards his goal of starting a solar installation and maintenance business in the area.
The local host organization for the SEI workshop and our follow-up work is Rancho Mastatal, an interesting place that we'll get into later. For now, some photos...
This large panel will provide power to a small vacation home for expat gringos. The gringo installations help to fund the local projects.
We installed a simple DC lighting system for this farmer, who previously used kerosene lanterns.
A young solar technician in training.
Jose Jr switching on the lights at his house.
The course participants wiring up the battery and control box.
Transportation to the job site
For one of the installations we had to hike for an hour up a mountain with all of the equipment and tools…in tropical heat.
The views around our neighborhood.
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