One year after its execution, the SERC Chile initiative Ayllu Solar received an important prize in the 2016 CIREC Awards in the category “Best Renewable Energy Communal Project” for the work conducted along with the communities of the XV region.
In the context of the International Congress of Renewable Energies, 2016 CIREC WEEK, the CIREC Awards were given to the most outstanding projects of the year and the leaders in the renewable energy sector. The projects were chosen by an independent expert committee. Several union leaders, NCRE company executives, developers and representatives of the industry attended the ceremony.
Representing Ayllu Solar, the project leader, Rodrigo Palma, emphasized the importance of this award for the project and how relevant it has been to work along communities, sharing knowledge and creating a rewarding atmosphere while fulfilling their goals.
“Wining a CIREC WEEK Award in the category of ‘Best communal renewable energy project’ is very encouraging for our team and for the communities with which we have been working in order to achieve co-construction between the local people and the professional team of SEC Chile. These efforts aim to create trust and agreements for the successful development of Ayllu Solar”, stated Palma.
Ayllu Solar is a SERC Chile Project funded by the BHP Billiton Foundation. Its execution time is of five years and it started with four initiatives that will be developed along with the communities as local partners. The objective is to foster the exchange of knowledge and achieve sustainability for each project so that they can be repeated in other towns of the region.
Center: Tania Correa, Solar Ayllu project manager
The projects are:
“Tourism in Cattle-Drive Routes, Communities Connected Through the Sun” is a project that aims to highlight the prehispanic caravan routes of archaeological interest in the region. Its objective is to connect the communities located in the Precordillera of the municipality of Putre through solar energy.
“River Shrimp Cultivation through Intensive Use of Solar Energy” consists of the intensive use of solar energy for the cultivation of river shrimps as a sustainable alternative of economic development in the town of Camarones.
“Solar Energy: An Opportunity to Foster Products Associated to Camelid Fibers in the Altiplano” is the implementation of a solar center for the gathering and processing of camelid fibers, based on a mobile shearing system and a micro grid located in the municipality of General Lagos.
“Packing System and Solar Cooling for Fruits and Vegetables” consists of a solar-based packing and cooling system to store and keep fruits and vegetables produced in Caleta Vitor and Chaca Valley, in the municipality of Arica.
2016 CIREC Award
With the motto “Building an energy system in Chile for the 21st century”, CIREC WEEK 2016 has summoned over 450 high-level participants that run the gamut of the field of renewable energy, including companies, investors, authorities, developers, banks, suppliers and consultants.