What is your intern project?
My project has been improving the Pelton turbine design of the micro-hydro system and helping XelaTeco build its capacity to produce bronze turbines in house. The first part of my job was learning everything about our first install at Nueva Alianza, what worked about the turbine and what needed improvement. We modified the cup design and wanted to get three standardized sizes of turbine for XelaTeco to produce. Once the design modifications were complete, I had to figure out how we were going to make these cups out of bronze here in Guatemala. Cups for the Nueva Alianza turbine were made in Huehuetenango by an experienced foundry caster and members of the XelaTeco team. My current work has involved determining what type of casting is most feasible here, creating a production scheme that has a reasonable time scale, learning to make sand molds, and building a furnace and a burner.
Modified Pelton turbine - Solidworks
Describe what your normal day as an AIDG intern is like.
Normal is definitely a bit hard to come by in Guatemala, so in general I’d have to say my day is varied. My days involve everything from emailing with metal and foundry experts in the US to sourcing materials by walking and taking micro-buses all over Xela to firing up the furnace and pouring some molten metal. My days tend to also include fixing computers at some point, making sand molds or constructing something while making jokes with the guys at XelaTeco. Some of my favorite days are when I get to go out to communities to do installation work or site evaluation, which involves traipsing through rivers. The thing that happens with the most regularity to be honest is refracion, Guatemalan snack time at 10:30am, which I either enjoy with XelaTeco or go out and find snacks for the whole AIDG office.
What are the main challenges you face?
The main challenges I face center on the fact that I’m in Guatemala. It can be hard to find materials and that can get even trickier with the foreign language involved because some things don’t translate directly. The pace of the country is different, so I have to learn when to be patient because there is no other option and when to push because I only have so long down here. The other major challenge is trying to figure out how to help XelaTeco and give them the capacity to produce these technologies, while insuring that they feel ownership of their business and gain independence.
What has been the most rewarding moment for you?
It’s hard to think that one moment has been the most rewarding in my time here. Seeing my project progress and XelaTeco grow is something that I can really only see by looking at the span of my time here. If I had to pick one moment it would probably be the day that I fired up my propane burner for the first time, set up some Baldosa bricks and successfully melted a bronze elbow I had tracked down from at a metal recycler. That was the moment it was clear everything could work: the burner and the brick would work for the furnace. I had already found local sand and clay for making the molds. It was the moment when all the pieces were finally there and all that was left was to put them together.
Who have you met who has inspired you the most and why?
I have been inspired by a number of people in a number of ways during my time here. The people who I work with every day have been amazing because I often find that rather how hard something is to do or the odds that this install will work exactly the way they are planned are focused on how to get something done and working right. We’ve all had setbacks and I’ve seen everyone push through them because they believe what they are doing is going to help. The other people that inspire me are the community members- what I remember one man telling me that the reason the community had taken out the loan, bought the land and was willing to live in poverty was so that their children could live a better life. To hear him see past all the struggles he was living towards the future was incredibly moving.
Why did you choose AIDG? What inspired you about the model?
I chose AIDG because there are so many stories about technology being put in places and then falling into disrepair when foreign aid leaves. By building a business the local people are truly empowered to maintain these technologies and the use of local materials insures that things can fixed or replaced if they break. There is a phone number to call when something breaks and some one who speaks the language and lives in the country on the other end of the line. The model also demands that sustainable technology make economic sense, which is also the only way I think it will ever really take hold.
Deep in the remote highlands of Quiche, Guatemala lies the Ixil Maya community of Chel, where villagers are managing their own 165kW micro-hydro system, supplying power to over 400 households, through community enterprise. The Asociacion Hidroelectrica Chelense (AHC) is responsible for administration, operation and maintenance of the energy services scheme and is believed to be the first time that an indigenous people’s organization has benefited from the global carbon credit market.
We visited last week, with our local partners Fundacion Solar, a local NGO that has been active since 1995 promoting renewable energy and Saul Santos of Intervida Guatemala to learn more.
As we arrived there was a buzz in the air. Children were dressed in their finest traditional traje and the streets were lined with pine needles. The special occasion was the change over of the Junta Directiva (Board of Directors) of the AHC, which had been voted in democratically by the community. It was inspiring to see the level of community investment in the project, as we sat and watched the ceremony in the main square.
The changing of the Junta Directiva in the Parque Central
An essential theme of the project in Chel is the participation of local villagers. An initial community consultation process ensured that all members of the community had a good understanding of the potential project and the technology and agreed to the proposed plans for a tariff structure. Each family agreed to contribute with 80 days of labor to help in the civil works, in exchange for entry into the scheme, connection to the grid and home wiring. We were also amazed to learn that the community hand-build the mountain road in order to transport the equipment for their micro hydro system. When the rivers were too high to traverse, teams of men carried the huge electrical poles on their backs for miles to reach the remote community.
Women outside an electric-powered mill in Chel
The result is marvelous; the AHC is currently generating enough income from electricity sales to sustain their operation and maintenance costs. It also promotes the productive use of energy sources and has instigated economic development in the community, including the start up of a number of small enterprises. Here at AIDG Guatemala we are really interested in managing our Micro Hydro systems in a similar manner and it was a fantastic opportunity to see speak to the people in AHC and the consumers.
Duration: 16 min 41 sec (Spanish)
This episode looks at the example of the use of geothermal power in the production of dried fruit by Agroindustrias La Laguna. It also looks at the construction of a micro hydroelectric plant in Chel, Quiche, by the Asociación Hidroeléctrica Chelense (AHC), founded in 2001 with the support of the Fundación Solar. (around 6 min 42 sec)
Our next destination was to a potential microhydro site in Aquil Grande, Alta Verapaz, an epic journey through remote highland passes. On our way through the stunning valley heading from Chel back to Nebaj we passed through a huge construction site. Saul explained it was a 93MW Hydro-electric plant being built by a private company to sell the power to Union Fenosa, Guatemala’s private energy supplier to the rural poor (at inflated prices to the tariffs for urbanites..!).
Big = Better?
Cables will take power generated away from the area (where many communities still lack electricity) to a sub-station in Quetzaltenango. It reminded me of the lessons of Schumacher’s ‘Small is Beautiful’ and the value in small, simple and locally beneficial, appropriate technology. I pondered this and felt inspired about the huge capacity for AIDGs work as we bumped along the winding road!
The community of Aquil Grande is home to around 500 people, who are currently paying high electricity tariffs, particularly for their public street lighting. After clambering about in the stream with community members to conduct tests, it proved to be more than sufficient for a system to provide electricity for the coffee processing machinery, street lighting and the school, which is currently without power.
Intern Alex Surasky-Ysasi testing stream flow
The idea is to run the scheme in a similar model to Chel, with a community association running the scheme and selling the power to the coffee cooperative, powering the school and providing public street lighting at a third of the current cost. Therefore not only will it build technical and administrative capacity in the community, making the scheme more self-sustainable, but will also reduce the burden of expensive power bills, stimulate new businesses and help the coffee co-operative compete in the global marketplace.
My last weekend in Guatemala before heading back to the States, I went on a mini TecoTour to La Florida with Carlos Poza (tour leader) and 8 very cool volunteers. La Florida is one of our newest community partners as well as a favorite place of many of our interns. It’s a three hour jaunt from Xela to Colomba with the last hour and a half following a windy cobblestone road past coffee fincas, bamboo, jungles and waterfalls. The finca currently grows cash crops such as coffee, cacao and macadamia. They also plant corn, tomatoes and various fruits and as well as raise sheep, pigs, cows and bees. Their honey is excellent.
Don Lencho
Saturday evening of the tour, Don Lorenzo sat us down and told us the story of SCIDECO (Sociedad Civil Para el Desarollo de Colomba - Civil Society for the Development of Colomba), the cooperative that owns La Florida. The following is a mixture of the story he relayed to us that night, supplemented with additional information from Chris Michael and Prensa Libre.
The struggle during the war years
SCIDECO’s initial struggle began with an attempt to organize finca workers operating in the Colomba area. In early 1982, La Organisacion Campesino por Tierra (the Peasant Association for Land), as they were called then, was created to unionize campesinos and obtain better treatment and wages on plantations. During this time period, the normal daily wage for plantation workers was about 25 Quetzales for men and 12Q for women. Finca owners often didn’t pay as promised; exploitation and sexual abuse of female workers were not uncommon.
In 1982, Guatemala was 22 years into its brutal 36-year civil war. It was a dangerous time to form a union, as any attempt by laborers to organize could be interpreted as guerrilla activity, which was often punishable by swift a execution.
Over the next several years and as the union grew in size and strength, the membership decided that they wanted to own a finca of their own and attempted to purchase the nearby La Esmeralda. Despite the help and support of the local Catholic church, these early plans failed. The union lacked the necessary capital and wasn’t officially registered with the Guatemalan government. In addition, the primary government program designed to help campesinos obtain land, INTA (Instituto Nacional de Transformación Agraria - National Institute for Agrarian Transformation), was underfunded. In 1990, SCIDECO was officially born and restarted the long process of trying to buy land.
Here is where things started to get really difficult for SCIDECO’s members. Some were indeed accused by finqueros (finca owners) of being guerrillas fighters or communists; others where fired from their jobs on other plantations and blacklisted. Many members fled, going to Xela, Palmera, Mercedes, San Juan, Pensamiento, etc. etc. But still they planned.
In 1996, the Peace Accords were signed and the war was over. The UN-backed accords called for many reforms, including agrarian land reform and resettlement of displaced persons. With help from USAID, the Guatemalan government budgeted $9,000,000 for the Land Fund (Fondo de Tierra), which was to replace INTA. Around this time, international coffee prices tanked hitting records lows. Many finqueros had to abandon their farms. Some cut wages. Some of the more unscrupulous types stopped paying their laborers altogether.
The war is over, but a new fight looms
In 2000, Rafael Monson, the owner of La Florida, was having financial problems. He couldn’t pay his mortgage. Bancafe put a lien on the property and later reclaimed it. October 11, 2002, the 50 families in SCIDECO decided to peacefully occupy the abandoned plantation. After over a decade of negotiations with the government, they felt this was the only way.
According to the farm’s records, there had been 200 plus families living on the farm; only 34 remained after bankruptcy proceedings. SCIDECO asked some of these families if they wanted to join in the occupation. Most refused. They were afraid. There had never been any successful attempts in the area before. Police and hired guns were given license to crack heads and in some communities campesinos had been killed. For more than two years SCIDECO members lived in ramshackle houses on La Florida and in constant fear.
Seven months into the occupation another group, El Esfuerzo [the Effort], laid claim to sections of la Florida. The plantation, itself, was 47 acres, with more than enough land to accommodate both groups. In fact with only 50 families, it would have been very difficult for SCIDECO to farm/operate the entire property. So they formed a commission and asked El Esfuerzo if they wanted to join forces with them. No dice. So it was decided that they should fight separately and whoever got a loan from the government first, could keep the property. SCIDECO tried to negotiate with Bancafe and MAGA, but with two groups vying for the same land, the bank and government were having none of it. Their response was essentially ‘work it out amongst yourselves; you both need to peacefully withdraw’. Feeling that they would never get the land, both sides left.
5 months later, however, in April 2005, La Florida was successfully purchased by SCIDECO through a government loan of 6.5 million Quetzales (USD $850,000). They have 8 years to pay off the debt and 0% interest. Huzzah!
Shortly after receiving title (the paperwork delivered in a grand fashion by the President Oscar Berger), another community group from San Marcos (Acaflor - Asociación Comunitaria Agraria Florida ) asked if they could get some of the land. Much of it wasn’t being used at the time because there weren’t enough families to work it. SCIDECO said sure, but (and there’s always a but) Acaflor members had to participate in the collective activities of the group. Depending on time of year and proximity to the harvest, the families at La Florida would work from 6 AM to 1 PM for the collective and after that they could work their own piece of land. This is not what Acaflor had it mind. They didn’t share SCIDECO’s vision of a community cooperative; they instead wanted to divide the property and own individual plots. For SCIDECO who had been struggling and striving together for 2 decades, this was non-negotiable. And in 2006, so began a longstanding, sometimes armed, conflict between the two community groups. Death and lynching threats sprouted.
Through negotiations mediated by the local Catholic church, the conflict has recently been resolved. This past March, SCIDECO agreed to sign away land to Acaflor if the government agreed to forgive their debt. It has been. They don’t owe a penny.
AIDG, XelaTeco and La Florida
AIDG and XelaTeco will be helping La Florida’s community meet their energy needs. SCIDECO has registered for a UNDP Grant that would allow them to upgrade their inefficient electrical distribution system and extend it to their homes. This is the same program that awarded Nueva Alianza funds for their hydro-electricity project.
At night, the families eat by candlelight. Here, Wilma feeds her parrot Tomas.
We have installed a biodigester as an outreach project for the community that will provide gas for the communal kitchen. The system will not only generate fuel, but also offers a sanitation remediation solution. Lacking other options previously, they had had to dispose of animal waste in the nearby river.
Several SCIDECO families are also interested in obtaining rocket box stoves as they find the smoke from traditional cookstoves and wood fires to be irritating to their eyes and lungs. They are currently talking with XelaTeco about financing options.
Rosalinda and Josefina testing the rocket box stove in the community kitchen.
Josefina’s son Sergio David with TecoTour volunteer Jose.
When we first started in Guatemala with XelaTeco, we had the bold plan of manufacturing windmills based on Hugh Piggott’s design from OtherPower.com. We soon discovered that an essential component, permanent magnets, where difficult to obtain in country and that the cost of the windmill tower, battery bank, inverters, etc. were prohibitively expensive for the populations we wanted to serve. The size turbine we were considering would have been too expensive for a family and insufficient power for a community. So for a time we had to put aside our dreams of harnessing the power of wind.
In spring 2007, we teamed up with the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders to develop a low cost windmill as part of our Project Placement Program. The goal was to provide low cost (under $100) renewable electricity for LED lighting, cell phone charging, or small radio use, etc. The idea is to beat the price of a small (less than 3 watt) photovoltaic solar panel system. The initial inspiration for the project was a design developed by Ed Lenz made with coffee cans.
Just this last week, members from EWB-SF’s Appropriate Technology Design Team,Heather Fleming, Tyler Valiquette and Jesse Wodin, came to Guatemala to build a prototype of their vertical axis design.
Simple vertical axis wind turbine prototype. Wind is captured by the fabric blades which turn the steel axis.
Duration: 1min 7sec
Tyler Valiquette gives a brief description of the system.
Bicycle Gear affixed to the bottom of the shaft
The gears turn a small motor to generate electricity. Much work remains to be done in perfecting the motor and the electronics.
Heather Fleming and Jesse Wodin relax after a long week of prototyping.
Stay Tuned for more information on other designers/engineers participating in our Project Placement Program in Guatemala.
Proyecto Futuros Verdes. Future site of AIDG’s interactive environmental education center in Guatemala (Photo taken 03/28/08)
Proyecto Futuros Verdes aims to address the educational component of AIDG’s mission by providing an interactive environmental education center in Xela, Guatemala. This Center will be geared primarily towards schoolchildren, providing general information about environmental trends in Guatemala, simple advice on how to reduce individual and family environmental impacts, and demonstrations of appropriate technology.
The exhibits will be divided into modules (Earth, Water, Wind and Sun) that each feature a set of relevant appropriate technologies. The educational material will cover topics about the major environmental problems facing Guatemala, interactive brainstorms about environmentally friendly household habits and explore the innovative solutions offered by appropriate technology to many environmental challenges.
The Center will be free to school groups, yet tourist groups or travelers would pay a nominal entrance fee (TBD) to defray the operating costs.
The site is scheduled to be completed by the end of May 2008. Use of the property was generously donated to AIDG by a local businessman, Jack Mannen, originally from Texas.
EWB-SF’s Malcolm Knapp and Heather Fleming with low-cost turbine that they helped design. It will be tested in Quetzaltenango this spring. Photo courtesy Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Over the past year, we’ve been working with the San Francisco chapter of EWB on a low-cost windmill design as part of our Project Placement Program. The goal was to create a windmill for under $100 that could power LED lights, a cell phone, a radio and/or other small appliances.
Unlike the large-scale assemblies found in wind farms, the roughly two-foot-wide and three-foot-tall turbine has a vertical axis. Matt McLean, a mechanical engineer and the EWB project leader] said that orientation worked better in the choppy conditions likely to meet the turbine out in the field, where it’ll be bolted on to buildings, towers or even trees.
Next Sunday, the prototype will undergo its next-to-last build before [Heather Feming, a member of the design team,]and another volunteer head down to the Guatemalan manufacturing facility, XelaTeco, with the building plans in hand.
The engineering team had to make their design simple enough that it could be assembled from cheap and widely available components. As a result, their plans call for building the turbine out of hard plastic (or canvas) bolted on to a steel-tube structure. The rotor, which creates mechanical energy from the movement of the blades, runs into an alternator (actually a cheap DC motor running in reverse), which converts the mechanical energy into electricity.
Where Are you Based?
Xela (Quetzaltenango), Guatemala
What is your intern project?
Intern Program and Volunteer Coordinator - My role is to ensure that the program down here runs smoothly, and that the work we are doing on the ground is fulfilling AIDG’s goals and missions. I recruit new interns to meet project and training needs as they arise, help ensure projects are run on time and budget, and manage the daily operations of the program. I also work on the overall strategy and direction for the Intern Program, looking at the next steps, reviewing projects and making sure that we are constantly evolving and growing to meet the new challenges faced every day.
Describe what your normal day as an AIDG intern in like.
I will be surprised if anyone can describe a “normal” day with AIDG in Guatemala - the only thing constant is change, and perhaps the challenges working in a developing country - lacking electricity, internet, water or sometimes all three! Generally, I am working on reviewing intern needs, analysing potential projects and installations, helping in project planning and management, and dealing with the wide array of challenges that an NGO must deal with working in an country like Guatemala.
What are the main challenges you face?
For me there are three main challenges that I face every day: finding the right balance between appropriate and sustainable, which can sometimes be mutually exclusive, searching for the right model to get this infrastructure and technology to those in need, and finding the best way to provide leadership, yet encourage independence within XelaTeco.
What has been the most rewarding moment for you?
Not so much a “moment”, but definitely the most rewarding project I have been involved in is Proyecto Futuros Verdes - the Environmental Education Centre for children in Xela. While not yet completed, this project is incredibly inspiring to me as we will be providing the tools to empower the youth of today - the leaders of tomorrow - to build their own sustainable future, creating a generational change in how people see their environment.
Who have you met who has inspired you the most and why?
I am inspired every day by the people that I work with - it is so amazing for me to see such an incredibly talented group of people with such different backgrounds and experiences that have all come together with the same focus: to make a difference…everyday watching this I realise that it isn’t necessary to be inspirational leaders such as Mandela or Gandhi, we just have to be ourselves and believe in what we are doing.
Why did you choose AIDG? What inspired you about the organization?
I believe that AIDG’s model really has the potential to transform both development and the impact of foreign aid in the developing world for the good. AIDG’s model takes sustainability further then just the environment, into the way we work and interact with communities and people. There are still many questions that remain to be answered, and everyday is a challenge (which is what I love) - but if it was easy, then someone else would have already done it!
Since my last post in late November, we have made large strides in our implementation of a ram pump to provide drinking water to the Palmera Xolhuitz cooperative. Ram pumps deliver water using no electricity or other fuel and need little to no maintenance.
A schematic of a basic ram pump system from Appropedia
An overview of ram pump technology can be found here: http://www.appropedia.org/Hydraulic_ram_pumps. In a nutshell, a ram pump uses the kinetic energy in the downhill flow of water to move a small amount of it uphill.
We started the water project in mid January. During our first visit we delivered all of the pipes, cement and tools. Over a 2 day stretch, the community provided us with skilled labor and constructed the small dam, which diverts water from the stream to the PVC water pipeline.
They also helped us lay PVC pipe over an 80 meter run, from the dam to the 55 gallon drive tank. The drive tank ensures a constant volume of water and pressure for the ram pump.
One of Palmera Xolhuitz’ residents who helped dig a 80 meter channel on a hillside.
55 gallon drive tank
We returned the following week to lay the galvanized pipe drive line, which moves water from the drive tank to the ram pump.
Onto the next phase: construction of the concrete base around the pump. Ram pumps vibrate. To prevent this vibration from causing breakages, the pump needs to be fixed securely to the area where they operate. Once the community had completed the base as well as anti-erosion measures, we returned to install the pump and commission it.
Don Chepe ponders the ram pump, aka Juan Martillo
With little coaxing, the pump fired up immediately and started moving substantial volumes of water. With 8 meters of drive head behind it, we were pumping around 15 liters/minute to well over 40 meters up on the hillside. Over a 24 hour period this will be over 20,000 liters of water serving roughly 20 homes within the community.
I immediately noticed ways to improve our design and will continue refining the installation until my departure in mid-March. The site and install will continue to serve as the AIDG test pump as we determine the optimal configuration for valves and observe the pump over a longer period of use. I am sure the next volunteer will be as enamored by the people and landscape of this wonderful community as I was!
What is your intern project?
My main focus is upgrading AIDG’s/Xelateco existing plug flow biodigester design to floating dome biodigesters. There are other projects that I help out with, such as solar hot water heating.
Describe what your normal day as an AIDG intern in like.
The thing is there is no normal day of work at AIDG. There are never two days in a row that provide me with something that could be considered a routine (something that would make this question possible to answer).
Many of my days are spent out of the office working on the construction of a technology, or scouting out sites to have future implementations, or meeting with folks that are interested in our technologies. My time in the office is spent planning for trips to these communities, manipulating existing designs to reflect changes that we see as necessary, and discussing design and business ideas with other interns.
What are the main challenges you face?
To produce a functioning digester that will prove beneficial to the communities they have been installed in.
To provide Xelateco with the skills they need to reproduce the biodigester, and an installation manual that can be used by them and other organizations that are interested in this technology.
To leave AIDG and Xelateco more successful as organizations, than when I
arrived.
What has been the most rewarding moment for you?
The most rewarding moment for me was seeing Don Lorenzo in La Florida add manure to the freshly completed biodigester for the first time.
Who have you met who has inspired you the most and why?
Dona Rosaura in La Florida has proven to be inspirational to me time and time again. Her generosity and caring manner is nothing short of motherly, yet her voice is strong, standing out in a predominately male dominated society. This voice and kindheartedness has greatly helped the cooperatively-owned coffee plantation move forward. If problems arise with the digester in La Florida, I know that Rosaura would be 100% understanding and not even slightly frustrated, but her manner inspires
people like me to not let her community down.
Why did you choose AIDG? What inspired you about the organization?
First off, the technologies that AIDG is developing have great potential to make necessary changes in the way the world develops. It is extremely worthwhile, from a personal standpoint and an environmetnal standpoint to be involved in the development of these technologies. Furthermore, AIDG is still a new organization that needs a lot of energy and patience from its supporters and interns to progress. But, since it is young, an intern or supporter can have a great influence in the way it progresses. This inspired me to get involved with the organization as much as possible.
Blog 
The changing of the Junta Directiva in the Parque Central
Women outside an electric-powered mill in Chel
Intern Alex Surasky-Ysasi testing stream flow
