Brazil is a country of inequality, shown in many different forms, such as the fact that around 2 million Brazilians do not have access to regular electrical power, especially the ones living in remote areas, isolated from the urban centers. In such places, electricity is usually provided by fossil fuels, which makes it expensive and insufficient. The logistical cost of getting fuel to these communities is high, and the operation and maintenance of the generators only adds to the bill.

When the electricity supply determines what time everything must start and end, it is difficult. Refrigeration is impossible. This is a problem for the community of Médio Purus, in the Amazon region, that depends on the production of oils, fruit processing and fishing.

BUT THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO LIVE
To improve the quality of life and raise incomes in communities lacking access electricity, WWF-Brazil is now implementing a photovoltaic solar power project. The project started in 2016 and is a partnership with the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) and receives technical support from Usinazula and Instituto Mamirauá, as well as institutional support from Schneider Eletric, J.A. Solar, UEA and the city of Lábrea.

The first step was to make the technical and scientific knowledge available to all. On April 27 WWF-Brazil released a report titled  Usos de Sistemas Energéticos com Fontes Renováveis em Regiões Isoladas (The Uses of Renewable Energy Systems in Remote Areas) on the University of the State of Amazonas (UEA)’s Lábrea campus. The idea behind the study was to inform the local communities about renewable energy systems, which improves their quality of life for the communities and helps maintain forests.

The study lists solutions tested in Brazil and approved by the local inhabitants, such as the use of solar energy in ice production, extraction of vegetable oil and nut processing, as well as water pumping and purification. The study also includes technical specifications, average cost of each type (and size) of system, and funding sources already available in Brazil.

CLEAN ENERGY AT SCHOOL
The second step in the project happened in the first week of July, when the first photovoltaic system installation took place in a school in the community of Cassianã, a Médio Purus extractivist community, in the Lábrea municipality. It is very difficult to access this municipality of 38,000 inhabitants, located in the southern area of the state of Amazonas: it can be reached only by plane or boat. To get there you have to fly 40 minutes or drive 400 kilometers on the Transamazônica road (BR 230) from the city Porto Velho (Rondônia state). The other option is a two and a half hour flight and five days in a boat from the city of Manaus (Amazonas state). Either way, you still have to take a speedboat to the extractivist community that will take from 40 minutes to a whole day.

The solar energy in this school is going to allow 60 students to have uninterrupted night classes – sometimes students would go for up to 3 days without classes, due to lack of fuel for the generator. Now it is also possible to have fans in the classroom to ease the heat and control the presence of mosquitos, as well as to access the internet and to have proper illumination. The change in energy source also saves the school R$ 450.00 per month. Another important gain is the cessation of the noise that the generator made, which has been good for the students’ concentration, as well as the teachers’ voices.

Men work on installing solar panels on a one-floor house with white wooden walls. One of the men is on the roof, squatting down and facing the left side of the photo. There is another man climbing up a rustic wooden ladder, towards the rooftop, with his back to the camera. The others are spread out around the area. Most of them are wearing identical green t-shirt as a uniform. The house has a white wooden fence on the edge of its front porch. In the background is a clear blue sky.

Photovoltaic system installation in the in the Médio Purus extractivist community in the Lábrea municipality (Alessandra Mathyas / WWF-Brazil)

“The fuel was used only for the days that we had class. Now we will have more time and light to study. We think it will be possible to even have a printer!,” says student Francisca Souza. “Not having the noise of the generator is already a dream, is priceless. Some nights I left without a voice,” says the professor Cicleude Barroso.

People wearing identical green t-shirts as a uniform pose for a photo holding up certificates. Behind them is a light blue wooden wall, with a whiteboard hanging on it along with some posters that are out of focus. The floor is made of dark wood.

Students with their certificate from the course in photovoltaic solar energy (Alessandra Mathyas / WWF-Brazil)

Also in July, technicians from the Quality of Life Program at the Mamirauá Institut, in Tefé (Amazonas state), gave a course on photovoltaic solar energy to residents of Médio Purus and Ituxi, both in the Lábrea municipality. The 40-hour course included basic principles of electricity, renewable and non-renewable sources, how to plan and project solar power, its basic principles and community management of social technologies. All students that participated were given a certificate and the knowledge received will allow them to make their own future installations, with the supervision of a WWF technician.

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL STORY, AND IT MUST GO ON
The second phase of the project is already scheduled! Between the 18th and 22nd of September, WWF-Brazil will return to the same reservation to install the photovoltaic system in a new school, as well as a water pumping system. 86% of the inhabitants of this reservation need to get water directly from the river using buckets. However, with this new water pumping system, a large number of people will not have to do this any longer.

Workers wearing identical green t-shirts as a uniform pose for a photo, filling up the front stairs and porch of a white wooden house on stilts. The ground has short grass. In the background is a clear and sunny blue sky.

Photovoltaic system installation in the in the Médio Purus extractivist community in the Lábrea municipality (Alessandra Mathyas / WWF-Brazil)

“With this, the extractivist community believes that they will be able to increase production, get better prices and have a more dynamic communal life, with schools that will also work as centers for distance-learning courses in technology, as well as living spaces in the weekends,” comments the WWF-Brasil’s Climate Change & Energy Program analyst, Alessandra Mathyas.