Solar Energy – 9 villages in Jordão river
APOTI carried out a solar energy installation and maintenance project in nine villages of the Huni Kuin people of River Jordão, serving approximately 1,000 people. The villages were São Joaquim, Astro Luminoso, Novo Natal, Boa Vista, Bari, Três Fazendas, Coração da Floresta, Novo Segredo and Lago Lindo.
The solar energy systems in this region were no longer operating. The lack of batteries, burned controllers and inverters, and panels covered in waste made it impossible to supply electricity to the villages. We focused on first reusing the materials already installed in this region before installing new systems from scratch, which made sense from a financial and environmental perspective.
An extensive work was carried out, which included the installation of over 6,500 electrical network wiring cables, 270 lamps with individual socket and switch, 9 inverters, 5 MPPT charge controllers (and several others relocated), 18 240 Ah stationary batteries, 14 115 Ah stationary batteries.
Group meetings were had to educate the community on the new and updated system in order to answer questions and provide guidance on the use of solar energy. Maintenance classes were also given for interested youth.
An important characteristics of this project was the decentralization of benefits, as we operated in 9 villages in the Jordão region, located in three different Indigenous Lands. This contributes to a balance in relations between different villages, meeting the requests of leaders, in addition to increasing the number of people benefiting from the projects.
Project History
From 2009 to 2010, three Culture Points were created in the Jordão River region (initiative of the Ministry of Culture in partnership with Rede Povos da Floresta). Each of them consisted of a house where some computers were installed and a basic solar energy system – which allowed lighting in the house itself and the operation of sockets, making it possible to use electronic devices.
From 2014 to 2016, the video game project Huni Kuin: Yube Baitana (the paths of the boa constrictor) was developed, which brought solar energy lighting to the villages of Novo Natal, Astro Luminoso, Boa Vista, Lago Lindo and Coração da Floresta. In this project, the systems of São Joaquim, Três Fazendas and Novo Segredo were also repaired, which had damaged components due to lightning strikes, in addition to installing new equipment, such as batteries (but a very small bank, due to the scarcity of resources ) in the eight villages mentioned above.
In 2015, satellite internet points were installed, via the Ministry of Culture, in three villages. For the internet to work, it is essential that the solar energy system is operating, as electrical energy is needed to turn on the modem and router.
In 2016, APOTI carried out a project to install solar energy in the villages of Boa Vista and Bari.
In 2017, APOTI carried out a brief maintenance project in the villages of São Joaquim, Astro Luminoso and Novo Natal, restoring the systems of these villages.