WISIONS of Sustainability
Our mission is to empower individuals and communities to transform the production and use of energy so that it effectively enables sustainable development. Read more about WISIONS activities, goals and background.
News Blog
Recording of WE & WISIONS webinar on "Small wind for powering off-grid communities–Market assessment methodology and cases from Peru"
News from WISIONS posted on August 6th, 2020
On August 5th we conducted together with our partnership network Wind Empowerment a webinar about insights to our research and projects in Peru on small wind energy for electrification of rural off-grid communities. In case you have missed the webinar, the recording is now available here. Off-grid electrification solutions powered by renewable energy technologies are increasingly recognized as the most suitable alternative for reaching a great portion of the 800 million people lacking access to electricity today. In regions with suitable wind resources, and with appropriate planning, off-grid small wind turbines can provide significant contributions to closing the energy access gap.
- How can the potential contribution of small wind for electrification schemes be assessed?
- What should be considered in order to ensure that small wind turbines effectively contribute to close the energy access gap?
- How can the benefits of small wind power be maximised?
Panellists
- Alfie Alsop (Treasurer at Wind Empowerment executive board; PhD candidate at Strathclyde University)
- Kimon Silwal (Secretary at Wind Empowerment executive board; Company manager KAPEG)
- Heduardo Vargas (Co-founder Microgrids for Sustainability; Project engineer Waira Energia, Peru)
- Jose-Armando Gastelo Roque (Co-founder Microgrids for Sustainability)
- Gandhi Alva (Anthropologist; Head of Community Project Development Area at WindAid Institute)
Willington Ortiz (Research associate at Wuppertal Institute; WISIONS initiative)
Upcoming webinar of RedbioLAC on circular economy for waste in Latin America and Caribbean
News from WISIONS posted on August 13th, 2020
Our partnership network RedbioLAC will conduct again a webinar on the topic of "La urgencia de una genuina economía circular, frente a las tendencias de los residuos en Ameríca Latina y Caribe" (engl. The urgency of a genuine circular economy, in the face of waste trends in Latin America and the Caribbean". The webinar will take place on 19th August 2020 at 8:00 Costa Rica Time (4 pm CST) and will be held in spanish language. English:
The amount of waste generated in the Latin American region is growing alarmingly, while 40 million people do not even have access to waste collection on the continent, a figure that could increase as a result of the increase in poverty as a result of the global pandemic.
There has been a significant increase in the amount of regulations around waste, from specific regulations to ban plastics to broad legislation around the circular economy, but an intention to work towards zero waste cities is not yet clear.
The case of the energy recovery table in the development of the roadmap towards the circular economy in Chile, frames us in what is happening in several countries in the region.
It is necessary to make a realistic analysis of the current situation and look for solutions that do not repeat the formulas that have already been proven to have not worked.
Why reject waste incineration? And how RADA did it in Temuco. How to approach zero waste life, and incidentally, in what way can civil society be the guarantor of a true circular economy for the region? What do we understand by circular economy?
Spanish:
La cantidad de residuos generados en la región latinoamericana crece de manera alarmante, mientras 40 millones de personas ni siquiera tienen acceso a la recolección de estos en el continente, cifra que podría aumentar como consecuencia del aumento de la pobreza como resultado de la pandemia mundial.
Se ha experimentado un importante aumento en la cantidad de regulaciones en torno a los residuos, desde normativas específicas para prohibir plásticos hasta legislaciones amplias en torno a economía circular, pero aun no es clara una intención de trabajo hacia ciudades basura cero.
El caso de la mesa de valorización energética en el desarrollo de la hoja de ruta hacia la economía circular en Chile, nos enmarca en lo que está ocurriendo en varios países de la región.
Es necesario hacer un análisis realista de la situación actual y buscar formas de solución que no repitan las fórmulas que ya está comprobado que no han dado resultado.
¿Por qué rechazar la incineración de residuos? Y cómo lo hizo RADA en Temuco. ¿Cómo abordar la vida basura cero, y de paso de qué manera la sociedad civil puede ser garante de una verdadera economía circular para la región? ¿Qué entendemos por economía circular?
WISIONS & Wind Empowerment Webinar: Small wind for powering off-grid communities: Market assessment methodology and cases from Peru”
News from WISIONS posted on July 18th, 2020
We invite you to join our webinar “Small wind for powering off-grid communities: Market assessment methodology and cases from Peru” on August 5 !
We will be hosting rural energy practitioners and experts from Wind Empowerment and Peruvian member organizations, WindAid and CERC, who will explore the potential of small wind to power off-grid communities, through discussing Wind Empowerment’s Market Assessment methodology and case studies from Peru. There will be time for discussion at the end of these presentations and we look forward to a lively discussion. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, 5 August 2020 at 17:00 British Summer Time (GMT+1) and the presentation will be in English. More information and the link to join the webinar may be found below.Off-grid electrification solutions powered by renewable energy technologies are increasingly recognized as the most suitable alternative for reaching a great portion of the 800 million people lacking access to electricity today. In regions with suitable wind resources, and with appropriate planning, off-grid small wind turbines can provide significant contributions to closing the energy access gap.
- How can the potential contribution of small wind for electrification schemes be assessed?
- What should be considered in order to ensure that small wind turbines effectively contribute to close the energy access gap?
- How can the benefits of small wind power be maximised?
- 1st part: WE Market Assessment methodology (20 minutes)
- 2nd part: CERC presentation of current experiences and proposed microgrid project in Peru (20 minutes)
- 3rd part: WindAid presentation on small wind experiences in Peru (20 minutes)
- Discussion (30 minutes)
Alfie Alsop is a PhD Candidate at Strathclyde University’s Wind and Marine Energy Centre for Doctoral Training, Glasgow, UK. His research involves integrating decision analysis and GIS techniques into market assessment methodologies for small wind turbines in a rural electrification context, building upon previous Wind Empowerment projects to assist policymakers and stakeholders in developing countries in making energy and planning decisions. Alfie joined Wind Empowerment in 2016, assisting the Market Assessment Working Group with the Global Market Assessment for Small Wind Turbines, and has been Treasurer of the Executive Board since the WEPatagonia 2016 conference.
Heduardo Vargas is a Peruvian professional in environmental sciences dedicated and committed to real sustainable development through concise and impactful actions. For the last five years, he has worked in the energy sector towards a greener energy future. He is the co-founder of the newest research group Microgrids for Sustainability and works as a project engineer in Peruvian company Waira Energía. He is in charge of designing photovoltaic, wind, and hybrid energy systems for projects in the whole country, considering technical, economic, environmental, and social aspects in the development. His teamwork and commitment have allowed him to represent his company in several conferences and training courses as both speaker and attendee, both nationally and internationally.
José Armando Gastelo-Roque believes energy transition is the pivotal issue to achieve sustainable development. He was born in Lambayeque-Perú and he holds a degree in Mechanical Electrical Engineering in Perú and Mexico. He is co-founder of the newly formed organization “Microgrids for Sustainability”, which seeks to provide energy access and to promote the energy transition through the implementation of renewable energy microgrids in Perú and Latin America. He is also a Development Engineer at Engie Peru, where he is dedicated to develop and to implement renewable energy projects. José Armando is passionate about science, his thesis focused on new hybrid metal-organic materials for solar cells. He has done research stays at the MIT in the United States and at the Balseiro Institute in Argentina. And he has participated in several international events, including the Wind Empowerment Conference 2018 in India, the Student Energy Summit 2019 in London and the IRENA Youth Forum 2020 in the United Arab Emirates
Kimon Silwal is an Electrical and Electronic Engineer graduate from Kathmandu University. He joined KAPEG in 2010 in the position of research staff and is currently working as the company manager. He has worked as an activity leader and project leader in numerous research and development projects until now with locally manufactured small wind technologies, solar-wind hybrid systems, low head pico-hydro turbines and control system, electric cooking stoves and water purification systems for off-grid applications in collaborations with national and international universities and government organization. Currently, his involvement has been focused towards developing effective standards, guidelines, and delivery models for the small wind turbines in Nepal while consolidating various areas for the further development of the off-grid solar and wind hybrid sector in Nepal.
Gandhi Alva was born in Trujillo Peru. He studied Anthropology at the National University of Trujillo. Working with many different Peruvian communities around the country doing social studies and social projects in order to benefit the locals. Additionally he has worked nationally and internationally with the Peruvian government and private organizations doing social projects ranging from: environmental, educational, female empowerment, construction and cultural heritage. With WindAid, as the Head of Community Project Development he has had the chance to develop social projects via researching the local populace and their interaction with the electricity provided by WindAid wind turbines and other activities in his area such as basic training of the WindAid turbine system or environmental education workshops. After an exceptional internship Gandhi was the first permanent Communities Employee for WindAid managing teams from all over the world to work directly with rural populations in over a dozen Peruvian communities understanding the impact of the wind turbines WindAid creates and creating more project opportunities with better refined planning and impact analysis.
