Green Empowerment

Travel Log and Project Update from Michael Royce

7.17.03

Dear All,
We arrived in Guatemala after an uneventful flight from Managua at about 1:30 pm on Sunday 7/13. After a brief orientation with Foundación Solar people- Mario Hernandez, a sociologist in charge of their community development programs in the renewable energy area and Alfonso Lozano, a civil engineer who is in charge of the engineering at the Chel project , we started off with Alfonso for the north. We drove past Antigua and then turned north past Chichicastenango to Santa Cruz where we got in late, had a quick dinner at Campero, a Spanish fast food place which is trying to compete in Guatemala with McDonalds, Burger King, etc.

Got to sleep about 10:30 am and then up by 4:30 am so that we could leave by car for the north at 5 am to get to Chel by early afternoon. We drove for about four more hours through Nebaj to the end of the paved road and then to then end of the improved dirt road and then to the end of the unimproved dirt road to the river separating some of the interior villages, including Chel, from the other side.

The village had made by hand a road on the other side going the 5 kms to their village to allow for the portage of equipment of the micro hydro system that has already been installed. They have largely completed the community grid system and much of the civil works but have not yet installed any of the elctromechanical gear (turbine, governor, controller). The men carried the treated poles in to the village, 20 men to a pole.

When we got there a new truck had brought up separately from us three transformers, weighing about 500 pounds each. We watched as about 100 men organized from different sectors of the 20 sectors in the three adjacent villages comprising Chel lifted the transformers out of the truck and prepared to carry them over the river on a swinging bridge by poles. First, before that transport, we watched as the villages tied ropes to all corners of the truck and then the truck took a running start for the river made it about half way through with water above the engine and the engine racing to avoid stalling out and men on all four corners pulling and stabilizing to prevent the truck from being washed downstream by the force of the water which at its lowest point was about 3 to 3.5 feet deep. To great cheers the truck made it to the far side, gained purchase and surged up the hill to the hand-made road.

It turns out that the village had won an initiative prize of 50,000 Quetzals from the World Bank to encourage local income generation schemes like their organic coffee production work and they used that as a down payment on a truck which they would use on their side of the river to transport coffee to the river, then carry it over by hand over the swinging bridge and then pick it up by truck on the other side and also to carry passengers. This would both enhance local income from coffee production and also create a mini-business with at least one villager as the paid driver.

Along with about twenty villagers we climbed on the truck and got carried into Chel with various stops along the way to blow off fireworks to announce their success and the coming of the community truck, very festive and I was able to hear again in about an hour. After about three kms we reached the crest of the hill and looked down into the valley surrounded by peaks in Guatemalan highlands into a magical valley and community of nearly 2500 people (about 60% under 20). We drove down and stayed at a local dormitory next to the church which wasn't currently being used. As it was a little cold, I slept in my clothes, which after two days of travel kind of assured that I was a little warm and helped to drive away the mosquitoes although I still got bitten around the ankle and elbows and wrist by some voracious little creatures.

That night we met with the Junta Directiva (Executive Board) of La Asociación Micro Hidrelectirca Chelense. This is a community which was devastated by the civil conflicts and systematic attacks on the indigenous peoples of the early 80s. They are Ixil speaking so that Spanish is the second language for all of them . The men generally speak Spanish as a second language with varying abilities; the women who are more isolated as the center of their work is the home and also because traditional culture excluded them from civil leadership spoke in Ixil although to varying degrees they understood Spanish.

During our time there we talked a lot with an excellent, warm, and thoughtful man Manuel Rodriguez (in Ixil, Vel B'o'B`). As a young boy of three the army had come because their were indigenous rebel forces fighting in the upland jungles. They slaughtered people indiscriminately and Manuel and his family fled into the jungle where they lived for two years until a change in policy and government and the government began dropping propaganda leaflets that they could come back without fear. At first they did not believe this but little by little they came back first to nearby villages where they worked as peons on a finca and then to their own village.

Our first night we met with the Junta Directiva. It was all men and they were each elected by secret ballot every two years from each of the 20 sectors or combination of them in Chel. First, there was an introduction from the organizers of Foundación Solar and then the President and other members of the Directiva spoke to us directly. It was very moving and powerful to hear them speak of their vision of the future for their village. Our overall conclusion was the FS has done an excellent and patient job in winning the trust of the villagers, and while respecting local custom and traditions, won them over to broad democratic and open forms of government while teaching them the methods of self governance.

We ate at a camesino's house called, as best as I could catch, Chaobellow, which as he was Ladino may have had vaguely Italian roots. His wife Ana made extra income as kind of an informal kitchen for guests. We had two breakfasts, and lunch there with eggs, chicken, and excellent coffee and naturally great black beans and rice for a cost of 90 Quetzals ($12 US) for three of us for three meals, which out of embarrassment I rounded up to 100 Quetzals.

The next day we went up to the intake and forebay of the system built under Alfonso's direction but all the labor work was provided by villagers. They had decided that 80 days labor contribution per family was the price of entry into the system and connection with the grid and home wiring. The civil system also seemed to be well constructed. After a hot but extremely interesting walk into the watershed which had been so well protected that the water, even though there had been a huge rain that night, was extremely clear, we went back to the village center and met with the Womens' Commission.

This was in a way even more impressive than the men's directiva. With FS's encouragement, the Junta Directiva had concluded that, to be effective, the whole community- men and women- had to learn and be mobilized. So the women also had their own commission with five members as Leaders also elected by the secret ballot in the community. Women as well as men had full voting rights in the community. I talked to Manuel the President elect of the Junta Directiva and he expressed strong sentiment that women must be included in all aspects of the work of the Asociación. The leaders of the women spoke in Ixil and that was translated into Spanish by the bilingual (Ixil-Spanish) organizer (Abigail) of FS and from Spanish into English the best I could by me. The men do not dress in traditional dress any more but all the women and small girls do. The huipiles were stunning with intricate embroidery. This was very unusual for the women to talk publicly, much less before men, and much less before foreigners. Some of the younger women were timid and giggly but the older woman and the President you could feel palpably the power of their presence and personage.

While we were there, Walt became a favorite with all the children because he had a digital camera and could take photos of the children and then show them the picture on the screen. Whenever we went about the village we hear little whispers of “photo, photo” and suddenly 3 or 5 or 7 little kids would materialize. One time Walt bent down to show the kids the pictures and was suddenly so engulfed that we did not see him again for several minutes.

Then we took 1 1/2 days to drive back including a stop in Nebaj to meet with ADIM, Asociación Para Desarrollo Integral Multiservicios. Again this was a Quiche and Ixil speaking group of organizers who worked in 9 communities in the north. They were very poor but extremely capable and determined. They work with FS in terms of ties with various communities and have already helped institute with the villages they work with five potable water systems and a number of single site photovoltaic energy centers.

Then bedraggled and tired, not to mention dirty, we arrived back into Guatemala city last night.

Up at 6 am this morning and then meetings all morning with various members of FS, which now has about 35 workers in community organizing, technical services, policy development, legal help, etc. After several hours Walt and I made the report of our findings. Walt reported that on the technical side that we thought the civil works and the distribution system were strong but that, if they wished we would obtain a second opinion review to determine if there were any other aspects that they should perhaps thinks of. In terms of the electromechanical part, as it is still timely as the project has changed from an initial 55 kW to 110 kW to 165 kW, we thought it was necessary before they went further than the purchase of the 55 kW turbine that they currently have that a thorough analysis of the options for appropriate electro-mechanical synchronization and control be made. Our experience is that this is the area where most problems occur in operation and are the cause of most project failures in micro hydroelectric projects. After some talk back and forth, they agreed that that help with the EM design would be a priority over training of the operators (i.e. you do not need operators if the system does not run). This, of course, does not mean that operator training isn't important, it is just that it is a secondary task to building the system robustly and right. I told them that Green Empowerment could cover the cost of the this EM review and more cursory review of the civil works and distribution systems. Walt will be our point man with Alfonso and the fabricator of the turbine in Guatemala. He will consult with Kus, our expert in Bandung Indonesia, and perhaps experts like Alan Inversin.

After we have presented the options of mechanical or electrical controls and FS has made some choices based on finances and efficiency balancing and also the appropriateness for ease in terms of local training of operators and maintenance people. Then we said generally, without specific commitment, that if they thought, with whatever design they had, they wanted help in commissioning we would be able to mobilize such help.

I also presented the concept of our aiding them with a proposal to our sister organization EnerGreen Organization for green credits (i.e. carbon offset credits) for at least part of the Chel project. Fortunately with a Costa Rican engineer, they have done an evaluation of credits for submission to PCF (something carbon fund, I think through the World Bank). I will be very excited about presenting this to the Carbon Emissions fund set up by fossil fuel company donations to EnerGreen. There has been endless talk and millions (I am sure without exaggeration) in studies of this protocol and market but as far as I know no money has changed hands for small projects (under 1 MW) in the civil society area (i.e. NGOs). This could be an important first and help develop a significant resource for both private and public sector promotion of renewable energy. Their seller, of course, would be the village of Chel who own the project and the proposed sale price of about $20,000 US would constitute a reserve fund for the village hydroelectric system.

Tomorrow we leave for home and I am looking forward to returning to loved ones and friends after another fascinating trip surrounded by tremendous people and great beauty amongst often oppressive economic odds.

Saludos, Michael

For more information about our Guatamala project, click here