A review by Alex Moran (DC Rep Guate)

Alexs´ review on his visit to Hawaii

I got the impression that people have an underlying need, fairly conscious, but blurred by a dense fog of ignorance about their energy security.

They know energy is expensive (even when some are being subsidized by government) and that utility companies are taking and arrogant and pre-potent attitude towards improving the service, but of course... they are a duopoly!!

And this could become a trigger to "sell the sizzle" of RE systems, more than environmentally friendly, or coolness, or going Off-grid as in self-sustainable.

There is poor and there is extreme poor. I know poverty is a state of mind, very much hard to change.
Most people will not and can not agree to purchase an RE system, mostly may agree if it is free. To which i oppose. And to avoid giving gifts or charity, the model has to be carefully planned and assembled.

Nevertheless, it is also true that there are areas, such like this, where scarcity and lack of opportunity is present. On the other hand, as some have said, in order to make an impact over others, one must have changed oneself first...

And this is exactly why having contact and relation with the right persons is essential to even get a glimpse of hope in succeeding.

I think these people, such as Alice, the Fishing Coop leaders, local business owners (i.e. Ligia from Honolulu Hotel), beach house landowners are key players in this enterprise.

A Day with an NGO

Yesterday I spent some quality time with a group of Students organizing their local chapter of an NGO from Chile called Un Techo Para Mi Pais. I learned a lot from these guys.

The NGO organizes fundraisers to sponsor a community of new houses for people who cannot typically afford the houses. They offer these houses to people who then get microfinanced through a local bank.
Some Numbers:

• Average family income Q8/day ($1/day)
• Average family size 5-6
• Size of house 10' x 20'
• Utilities installed NONE
• Total cost to the new owner $150
• Cost to build the house $1,500- Funding bank in Guatemala Banural (The same that microfinances Quetsol)
• Number of homes completed +1,600
• Number of Volunteers +10,000
• Total amount for next fundraiser $150,000

I actually spent a lot of time with these guys. They were filming a commercial to advertise their local fundraiser coming up next week. I got to be in the commercial which will run all over Guatemala for a while. That is the 6th time I have been on TV in Guatemala with an NGO! I should start charging for autographs, jajajajajajaa.

These guys had no immediate interest to put light in homes. They always assumed it required a grid connection or very expensive solar equipment. Once I pitched to them it would be an extra $100 or less, they seemed very very interested. I am assuming we will find this a lot.

Price is a major factor with this new technology. People have been really scared of solar because for the past 50 years in its existence, it has been unaffordable. Now that we might be able to change their minds, we can start a global change to renewable energy.

What a better way to introduce electricity to an area than to start them out with renewable energy.

Latin America Report: Mixed Messages on Wind

New Hampshire, U.S.A.—Vestas on Thursday announced a major restructuring of its global operations, though it remains unclear how the move could affect its plans for the growing and lucrative Latin America market.

Recently, some of the numbers have been encouraging. In the last week in December, Vestas announced 616 megawatts of wind turbine orders for the final month of 2011. While that figure includes projects across Europe and even into Pakistan, the bulk of that figure—254 MW—will end up in Brazil, which has been aggressively pursuing wind installations and project bids from developers. The country, which has about 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of wind installations today, is looking to surpass 31 GW by 2025. So the market looks viable for the long-term.

However, a recent report by Recharge details the difficulties some projects are facing as they work to get off the ground in Brazil. According to the news site, the country has just under 1 GW of wind projects that are behind schedule, and most of which are in “serious condition.”

Judy Sadlier—GuatemalaNGOs.net

Miss Judy Sadlier. What an amazing woman. Judy knows many of the NGO's here in Guatemala because of her network, Guatemala-ngos.net.

After I gave her the presentation about the idea, her brain was ticking with ideas for the product.

After an hour or so talking about the benefits to NGO's she gave me some incredible advice about how to reach these NGO's. We should use local networks like hers for each region we go to. These networks filter out false non-profits, and really can define which NGO's we can use to our best and most effective marketing.

Repetual is working with NGO's in a Win-Win-Win business model. By supplying our products to NGO's in a particular area, we provide them a service and product in which they can make a substantial return after they sell to the community. The NGOs can also offer a Donation option to their doners to help subsidize our products, and pass the savings on to their people they benefit. The people benefit from a subsidized product and all the other benefits of our products.

Guatemala City needs more Calendar Books

I went to the City today to get some information from a few different sources. I spoke with a few people before my trip to schedule meetings to gather information about the renewable energy economy in Guatemala. All but one canceled on me. I had 4 meetings today and only achieved one.

I was with a man named Alejandro Moran. He is what I would like to call the renewable energy expert for Guatemala. He just happens to be one of my best friends and when we are together, we are very dangerous. We have this idea we have been working on for a long time about solar greenhouses and co-generation. A very profitable  business model.

Anyway, the meeting was with a great company in Guatemala that works with distributing small scale solar. We discussed the economics and the application of the ShineBox and the SwitchBox in great detail. Our products are very similar to a product they are already distributing so they could easily make the change to distribute our products.

I also obtained some great feedback from the conversation about how to improve the SwitchBox. I had a prototype in their office today, and we went through the applications and how people would use the device. They made 2 major recommendations: 1. Use replaceable batteries like the BL-5C Nokia Li-ion. Sustainability is key to the future. 2. Make the product out of Aluminum. He said even if not for durability, the most important thing about a product is perception. People in developing countries are a lot more likely to purchase metal products than plastic. There is a large separation between quality products and cheap plastic products in Guatemala. There is not much in between like in the states. It is almost like they only have $600 cell phones and $25 cell phones. There is not much of a market in between. Although they can barely afford it, guess which one they prefer?

A glimpse of Guatemala

 

$30 worth of Drill bits

Guate Guate Guate!!!

Hey man, we should go to Guatemala” are the words I heard yesterday morning as my senior analyst comes into my office, only joking, as we had already purchased our tickets 2 weeks earlier. We drove to Dallas today to get a welcoming four course meal from his mother, which happens to be Valentines day. After an amazing meal, we head to one of his friends houses. Our flight departs at 6am, which means international… 2-3 hours early… = no sleep. We make the executive decision to head to the airport by about midnight and try to park it on a bench and get some shut eye. We figure it might be hard, but it was better to go now than to be late.