Transition Area
Fair Energetics
- Energy access for local communities
Conventional electric energy was replaced by renewable energy to supply neighboring rural farms, using clean energy that does not pollute the environment, making use of abundant water (in the area of the village of Las Hermosas in Chaparral, Tolima) and improving the quality of life of the inhabitants.
Each pelton system (turbine and wheel) installed is used by only one rural household, since the distance between farms is very large, which does not allow sharing of surplus energy. However, it is possible to give away energy to charge batteries, which are used in electrical installations (electric fences for livestock control), cell phone batteries, recharge computers, portable tablets for children and students.
The idea and the initial motivation for the installation of the experience was given by the need for electricity on farms and the abundant availability of water, based on installations of «pelton wheels and turbines or dynamos» of farms in the region of the Department of Tolima and Valle del Cauca, which implemented this type of experience and was a success. Examples surveyed: Municipality of Roncesvalles, farms in the Veredas Yerbabuena, Cucuanita and Santa Helena.
The communities attended a peasant commission in these places, where it was possible to learn about the requirements for their construction.
Technical characteristics of the proposal
Pelton wheel, dynamo, four-inch pressure hose, flywheel, shaft, electrical circuit. The costs are between 2 million and 6 million pesos, for this time of the year, and vary according to the following aspects:
- Slopes of the farm and gravity pressure for water flow through the pipeline),
- Amount of water required (approximately 4 to 8 inches of water per second),
- Quantity of pressure hose required (formerly galvanized pipe),
- Light bulbs and electrical wiring,
- Cement bases to place the rails where the pelton wheel will be placed,
- Bearings or bearings where the shaft that will support the pelton wheel will go, the flywheel according to each size of pelton wheel, the flywheel pulley, the nozzle to increase the pressure (from 4 inches to half an inch),
- We dynamos between 3 and 6 volts of electrical generation capacity and give light between 10 and 30 light bulbs,
- Copper wiring for the internal connections of each rural house,
- Pelton wheel protector or cover to avoid water spraying through the site,
- System roof to prevent corrosion of the pelton system elements.
Productive, community, environmental, or economic processes or activities that were positively impacted by the implementation of the community experience of TEJ.
A productive process was designed in a cattle ranch, which consists of using the energy of the pelton system in the electric fences in order to technify the farm and make grazing more efficient. This also contributes to forest conservation by replacing extensive cattle ranching with a semi-intensive one and establishing an agroforestry system.
In the semi-intensive livestock management, the established tree species were: alder tree (alnus jorullensis), black cedar (Juglans neotropica), pink cedar (Cedrela odorata), and seven-horned tree (Tibouchina lepidota).
Beneficiaries of the experience
8 families composed of 13 men,
15 females 6 adolescents (between 13 and 18 years old),
12 girls and 10 boys (0 to 12 years old)
Achievements and problems encountered during implementation
ACHIEVEMENTS:
Environmental conservation.
- Increased livestock productivity by increasing meat and milk yields.
- Better quality of life with clean energy.
PROBLEMS:
- Lack of technical advice to initiate the process. In response to the technical advice, further research was done on the operation and requirements of the pelton system on the Internet.
- Financial difficulties for implementation. In the first project, a galvanized iron pipe system was installed, which was expensive and difficult to transport; this was solved with the massive use of four-inch plastic hose. Financial difficulties were solved by borrowing money from banks and friends.
Women’s participation in the TEJ community experience
The women have the «entrepreneurial role» in community and family projects because they have ideas about different business possibilities such as fish farming with sales of rainbow trout, which before the experience was very difficult to carry out due to the lack of energy for refrigeration.
Access to energy also led them to establish activities associated with sewing, with sewing machines in which they can make pants and shirts, some use this option to improve their income, which facilitates them to use their free time in activities that they like and gives them autonomy, with this they also feed leisure activities such as television and education with the use of computers.
Likewise, their role as environmental leaders has been strengthened by understanding how these transitions minimize the negative impacts on the territories.
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