A new crowdfunding project on Indiegogo wants to bring solar power to the site of a former trash dump on the Galápagos Islands, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located 550 miles west of the Ecuadorean mainland. The islands were visited by Charles Darwin during his South American expedition and the species he observed there helped him formulate his theory of evolution.
The project is being led by the co-founder of solar company Energiya Global, Yosef Abramowitz. He wants to build a 300 KW solar power field on San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos to replace the dirty diesel that currently lights up the place. The energy would be generated by 1,200 solar panels but to do that, he needs to raise $250,000 to finance the project.
The money will be spent on final pre-development costs including the grid connection design and the final electricity study. It will also be spent on down payment to the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) company that will build the project. The down payment will ensure the EPC company can start moving forward with the shipping of the necessary equipment to the Galápagos in time to meet the Ecuadorian regulator’s deadline for the project to be built and interconnected.
The diesel used in Galápagos is routinely shipped across the ocean in heavy polluting boats. The solar farm would replace the burning of 20 barrels of oil (842 U.S. gallons) per week, which amounts to 930 barrels of oil (39,000 U.S. gallons) a year not being shipped to the Galápagos and burned there.
Now, that would be an amazing evolution.
Visit the campaign’s page on Indiegogo.
Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.
