Sustainable Community Development: Wind Power for Rural Communities

Participate in hands-on learning on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua with blueEnergy, an organization that helps communities integrate hybrid wind and solar electric systems. blueEnergy manufactures its wind turbines locally to build the capacity and infrastructure needed to sustain the energy systems beyond installation as well as to create local jobs where they are desperately needed. The energy systems act as community battery charging stations that power schools, community centers, and health clinics and charge private home batteries that are brought to the center. The fees collected from private battery charging are invested into a community energy fund to cover operation and maintenance costs.

Come join us in learning about blueEnergy's approach to sustainable development. Participate in building a wind turbine and get hands-on experience with a system in a rural community.  Spend time in blueEnergy's facilities in Bluefields, where they have a wind turbine production facility, and where they are creating an Ecological Regional Center for Environmental Education.  Spend 2 - 3 days in a rural community on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua where you can see first-hand the benefits of and obstacles to using wind power and solar energy in a remote area.

Note: The trip to the community on the coast may consist of a boat ride on the open ocean, and is not for the faint-hearted.  This adventure is exciting and exhilerating, and is sure to give you first-hand knowledge of some of the adventures awaiting you when you work in the developing world.

The workshop price includes food, lodging, and in-country transportation from Bluefields.

For logistics on getting to Bluefields please visit the Bluefields, Nicaragua location page at https://www.solarenergy.org/bluefields-nicaragua.

SEI recommends purchasing travel insurance with your airline tickets for these international workshops, in the unlikely event that low enrollment or other unforeseen factors result in cancellation.

Topics Include

• Construction of a Wind Turbine
• Installing Wind Turbines
• Biosand Water Filters
• Local Capacity building
• Community Empowerment
• Social & Cultural Issues of Working in the Developing World

Watch a video of the SEI 2010 workshop constructing a biosand water filter here.


**Register for both Sustainable Community Development workshops in Nicaragua (the previous one focuses on solar electricity and solar cooking), and receive a 20% discount!

For information on SEI's Solar Professionals Certificate Program please click here.  For information on SEI's workshop and training program policies please click here.