A majority of the people in San Jose do not have access to electricity. This means their isolated home is dark for about 12 hours every night. This limits activities such as studying for students, house work, and even cooking when the cook cannot see the food being prepared. In May 2022 we started installing very simple and small solar systems to provide four LED lights and a USB charger port so people can charge their cell phones. We had a number of design criteria for the systems:
- Low cost. Both San Jose Partners and the people of San Jose have very limited financial resources. We designed a solar system to meet the two most important needs of the San Jose people: lights and charging cell phones while keeping the cost as low as possible.
- Modular system. To keep costs down and make replacing broken parts more affordable for the local population, we designed a system with off-the-shelf components. This way if one component of the system breaks, we only have to replace the broken part. Another program had installed a beautiful self-contained solar system a few years ago in a small number of houses. When a part of the system broke the entire system control box would have to be replaced, which is not possible or affordable in San Jose.
- Expandable. Our initial system only includes 4 lights and a USB charger port. Once people become comfortable using their system, they can add an inverter later to provide 110 volt AC “house” current.
- Use local resources whenever possible. Instead of bringing in a battery box from outside, we had a local carpenter make a simple battery box. The box is replaceable locally and the money we paid the carpenter stays in the area.
- Education and local support. Recipients must attend an educational class to learn more about how solar works and how our system works. Given we have been working in partnership with the San Jose people since 2005, we plan on having replacement parts available for purchase at-cost on site.
System costs: The entire system costs us about $500, not including shipping, and we do not charge for installation. Local recipients pay about $45 of that and must be intimately involved in the installation process.
Installations September 2022
