solar power

Imagine trying cook on a wood fire in the dark, your kitchen filling with choking fumes from a kerosene lamp. Then the lamp runs out and next day you have to travel 20km to get more fuel. That is the routine for many families in rural areas of Nicaragua because half the population isn’t connected to the electricity grid.

This is where a project in Masaya run by the Association for Community Integration and Development (Spanish acronym - ADIC) is trying to make a difference. Working with the Leicester-Masaya Link Group (LMLG), it helps farming families by installing basic solar panel kits to generate electricity. Each kit provides enough electricity to serve three to four light bulbs and a socket for a few hours use of a TV or radio. 

Over the past year the Leicester Masaya Link Group (LMLG) has been involved in a fascinating project to raise awareness about and implement renewable energy technologies in Nicaragua and Central America. The project, funded by the European Union and Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, involves working with a rapidly expanding network of partners across the region (with an emphasis on Nicaragua and more recently Guatemala) to identify and overcome the political, social, cultural and economic barriers to developing renewable energy.