EcoSwell: Improving energy resilience in marginalised communities

Power cuts are frequent in many marginalised communities around the world, and can be very disruptive. Consider, for instance, medical staff who are forced to find a quick solution to avoid the expiration of expensive, life-saving and hard to get (especially in rural areas) vaccines, as they require constant refrigeration.

Working jointly with the medical post of Lobitos in northern Peru, EcoSwell installed an uninterruptible power system (UPS), coupled with solar panels, to ensure that refrigeration of vaccines - of all types - is continuous when power cuts occur. This avoids their expiration and enables medical staff to focus on other urgent tasks. This practical clean energy solution is scalable, affordable and can be applied by private, public and non-profit organisations worldwide.

Throughout this initiative, it became evident to EcoSwell that neither local nor regional government entities in the area of influence were aware of this problem and its solution. EcoSwell is currently in the process of taking more of these systems to other parts of the country by working with private and public sector partners, as well as international volunteer interns.

EcoSwell is a member of SDSN Andes and SDSN Amazonia.