Solar Center

The Solar Center workshop construction was a project executed by Solar Women of Totogalpa (SWT) and the Program of Alternative Energy Sources of the National Engineering University (PAES/NEU) and financed by the Noble Foundation of the United States. The Solar Center aspires to be a rural community center that promotes sustainable development through renewable energy and the interchange of ideas and information to generate employment and improve the standard of living of its members and clients.

Construction of the first building began in 2005 and it was inaugurated on December 12, 2007. The women were the main source of labor for this project and worked many days, weeks, and months to build handmade adobes with which the Solar Center was constructed. To complete the first building, members of SWT made more than 5,000 adobes and contributed 8,000 hours of voluntary work.

The Solar Center is an efficient user of solar energy and contains; a solar pump, solar cookers and dryers, and a photovoltaic system (that provides the energy for lighting, construction tools, and office equipment). Moreover, the center includes; two workshops (one for the construction of solar cookers and dryers, and the other for photovoltaic panels, which is called ACESOL), a small warehouse, an office, and a small library.