The Elecnor Foundation inaugurates the Sinergia Project in Chile
The Elecnor Foundation, in partnership with the Chilean Agriculture Ministry's Institute of Agricultural Development (INDAP), has inaugurated the Sinergia Project, an initiative that will bring energy and water to the 40 families resident in the community of El Totoral in the country's Atacama Desert.
This social infrastructure project was officially inaugurated on 3 March at a ceremony attended by Luis Mayol, Chile's Agriculture Minister; Ricardo Ariztía, the National Director of INDAP; Felipe Martí, Executive Secretary of the National Irrigation Commission; Rafael Coloma, the Spanish Embassy’s Economic and Trade Adviser; and Ignacio Prado, Trustee of the Elecnor Foundation.
The goal of the Sinergia Project is to improve the socioeconomic situation of the region and the life quality of its residents, most of whom are small-scale farmers who make a living from their agricultural activities in the hostile desert environment.
The project involves the construction of a 31-KW solar facility to power the water purification plant and grid that will supply electricity and water to the 32 homes in the town and other public buildings (including a school and a church), and the installation of four solar-power streetlights for Totoral's town square. It also includes another 51.1-KW plant to provide energy for the existing basin so that an average of 648 m3 of water can be transferred daily to a 1,096 m3 regulating reservoir. Finally, a drip irrigation water supply network for the community's plots of farmland has been installed as part of the initiative.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Chile's Agriculture Minister, Luis Mayol, said: "with initiatives such as the Sinergia Project we are contributing to the sustainable development of small-scale farming using clean, low-cost energy."
Ignacio Prado, Trustee of the Elecnor Foundation, added that "the inauguration of the Sinergia Project is a significant milestone in our Foundation's endeavours throughout Latin America to develop projects that help to improve the living conditions of people who live in areas where it is difficult to access resources such as energy and drinking water."
Ricardo Ariztía, the National Director of INDAP, pointed out that “the Sinergia Project will allow the small-scale farmers in the community to take advantage of automated irrigation, resulting in more efficient use of water, better yields and lower production costs."
Fostering sustainable development in Latin America
The Sinergia Project is not the Elecnor Foundation's only initiative in Latin America. Both the Foundation and the company enjoy close links with the region, where Elecnor has been involved in energy, construction, renewabls and new technologies projects for over half a century.
Notable projects include Ilumina, in Honduras, which is bringing clean and sustainable energy to the inhabitants of the municipality of Cantarranas; Loma Atravesada, in the Dominican Republic, which is bringing electricity to over 1400 people in the community of Loma Atravesada, and Luces para aprender Uruguay, which is providing solar photovoltaic energy and internet access to the approximately 90 rural state schools that still lack these resources in that country."
About the Elecnor Foundation
The Foundation was set up in late 2008 to mark the 50th anniversary of Elecnor, which is one of the leading Spanish companies and a benchmark player in the infrastructure, renewable energies and new technologies sectors, present in over 30 countries and with 13,000 employees.
The Elecnor Foundation is a private, non-profit entity that pushes the company’s intervention into the social arena in two areas: social infrastructure and training and research. The aim is to demonstrate the commitment engineering has to human beings and society. To achieve maximum effectiveness, the Foundation's work is closely linked to Elecnor's own activities.
