Guillermo Catuogno, Gaston Frias, Carlos Catuogno, Sergio Cruz, Silvina Galetto
IMAGE LICENSED BY INGRAM PUBLISHING
The notion of global south can be defined as a term that broadens the concept of developing countries, referring to those countries that have a social and economic structure with great inequalities in the quality of life levels of their populations. Generally, in these countries, access to basic resources is scarce, and this does not allow the equitable growth and empowerment of these communities.
Currently, the world’s energy needs are constantly increasing, and this constitutes a problem since the need to reduce carbon emissions is vital to avoid climate change in the short term. In the global south, a large part of the population still lacks access to energy, which is crucial to alleviating poverty through job creation and better health and education systems. Lack of access to these basic services continues to hold back these forgotten and unequal communities. More than 95% of the population without access to electricity belongs to the global south, made up of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The energy landscape of Latin America and the Caribbean remains unresolved. Currently, 34 million people across the region still do not have access to reliable electricity, and their communities are often too isolated to connect to main grids. On the other hand, although Latin America and the Caribbean have some of the most abundant renewable energy resources, governments do not yet see them as a viable alternative to fossil fuels.
As in the rest of the developing world, and despite decades of growth in Latin America, the benefits of development have not been evenly distributed. Unjust political, economic, and social institutional frameworks have consolidated Latin America as the most unequal region in the world today.
In essence, one way to overcome poverty, promote health and education services, and improve socioeconomic development is to ensure reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy for all. For this reason, the United Nations has established “Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy services for all” as one of its Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030.
In this context, in the search for new alternatives that solve these problems, the university community can play a more than important role through university social responsibility (USR) policies, assuming social leadership and translating it into educational actions, research, extension, and transfer, through the training of committed people who act as multiplier agents and the development of appropriate technologies (ATs) that can be spread among the communities and their territories.
A definition of an AT is that technology that best suits environmental, cultural, and economic situations; requires few resources; means less cost, low environmental impact, and low maintenance; and is generated with local skills, tools, and materials and can be repaired locally.
The AT carried out by the Laboratory of Appropriate Technologies (LabTA) is based on the principles of open technology (software and hardware) whose philosophy is to share knowledge, creating global communities where development is open and can be used by both final users and by other developers who improve and make contributions to the state of the art of the technology developed. It is also low cost and in balance with the environment.
The present work aims to describe and characterize a work methodology developed within the framework of LabTA, of the Faculty of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences (FICA) of the National University of San Luis (UNSL), Argentina.
The UNSL has traveled a very fruitful path of institutional development, which in 2018 was reflected in an Institutional Development Plan (OCS 58/18) that is proposed for the strategic area of Research–Linkage and Extension.
From this epistemic regulatory framework, it is possible to build the actions carried out by LabTA in the last five years that have allowed the development and consolidation of a methodology for the development, installation, and dissemination of TAs that allow mitigating and alleviating energy poverty in rural communities. This methodology is based on a fair and sustainable social development model, leaving behind the execution of isolated and disjointed acts of solidarity.
This process requires the participation of various actors, such as the scientific community, the rural communities involved, secondary schools, and civil society and government organizations. The participation and commitment of all makes it possible, in most cases, to achieve sustainability over time and the opportunity for its scalability and replication in other communities.
USR seeks to provide solutions from within to structural problems that hinder social development, based on new policies and management and administration of organizations. The aim is to take care of the impacts that are generated both internally and toward the environment and take responsibility for the social consequences, derived from the actions themselves, without falling into concepts such as social commitment, help, or social solidarity.
USR implies, in all cases, recognizing the student as an active agent, integrated into a learning community that not only fulfills its basic functions but also assumes a leading role in the sustainable development of the local community. In this sense, all actors are responsible for their own actions and omissions before the society in which they are inserted.
From the analysis of the participating actors and their characteristics, needs, and expectations, it is observed that the service-learning methodology is the central axis of the master plan for the USR-based LabTA methodology. In this way, it is possible to engage the institution’s primary and secondary interest groups with the aim of progressively improving the social environment in which it is inserted.
Service learning is “a way of thinking about education and teaching (a philosophy) with corresponding teaching tools and strategies (a pedagogy) that requires students to learn and develop through active participation in service activities to achieve objectives defined by community organizations.” Paraphrasing Philippe Meurieu, it implies a position that goes beyond the mere observation of the facts that are presented. While in traditional pedagogy one learns in the classroom, with theoretical and expository classes, service learning recognizes that one can also learn in and from the community. This methodology also legitimizes the existing relationships between scientific knowledge and popular knowledge.
Thus, the objectives of service learning are common to all students since they respond to a pedagogical strategy that allows them to detect a social problem, get involved with it, and project a community improvement strategy through the application of content learned in one or more of several subjects. The distinctive characteristic of this pedagogical strategy is “the coexistence, at the same level, of the academic objectives and the objectives of social intervention. An advantage of this methodology is that it can be applied in any instance of the curricular journey.”
Electric microgrids are a key technology to promote sustainable development and access to affordable energy for vulnerable rural communities. When sufficient economic resources are available, the classic approach applied to its dimensioning and construction consists of studying the local resources and energy sources, characterizing the demand curve, estimating the growth of the microgrid, and building an oversized but not economically viable solution.
This approach allows the creation of microgrids, but it contains many inaccuracies and flaws—in particular, the long-term incompatibility between the chosen solution and the expansion of demand, the costs linked to importing turnkey solutions, and the alienation of local actors due to technological opacity. Users become consumers, field agents become sellers, and technology becomes an obstacle to long-term local development.
On the other hand, when communities do not have the necessary resources to access energy that improves their quality of life, there are alternative paths through the inclusion of local actors, the educational community (secondary and university), and the use of open and local technologies for the creation of sustainable electrical microgrids.
These alternative paths have been built based on the reflection of the accumulated experience, successes, and failures in the field, and we have managed to develop a sustainable model/methodology that we call the LabTA Model (represented in Figure 1), which promotes education, research, extension, and transfer to the territory.
Figure 1. The LabTA Model. STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; NGO: nongovernmental organization.
The LabTA Model has four pillars, starting with the development of open technology in conjunction with global scientific communities and undergraduate and graduate students. Then, the development is built through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training given to students from secondary (generally technical) schools, through weekly courses, so that it is the students themselves who can participate in the implementation in rural communities. These technical schools are strategically selected at a close distance from the isolated communities, so that they can continue to sustain the link through maintenance activities and simple repairs for years to come. Finally, the last pillar of this sustainable model consists of monitoring the systems and conducting a survey of the residents to obtain information and detect flaws or possible improvements in open source developments.
Figure 1 shows a representative diagram of the working model developed by LabTA. We next describe each of these blocks in detail.
Traditionally, only public and private companies or research laboratories could offer a service or product to solve different problems related to emergency aid, health, energy, food, housing, education, or economic development, with the disadvantage that these developments are closed, generate technological dependency, and can be expensive.
The open technology philosophy assumes that different people, including technical experts, designers, or even end users, can help find a common solution to a problem for the further development of an idea. Community power can offer different points of view that add value to the proposed solution, and these proposals are shared even more openly so that the idea can continue to improve and evolve.
It is for these reasons that there are currently a large number of manufacturers, designers, and engineers who dedicate their time to learning, sharing, and using open technologies to solve specific problems by creating innovative solutions and generating more opportunities to find comprehensive technical solutions involving many more actors.
Figure 2 shows the complete electrical microgrid structure with which the LabTA Model develops its implementations. Depending on the location (the renewable resources available) and the characteristics of consumption, the sizing and selection of the components of the system to be installed are carried out. This wind and/or solar microgrid is developed mainly by open technology components. They are described in the following paragraphs and displayed in Figure 3.
Figure 2. The microgrid structure used in LabTA. PV: photovoltaics.
Figure 3. Open technology: (a) Piggott wind turbine, (b) wind regulator, (c) OpenWee (Opensource Wind energy empowerment), and (d) three-phase inverter.
The axial flow wind turbine called Piggott is an open source wind turbine technology that aims to use local materials to manufacture wind turbines of different sizes and power outputs. It is designed for construction in any country in the world. The manuals are available in Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Hungarian, Swahili, and Dutch.
An open technology analog battery charge controller based on the energy diversion concept is proposed. This regulator was developed by Ti’éole of France together with the wind empowerment community. It was adopted by LabTA and adapted to components that are available in each country.
The operating principle is based on the fact that when the wind turbine is producing more energy than is required—a situation that occurs when the batteries are charged and there are no significant consumptions—a resistive-type load is connected to its output that serves as a diversion for the excess energy. Through analog comparisons, this regulator decides when to connect the resistive load that diverts the necessary current so that the maximum voltage allowed by the batteries is never exceeded on the dc bus. In addition to this, the controller prevents the wind turbine from accelerating uncontrollably when there are strong winds.
The technology of this regulator is one of the courses used in high schools, with students building and testing the regulators.
OpenWee is an open device for low-power wind applications with the ability to work as a wind regulator, an automatic brake, and also as a system data logger. This device was developed by LabTA for different applications in the projects it is working on. The operation as a wind regulator contemplates after three phases of charging a battery—in bulk, absorption, and floating—allowing it to prolong its useful life. The automatic brake is activated by stopping the wind turbine when a voltage above the regulation references is exceeded, working as a protection; it is also possible to activate it manually by means of a switch. Finally, the data logger allows different sensor variables to be monitored and via Wi-Fi to store them in a database in the cloud, so that they can later be viewed using a cell phone or PC.
The potentiality of OpenWee lies in the fact that being open offers the possibility of adapting it depending on the application, including different sensors. Also, its low cost allows it to be provided as an affordable device for rural communities with low resources.
This power converter has been developed with the aim of applying it to water pumping systems with different electrical machines; however, it can be used for any other application. The development has been a joint endeavor between the LAAS-CNRS and LabTA during the last three years.
Other components of the electrical microgrid in Figure 2 are currently being worked on to achieve a robust, low-cost, open technology microgrid.
STEM training, one of the pillars of the LabTA Model, enables the application of concepts, procedures, and skills from the formal learning of various subjects, with the aim that students learn to work on real needs of the environment with the purpose of improving it and also spreading the open technology.
In addition, it allows the students to develop new skills and educational tools to face the new challenges and opportunities that future professionals require for problem solving and the ability to innovate and exploit the possibilities offered by the world of renewable energies and sustainable development.
Currently, three training courses are offered, as shown in Figure 4. The first introduces concepts and best practices in renewable energies, generally photovoltaics (PV); then as a second stage, two training courses are carried out where students build electronic devices, such as the regulator wind energy and low-cost OpenWee, for rural electrification projects.
Figure 4. Banner promoting STEM courses (Project 7 of Table 1).
During 2021–2022, more than 500 students from 10 different secondary schools were trained. Minor inmates of a penitentiary unit have also been trained. Figure 5 shows students from two schools participating in the installation of an electrification system in a health center in the Guanaco del Morro area in San Luis Province.
Figure 5. Wind installation in Guanaco del Morro village (Project 3 of Table 1).
Access to electricity can have a transformative impact on rural community households and their lifestyles by saving time and effort in collecting firewood, allowing appliances to take on the role of normally laborious tasks that consume a lot of time, providing night lights, and incorporating technological and communication means that allow the dissemination of information and recreation.
For this reason, the installations of the electrification systems are the final objective of the methodology developed. During the process the community is involved, and its members are the final users of the system, with the objective that they know the technology and take ownership of it. Also, civil associations, nongovernmental organization (NGOs) that work day to day with communities, and in some cases municipalities or government agencies play a fundamental role. During the installation, the secondary schools that worked on the construction of the components of the microgrid participate, closing the cycle of knowledge learned and interacting with the community in the territory.
Table 1 lists the projects carried out in the last four years by LabTA, and in Figure 6 we show the first project implemented by LabTA in a rural school in San Luis Province.
Figure 6. Wind–solar installation in Puerta del Sol village (Project 1 of Table 1).
Table 1. Projects implemented by LabTA.
Figure 7 presents another project developed during 2021 where the NGO Monte Adentro and the community of La Medialuna worked together to build a community center, a 16,000-L water tank, a Wi-Fi tower, and a solar electrification installation for the center. These types of community centers serve as spaces for school support, health centers, and for teaching sewing courses to the women of the community by Monte Adentro.
Figure 7. Solar installation in Medialuna village (Project 5 of Table 1).
Access to energy is not only a technical problem, so it is not possible to propose only technical solutions. The installations must be integral solutions that are sustainable over time. In this sense, once the design and installation stages have been completed, guaranteeing the quality and continuity of the service is a key factor in isolated electrification systems since if there is no operation and maintenance plan, the system may have interruptions or failures and be out of service. In this sense, it is possible to divide electrification projects into two types, depending on the scale and the actors involved.
“Small projects” are defined as specific installations, generally public institutions, such as rural schools, health and community centers, and community kitchens, that have an impact on many people. Once the installation is complete, training is given to a specific group of people from the community who will be in charge of the system to carry out simple maintenance tasks and solve simple fault situations. The technical schools are in charge of carrying out the annual maintenance of the system. Also, in the case of failures or major problems that need prompt resolution and otherwise, LabTA provides support to the facilities so that they can continue operating.
In addition, it is important to carry out remote monitoring and supervision to determine possible failures, check to see if the system is well dimensioned, and to determine the renewable resources of the location. Figure 8 shows an image of an open source monitoring system developed by LabTA.
Figure 8. Supervision system of the Puerta del Sol village (Project 1 of Table 1).
“Large projects” are defined where there are many installations, generally for private users, and the impact is on a smaller number of people. This is the case when individual installations are carried out for families in a community or area. In this sense, for this type of system to be sustainable over time, it is difficult for users, schools, and LabTA itself to monitor and maintain these systems. For this type of system the delivery model is different, and maintenance must be outsourced. An example is Project 15 of Table 1, which proposes the electrification of 40 families from seven different areas of the Impenetrable Chaqueño. In this case, in the formulation of the project the creation of an electric cooperative was proposed that will be in charge of carrying out the maintenance/repair of the facilities and will also be responsible for charging users for the service. In the first years, this cooperative will have the support of the NGO Monte Adentro and LabTA.
Access to electricity improves economic productivity and the quality of rural life. Without a reliable and adequate supply of electricity, rural households engaged in agriculture and rural industry are characterized by low productivity and growth prospects as well as low incomes. The use of driving force and irrigation systems from access to energy produces benefits, such as improvements in performance, profitability, and productivity and lower labor and time costs.
Productive development activities in rural communities enable collective evolution through rural electrification projects, where the first phase is to provide enough electricity to later be able to generate new income through productive development. It is necessary to understand this evolution for the communities as well as for the LabTA Model as part of the learning realized in work carried out in the territory, listening to and understanding the needs in the territory.
An example of this is the productive development project (Project 10 of Table 1), financed by the MINCYT in the “Argentina Against Hunger” call, which takes place in eight rural areas containing Mapuche communities in Patagonia and is working on an efficient water management system with renewable energies to promote family farming with strawberry plantations. In Figure 9 a strawberry plantation is presented.
Figure 9. A strawberry plantation in Patagonia (Project 10 of Table 1).
In another productive development project (Project 14 of Table 1), a fruit and vegetable garden will be created with drip irrigation and goat cheese production—another example that demonstrates the growth and learning of the community and LabTA since this location is where LabTA carried out its first project (Project 1 of Table 1) in 2019.
This work describes the LabTA Model, which is a working methodology to mitigate energy poverty in vulnerable rural communities, incorporating help from the scientific community to solve real problems and contribute to sustainable and human development. This model can be summarized in the fulfillment of three main objectives.
The initial objective is through the scientific community to develop ATs in conjunction with world communities, that is, to work with students in the design of low-cost, replicable, adaptable devices for a local environment that, in turn, are diffused at a global level for replication and adaptation in other environments and territories.
The intermediate objective of the LabTA Model consists of the implementation of service-learning techniques to educate students, in which learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection in which teamwork is carried out applying what has been learned to community problems. At the same time, the students develop empathy and respect for other cultures and a critical sense of citizen participation, in turn improving academic results with the incorporation of new skills that benefit the students’ comprehensive development.
The final objective of the LabTA Model is to mitigate energy poverty in vulnerable rural communities with the help of a public and present university that aims to provide answers and opportunities to vulnerable rural communities.
Throughout this work we have systematized the method developed by the LabTA Model, trying to identify the characteristics of the methodology and its potential for the development of communities and the resignification of learning by students. We have tried to make visible the importance that working from the USR allows in promoting the involvement of the university system as a whole, based on the development of scientific knowledge, in the more equitable growth of the communities of which it is a part, repairing structural and historical inequities.
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Guillermo Catuogno (grcatu@gmail.com) is with the laboratory of Appropriate Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, National University of San Luis, San Luis 5730, Argentina. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.
Gaston Frias (gastonfrias1@gmail.com) is with the laboratory of Appropriate Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, National University of San Luis, San Luis 5730, Argentina.
Carlos Catuogno (cgcatuogno@email.unsl.edu.ar) is with the laboratory of Appropriate Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, National University of San Luis, San Luis 5730, Argentina.
Sergio Cruz (cruzseryo@gmail.com) is with the laboratory of Appropriate Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, National University of San Luis, San Luis 5730, Argentina.
Silvina Galetto (silvigaletto@gmail.com) is with the Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Economic, Legal and Social Sciences, National University of San Luis, San Luis 5730, Argentina.
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