We've been slow producing the final account of the costs of the El Limon water system electrification project because I had wanted to put up a photograph to accompany it. But various things have made it hard to get out to El Limon over the last week or so. Here is the final account. I hope to get more photographs of what the project means for people in El Limon shortly.
As people may recall, the original project of paying for posts and cable and accessories to connect the El Limon water system to the local electicity grid fell through when the distribution company refused to authorize a connection. By the time the regulator was able to make sure the distribution company complied with a ruling in favour of the community, people in El Limon after almost a year of delays felt it was in their interests to install an independent solar powered electricity source.
The total cost of the solar panel installation was US$8591 which breaks down as follows:
Solar panels US$5096
Submersible DC electric pump US$2700
Materials for structure to support
and tilt panels to track the sun US$ 625
Installation and transport costs US$ 170
Total cost US$8591
In addition to this cost, the community of El Limon contributed labour to a value of US$330.
Rob Matthews contributed free of charge four full days hard work as well as the design of the system itself. It is easy to imagine having to pay well over US$1000 for Rob's work if it had been contracted from a commercial company.
So the total value of the project ended up being probably around something over US$10,000.
We are very grateful to the Barr Foundation of Oklahoma, to the Rotary Club of Toronto-Leaside, to Fiona Graham and her family, to Karen King and to Rob Matthews for making it possible to carry this project to a successful outcome.