We made it though our first full week of work at Grupo Fenix, and what a week it has been. Two PV installations, three day trips out of Sabana Grande, far too much time in the back of a pick up truck, and a chance to combine two of my great passions coffee and solar power.

After a slow start to the week, getting organised for the week and month ahead, Wednesday arrived, and we had our first PV installation. Red eyed and weary, we all arrived at Centro Solar bright and early, and then in true Nicaragua fashion waited an hour for our transport to arrive! We piled into the back of the pickup truck along with all of the gear for the installation, and set off along the highway with the wind in our hair. The ride was great a great novelty at first, as we all enjoyed the fresh air and the stunning views as we ascended higher and higher above Ocotal. Then we turned off the highway for a gruelling hour up a steep and bumpy dirt track. Our destination – a coffee farm high in the mountains, only a stones throw from the Honduras border. We arrived at our destination a bit green faced, and glad to be out the back of that truck. Once the waves of nausea from our journey had subsided we were able to enjoy the stunning vista over the emerald green valley of coffee fields, disappearing into the distance over the jagged mountain range.

The 65 watt (no thats not a typo) installation consisted of a single solar panel, small charge controller, two batteries and LED lighting for the kitchen, living quarters and processing facility at the coffee farm. The processing equipment itself, which is only used occasionally will continue to be run off a generator. This may be a far cry from the large scale plants I had worked on in the Pacific over the last few years, but that doesn’t mean everything was a walk the park. This was after all my first hands experience of a low budget, small scale rural electrification project, and it definitely brought with it a new set of challenges. The key criteria here is a system which is simple, low cost, and mostly employing materials from the local hardware store. My greatest challenge was the dilemma of balancing my expectations around quality and design standards, engrained from four years of working on tightly controlled projects and the reality of what was possible with the available components and budget here in Rural Nicaragua. But if this was all easy, it wouldn’t be any fun right?!

Under the guidance of Jorge and Oscar – Grupo Fenix’s resident technical gurus – we got underway with the install. Daniel, Savanna, Jorge and I headed up to the roof to install the panel while the others got started running the cabling for the lighting. First up was putting together the frame we had built the day before. Yip, no neatly packaged proprietary system from a far away factory, just a few bits of aluminium angle bolted together, and given the shake test to make sure it was strong enough – no structural engineering certification on this one. As always happens when you try to build something from scratch with little plan in place, we went through a few iterations, but ended up with an improved design, while still keeping with the limited materials available at the workshop. Back on site we had the frame assembled and bolted to the panel and we’re getting things positioned on the roof, and after a couple of failed attempts by my colleagues with the drill in reverse, it was fixed to the roof.

We stopped for a delicious lunch of chicken and vegetable stew, served up from a huge steaming pan on the open wood fire in the smoke filled Cocina. The afternoon passed by quickly, helped along by a delicious cup of farm fresh coffee, and the odd moment to pause and soak in the stunning location we found ourselves in. Then once all the wiring was complete and double checked came that magical moment that makes off-grid systems so rewarding – flipping the switch and the lights coming on for the first time. The reaction of everyone said it all – from the farm owner and workers, to my fellow volunteers – grinning faces all round.

Having learnt our lesson in the morning, we took the ride home standing up in the back of the truck – much more comfortable! All very happy with ourselves after a productive days work the ride down was a joy; leaving the lush highlands, and passing through the temperate pine forest as the sun came down, and finally into the arid brown nothingness that was already so familiar. The sun had just set as we flowed out onto the high way leaving a rosy-orange hue spilling out from behind the mountains, below a razor thin moon and a smattering of stars emerging from the darkness. Despite the breakneck pace of our driver and the odd high speed bug to the face this was a truely special moment that will not soon be forgotten.