A California-based microgrid and digital control technology firm has been entrusted with installing clean energy and digitally transformational facilities at women-led community centers in Guatemala.
New Sun Road was selected to deliver the projects by Guatemala’s National Secretariat of Science and Technology (Senacyt) acting on a U.S. Trade and Development Agency technical assistance grant. Under the funding, New Sun Road will install solar-powered digital community centers in 10 communities unconnected to the internet and sometimes the electric power grid in the Central American nation.
The company will validate the business model in the first 10 digital community center (DCC) projects, with the goal of scaling its efforts to another 3,000 rural sites in Guatemala. The DCCs will be powered by solar panels coupled with battery storage and microgrid control systems.
New Sun Road will train women to manage the facilities and educate their local communities in digital skills, according to the USTDA announcement.
“This project reflects USTDA’s commitment to partner with Guatemala on its digital access priorities through collaboration with U.S. industry,” Enoh T. Ebong, director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, said in the statement. “It will also empower women to lead the delivery of critical services to their communities.”
New Sun Road deploys microgrid operating systems, Internet of Things controllers and solar and battery on-site power configurations. The company, founded only nine years ago, has projects in more than 20 countries, including several in Central and South America.
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Ongoing work to install digital community centers throughout Guatemala helps empower women in remote communities by developing digital leadership toolsand business skills, as well as providing gender-based violence awareness.
The company has installed its technology on microgrid and telecom projects in Puerto Rico, Congo, Kenya, Cameroon, Pakistan and Nepal, among others. New Sun Road has extensive partnerships on projects in the U.S. and Mexico.
The women-led digital community centers are a focus of USTDA’s Global Partnership for Climate-Smart Infrastructure. Since 2021, the agency has funded more than 60 activities aimed at unlocking about $70 billion in climate-focused financing for energy and transportation projects in developing and middle-income countries, according to the USTDA.
Senacyt’s mission in Guatemala, meanwhile, is to promote science and technology initiatives to raise the nation’s development standards.
“USTDA and New Sun Road are like-minded partners, and we deeply appreciate our partnership with them,” Ana Chan, secretary of Senacyt, said. “Together, we will make a difference in the lives of many thousands of Guatemalans.”
Guatemala, Central America’s most populous nation, ranks relatively low on the global economic scale with an average gross domestic product of about $9,800 per capita (compared to $20,000 per-capita GDP for Mexico), according to U.S. News and World Report. Despite its relative lack of wealth, the country already generates much of its power sector from non-fossil resources such as geothermal, hydropower, biofuels and renewables.
In October 2021, New Sun Road detailed its work installing 10 resiliency microgrids in the villages within the Guatemalan Highlands. The microgrids featured solar power and New Sun Road’s Stellar IS systems.
