The small gratitude celebration at the children’s home La Villa Infantil de Nuestra Señora Guadalupe y San José on Friday, May 23 marked the culmination of a project that represents years of preparation and hours of labor. The cake that was served at lunch said it all, “Gracias al Sol.”
The home for 26 orphaned and abandoned children on the south shore of Lake Chapala caught the attention of lakeside residents Peter and Bettina Simons. As enthusiastic 30-year proponents of helping worthy organizations to gain energy independence, they created the Mexican Grid-Free Foundation and obtained non-profit status. They continue to provide schools, orphanages and other groups relief from crushing semi-monthly electric bills while utilizing the power of the Mexican sun and creating a “greener” environment.
“We started small here at La Villa,” said Simons. “About four years ago I contacted Guillermo Corona, director of the Guadalajara solar company E2 Energías to see if he could help us fix the non-functional solar water heater already in place on one of the three small houses. Not only did his crew get that one heater up and running, they donated and installed two more for the other casitas.”
Working toward solutions for Grid-Free, Simons eventually invited the president of Japanese company Sharp to visit lakeside during a business trip to Mexico.
“That was the way I knew we needed to go. Corona had put together a joint venture with Sharp five years ago and not only is Sharp the third largest producer of solar panels in the world, Sharp is the only solar supplier with a presence in Mexico.”
Adolfo Sanchez Garcia, Sharp’s Mexico service and supply director takes up the story. “Peter invited our president to visit his home. We used the pretext that we wanted our boss to see the biggest solar installation at Lakeside. Then while we were there Peter began to explain Grid-Free’s work.”Simons picked up the thread and added, “We wanted him to know about La Villa. There are no municipal water sources out here, so they had to dig their own well. The electric bill here was running more than 12,000 pesos, that’s about $1,000 U.S. every two months with most of those kilowatt hours used to run the pump in the well. These orphanages get no support from the state or the federal government. They have to make do with what donations they can get from both Guadalajara and lakeside individuals and local (mostly expat) groups.
“That means that they are always short of money and yet these three nuns do an amazing job of getting the ends to stretch out to meet. I don’t know how they do it and keep all of the kids fed, clean and in school.”
Simons looked toward the three cheerful nuns who were sitting with their charges over the tacos we shared for lunch. “I do know there was a time in the beginning when the nuns only ate every other day so the kids could have a little more.”
During that trip to Mexico, Sharp’s president committed to donate solar panels for installation at La Villa, and indicated his support for other Grid-Free approved projects in the future.
“That’s our major link to the success of these projects,” said Guillermo Corona, the director of E2 Energías. “The panels are more than 60 percent of the cost of a solar system. It’s really good news when you consider that these Sharp panels are guaranteed for 25 years, and we know that they are lasting an average of 40 to 50 years in use; this big system with its 48 panels is not a temporary fix for the home’s budget.”
Corona and his partner Frank Weiss not only donated all of their labor and materials for the installation, they spent a lot of time with the electric commission working out problems with the transformer on the property and other technicalities
This project needed the participation of yet another company. Fronius is an Austrian corporation with divisions in Monterrey and Puebla. They create the equipment that converts the direct current produced by the solar panels to the alternating current needed to power up everything from lights to that pump bringing water from the well.
“When we explained this project to Fronius, they climbed on board, and donated all of that conversation equipment we needed out here,” said Weiss.
Simons is an avid promoter of solar energy in Mexico. “We live in one of the countries of the world with the highest efficiency of sun power. One of the things we point out in our Grid-Free promotions for the non-profits is any investment in a solar system here is half the cost and creates one of the biggest returns because the cost of energy here is among the most expensive in the world.”
Explained Corona: “If we look at cost versus savings, the break even point of a solar installation is at about four years. I tell potential E2 clients that if they put that money in the bank they’ll earn about one percent interest. If they put the money on the roof they’ll get about a return of about 25 percent.”
That kind of logic has given lakeside the largest concentration of solar installations in Mexico. There are currently more than 700 systems up and running in Ajijic.
Corona said. “It makes perfect sense that lakeside’s expat population would push that area to the top of those numbers. They are used to thinking economically and ecologically. Many are in an age group and a culture that understands this kind of savings, both in terms of money and in the world’s resources. More than 80 percent of Mexico’s usual electric sources are garnered by burning fossil fuels.”
“Mexico may not have enormous waterfalls or rivers to produce hydraulic power as they do in Canada. The Netherlands just announced that they have converted all of the country’s trains to run on power produced by the windmills. We don’t have that opportunity here, either, but we do have more days of direct sun than almost any other place on earth. And like the water and the wind, using the sun doesn’t bite into the remaining stores of fossil fuels.”
Just as Sharp has been producing solar panels for nearly 60 years and Grid-Free chief investigator has become an expert in investigating and selecting locations for installations, the E2 Energías team is a leader in their own field.
“We just finished three installations that used 15,000 panels.” said Corona. “That’s the largest system in the state of Jalisco. This year we also installed 3,500 panels for the HP plant in Guadalajara.
“We’ve learned as we’ve grown,” Corona continued. “We started six years ago with four employees. Now we have 40. We’re based in Guadalajara, but we have Bettina Bering, our sales person at Lake Chapala. There are normally at least one or two teams working on lakeside houses every week.”
La Villa Infantil isn’t the only non-profit to have benefited from the solar energy donations of this dream team. These devoted philanthropists banded together a few years to help out Niños Incapacitados in Jocotepec and several facilities in Guadalajara.
“We do what we do with heart,” said Corona. “We don’t do this for the good exposure that we get with the consumers. I guess you could say we win twice, but our biggest satisfaction is knowing we have helped those who need it most.”
Although La Villa Infantil is running off the grid, the home is not yet out of the woods. Maintaining a home for 26 children means there is always another pressing need. Now that she doesn’t have to worry about the electric bill, Madre Maria has turned to another enormous problem – flooding. This low-lying location is just one field from the edge of Lake Chapala. Each year, water from the lake and runoff from the nearby highway and mountain flood much of the property, creating a serious health hazard for the children.
Madre Maria has consulted engineers who have come up with a solution – and construction has started on an enormous stone and concrete block wall to hold back the water. The problem, as usual, is money. This project will require nearly 100,000 dollars to complete. While pledges are in from several individuals, companies and local businesses, more will be needed. If you can help with this new project, contact the local liaisons Steve and Fernando at Las Flores B&B.