Winter Bulletin 2003 Vol. 19, No. 4

On Friday, November 14, Mark Miller, Program Coordinator for Plenty Belize along with Mrs. Eleanor Gomez and her Electrical Class from Toledo’s Center for Employment Training, installed a 300-watt photovoltaic electrical power system at the San Jose RC Primary School in San Jose Village. Four 75 watt photovoltaic panels will charge six Trojan six-volt golf cart batteries capable of running up to ten florescent lights, and laptop computers for the school. San Jose is not hooked up to the Belize electrical grid.

This state-of-the-art photovoltaic lighting system means brighter classrooms on cloudy days, and will allow after school classes and evening community meetings. The new school building is also the hurricane shelter for San Jose, and in the event of a hurricane people taking shelter in the building will have light.

The project also provided an educational opportunity for Mrs. Gomez’s electrical class who performed much of the work for the installation. On Thursday November 13, Mark Miller gave a lecture on photovoltaic systems to Mrs. Gomez’s class in preparation for the installation on Friday. The lecture covered such topics as the differences between AC and DC electricity, principles of wiring, and the basics of photovoltaic technology. The students were so enthusiastic that they were willing to participate even though Friday was not a school day for them.

Plenty would like to thank the Unity Avenue Foundation for providing the funding for the project, the San Jose RC Primary School and Principal Medonio Cal, the Toledo Center For Employment Training and Electrical Class Instructor Mrs. Eleanor Gomez and her students. We also want to thank Mr. Ludwig Palacio and the Toledo Development Corporation, and the Belize Ministry of Education. We would further acknowledge Mr. Chris Nesbitt of the Toledo Cacao Growers Association and Peace Corps volunteers Harry and Margy Bennet for technical support and Monchos Rentals of San Pedro for selling us the batteries at cost. Thanks to Tomas Heikkala who handled all purchasing, packing and shipping.