Photo: El Comercio

Since January 2018, the company Biopower Capital has been developing a pilot project to combat cold climate in the Andean highlands of Peru through the generation of renewable energy. The project «Biocalor with pellets» seeks to produce heating using pellet stoves that are fueled with pellets, a clean fuel that comes from forest residues and that generates far less smoke or ash than firewood stoves.

The project was born as a result of adverse health conditions which cause high death rates from extreme cold seasons and pollution generated by firewood stoves. According to the Ministry of Health, in 2017 there were more than 22,000 episodes of pneumonia and 202 cases of deaths in the months of extreme cold conditions. However, in Peru the heat market has not developed despite the low temperatures suffered by the most vulnerable areas of the country. Thus, the «Biocalor con pellets» project hopes to improve health conditions and in 2017, was one of the winners of the Resiliente Peru Challenge of the Innovate Program of the Ministry of Production.

In partnership with Ccaijo, a Christian non-profit association, the pilot project is being carried out in Ocongate, 3 hours from the city of Cusco. The pellet-based stoves will be installed in homes, schools and health centers in the province. In August, the construction phase of the Pellets Productive Unit with generate this clean pellet fuel based on forest residues.

The project hopes to bring a world-known technology that in turn will encourage the forestry sector in the country by adding value to its waste, and generate more employment and income in the high Andes rural areas of the country.

About the company

Biopower Capital is a Peruvian start-up that seeks to design, develop and implement sustainable and profitable projects that address the challenges of the ‘circular economy’, poverty and unemployment in Peru. www.biopowercapital.com

Adaptation of Pellet Pilot Plant from Pine waste