Frequently Asked Questions

Several large mining companies are eager to exploit the mineral riches of the region, particularly copper and molybdenum. The people of the region, however, have managed to block these companies from reaching the drilling stage since the 1990s. But these companies continue to promise riches to the people of the region and threaten to destroy the existing low-carbon local economy based on organic agriculture, artisanal production and ecotourism. To stop this model of extraction, the residents need to consolidate their alternative economic model they have built over 30 years and make it more visible.

As one dimension of this alternative economic model, the residents want to demonstrate that renewable energy can be built from below in collective responsibility and generate virtuous circles: the energy will be sold to the public grid, the distributed income will help families with special needs for medicine, school materials, and so on. It will also allow them to forgo activities that might lead to deforestation upstream such as maintaining livestock as a savings scheme, which is quite common in Ecuador.

The project has a political dimension. Community self-management, tech sovereignty, and collective ownership serve as counter-model to corporate “renewable” megaprojects in the region, which are contributing to green landgrabs and green colonialism. It also has a practical dimension since it will create jobs for the community in watershed management and turbine overview. It can also help address the frequent power shortages that have plagued Ecuador lately.

The members of Hidroaguagrun already have experience in building mini-water turbines for the needs of remote individual farms out of upcycled, smelted motorcycle parts. Now they would like to move to a larger, communitarian project that can sell energy to the public grid that reaches most of the farms.

The area is not well-suited to solar or wind projects because it is a cloud forest. But there are many rivers and lots of water in the valley. The members of Hidroaguagrun consider hydropower to be the best transformative option for their context, provided that it is micro-, small-, or medium-scale. They say hydropower is the only renewable source that gives them agency, as it connects the production of energy with caring for the forest. Alongside the revenues generated by the sale of renewable energy, better watershed management will prevent deforestation and improve the agricultural activities.

The plant is projected to generate 300 kilowatts of electricity and thereby forgo the emission of 565 tons of carbon dioxide per year. They have conducted a successful pilot program that generated 3 kilowatts and have bought the site where the turbine will stand collectively. But they need additional funds to scale up.

The people of Hidroaguagrun have placed a number of conditions on energy projects to keep their impacts as low as possible: no dams can be built, a road already has to exist for access, the energy project cannot harm small-scale agriculture as the prevailing economic activity, all pipes must be buried underground, and the exceptional scenic beauty of the landscape cannot be affected. Also, other forms of water use in the concerned section of the river have to be respected as well as the ecological flow. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment has already categorized this project as of “non-significant impact.”

It’s a project in harmony with nature, and no animal will be affected. The project will include a fish ladder which will allow the fish to rise through the waters of the river to migrate to waters above. This is very good for the native fish called the Andean catfish.

The ideal timeline is:

• By the end of 2024, with the help of a German energy cooperative, definitive studies will be completed. Administrative steps, such as the authorization of water use, are also in progress.
• By June 2025, get enabling title from the Vice Ministry of Energy
• In July 2025, start of construction of the plant.
• Construction, equipment, transmission and commissioning, will last 12 months if the required funds are provided

The total cost of the project ranges between $275,000 and $475.000 depending on the response of some international funders. The project organizers have already submitted several smaller, partial funding requests. They are currently moving forward with some pre-investment between their own capital and the support of the German energy cooperative, which was 30.000 Euro. If more money is collected, any surplus would go toward replicating the model in other watersheds of the valley.

We have formed Valley-to-Valley to help finance the Hidroaguagrun project. International organizations and the leaders of rich countries have talked about the need to provide “climate finance” so that the Global South can make the transition away from fossil fuels. But that money has been slow in coming and it has often come with many strings attached, like high interest on loans. We think of this project as “climate finance from below.” We believe that communities in the Global North can partner with communities in the Global South to get the job done.

In addition to raising money to help the community in the Intag River Valley realize their own community-led initiative, we look forward to helping to sell in our valley what the energy has helped to produce, like chocolate and coffee. We will also encourage residents here to visit the Intag River Valley to support their ecotourism projects. And we will invite residents from there to visit our Valley as well so that they can provide direct updates on their community projects and visit our solidarity economy projects here as well.

You can learn more about the project here.

You can donate money here.

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