Based in Feldafing, Germany, Smart Hydro Poweris a start-up company with an incredible mission: they’ve been developing a power source that’s fuelled by flowing river water. The SMART kinetic hydro turbine they’ve designed generates electricity without harming the environment, and it’s both transportable and affordable enough to be implemented in isolated rural communities. These are areas that generally rely upon diesel generators to get a few hours of daily electricity, if they have any power at all. In comparison, one SMART turbine generates up to 5Kw, which is enough to power 10 households. Smart Hydro Power’s newest initiative is to bring this sustainable energy to the little village of Marisol, Peru.
Smart Hydro Power developed a concept to implement a hybrid system in this region: the SMART Turbine combined with photovoltaic cells for daily peaks. It’s possibility to re-think the entire business model for much faster development and instant delivery of a better quality of life for this highly-motivated community. A similar project in Akwanga, Nigeria, was extremely successful, and can easily be emulated around the world. Wholly dependent on its cocoa plantation, Marisol is a hard-working community of approximately 200 people, and could benefit enormously from this endeavor… but the project needs some help to succeed.
In order to achieve their goal, Smart Hydro Power launched an Indiegogo campaign with the goal of raising €35, 000 to allow the turbine and the photovoltaic system to be implemented without any cost to the Marisol community. Within minutes, donations started to come in only through their own social networking as well as word-of-mouth awareness. Should the goal be reached or surpassed, similar projects for other isolated communities will most definitely begin as soon as possible.
There are some great perks to be attained, even for smaller donations. For donations over €5, 000, backers are even given a prototype of Smart Hydro Power’s new turbine. Even for those who cannot support the project, the innovators ask that people just help to spread the word about the initiative in the hope of raising greater awareness.
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