In remote villages of Andean Peru, 1 out of 10 families lack access to electricity for hot showers. In a cold environment like the Andes mountain, this results in increased rates of pneumonia, the country’s leading cause of mortality, due to the infection of bacteria and viruses which only grows in cold temperatures.

Inti Solar fights this energy and health atrocity by turning waste into power. For low-income families in the Peruvian mountains, we provide materials and training for building solar water heaters from recycled cans and bottles. Unlike one-time donations that make people dependent on aid, we provide both products and education to build community capacity, all while reducing waste and negative environmental impacts from firewood and charcoal.

So far, Inti Solar has developed a verified prototype and established a partnership with Pisac municipality to recycle wastes for the solar water heater systems. In January 2023, Inti Solar will launch its first program in Cusco, Peru, providing products and training to five families in one village. This will serve as a stepping stone for Inti Solar’s Phase Two goal, which is to train 30 Peruvian students from similar communities in building the sustainable solar water heaters and to support them to replicate the solution in their own community. In Phase Three, with an established standard operation method and a deep connection to local communities, Inti Solar will scale up to bring improved life and health opportunities to more than 200 families over the next three years.

Globally, 759 million people cannot light their homes, keep warm in the cold, or charge their phone to receive the news and communications. Around 2.6 billion people have to rely on polluting biomass fuels such as charcoal, coal, and animal waste for cooking. When Inti Solar’s founder Yirui visited the Cusibamba village, she was disheartened that villagers spent hours in the mountain collecting firewood so that their kids could take a short hot shower for once in the whole winter season.

In Peru, the problem remains untackled due to a combination of factors. First, the vast Andean mountain region lacks accessible road infrastructure. Second, the rising rent fees and general economic hardships cause people to move from the city to the fields, resulting in a rapid growth of informal settlements that are not equipped with electricity grids and basic services. Third, the infrastructure planning budgets are limited, resulting in electricity grids only running through the main roads but not reaching households farther away.

Furthermore, coexisting with the lack of government-led infrastructure development is the lack of financial resources. The average annual income for a household in the community we work with is $800 based on surveys conducted in the village. This is about 1/4 of the price of a basic industrial solar heater on sale in the city. When commercial solutions are unaffordable, Inti Solar decides to step up and fill in the gap as a nonprofit organization.

Inti Solar is well-positioned to solve this problem due to the right combination of local connections and technological expertise. In the summer of 2022, Inti Solar’s founder Yirui conducted two weeks of field research in Peru and developed personal ties with 7 communities, especially with the Cusibamba village in Cusco, where the organization will build the first 5 systems in January 2023. During the field research, Inti Solar also established a partnership with the local municipality of Pisac City to provide recycled materials for the construction of solar water heaters.

Simultaneously, Inti Solar’s co-founder Santi is an industrial engineering student who has learned the technology required for building a solar water heater and has built one successful prototype. Our next steps include both continuing to improve our product design and to develop training content for volunteers.

As an early-stage venture, Yirui and Santi have devoted more than $2500 of personal finance in conducting the field research and taking system engineering and sustainable design courses. This grant will help Inti Solar launch its first program that will bring its solution into reality, which will serve as a stepping stone for our goal for the next two years, training 30 Peruvian students from communities without electricity in constructing solar water heaters for 200 families. Finally, families in the high elevations of the Andes mountains will be able to take hot showers in the long winter, without worrying about the life-threatening cold.

Inti Solar will implement its first program by building solar water heaters for five off-grid low-income families in the Cusibamba village of Cusco, Peru in January 2023. We will bring together six student volunteers, both international and local, to build five systems for 25 people.

Inti Solar has five main objectives for this particular project

There are two more peripheral objectives:

We will take the following steps to implement our project:

Currently, the adults in the Cusibamba community have showers once per week on average, while children and younger teenagers do not have showers at all, because it is too cold. With the successful implementation of our project, we expect to see an increased frequency of showering by 100% for our beneficiaries.

Furthermore, sudden exposure to cold temperatures when taking cold showers creates a ripe opportunity for pulmonary infections which is compounded by the low frequency of showering that leads to an increased concentration of bacteria. Although we do expect to see a minimally meaningful decrease in pneumonia among the five families during this project, we will use this baseline data to iterate our strategy for future projects.

Quantitative metrics to measure project success:

In the hypothetical case that Inti Solar would not be able to meet the proposed objectives, we will fall back on a network of support: Inti Solar is trained and incubated at the globally renowned Watson Institute Accelerator, and both co-founders of the organization have experienced industry leaders as mentors. We will always count on our extensive network of mentors, teachers, and entrepreneurs to gain help to get back on track. In addition, both founders have previously founded other ventures, through which they have gained personal characteristics such as resilience and perseverance.

Inti Solar is co-founded by Yirui and Santi, both of whom are Watson Institute Venture Accelerator  Fellows (less than 5% acceptance rate).

Prior to Inti Solar, Yirui raised more than $147,700 for COVID-19 emergency response as co-initiator of student volunteer groups, represented YOUNGO (UN Youth Constituency) to speak at the UN Climate Change Conference, and organized Environmental Education Camp for 15 rural indigenous girls in China. Her passion for climate solutions and sustainable communities drives her to lead.

Santi has been a Boy Scout all his life, and his volunteer journey spans from massive events like the Youth Olympic Games to various social projects in his community, where he learned how volunteering systems work and what volunteers expect in any given activity they are investing time and effort into. As an entrepreneur, he founded two international award-winning ventures that gave him the experience of leading large groups of people, dealing with uncertainty and pressure, and making the most out of the available resources to reach the organization’s goals and objectives. Furthermore, Santi is majoring in Industrial Engineering, so he has the knowledge to help build and design solar water heater systems.

Inti Solar's newest team member is Jean. He is a Peruvian Environmental Engineer and a Research Scientist. Jean has vast experience working with sustainable housing and energy projects, and the fact that he is Peruvian is crucial for the organization's development.

The demonstrated commitments highlighted below also safeguard the project’s sustainability:

The successful implementation of this project will serve as a stepping stone towards our long-term goal: In one year, we want to scale up the solution to three more communities and train 20 more volunteers in building sustainable solar water heaters. This means a transfer of the responsibility for on-site implementation from the founders in the US and Argentina to local Peruvians. In two years, we aim to support the communities and young sustainability leaders in broader areas, like solar energy in general (instead of only solar water heaters), using our established credibility and relationships.

Inti Solar is aiming to fundrise $8,707 to build 5 solar water heaters, fund international flights for founders, provide local transportation, food, and lodging, buy tools that are going to be reused in several projects, and a computer to conduct technical analysis while in the field.

Inti Solar

For low-income families in the Peruvian mountains, Inti Solar provides materials and training for building solar water heaters from recycled cans and bottles.