“Solar Energy Innovations in Agriculture”: the project will promote the use of solar energy and technological automation in solving agricultural problems in the region

This is an automatic translation of the original message published in Spanish.

PRESS RELEASE from Mainstream Renewable Power and Universidad de Atacama.

In the middle of the Atacama Desert, in the town of Piedra Colgada in the district of Copiapó and about 15 kilometers from the Salesianos school, the institution is building its first “Technical Center for Vocational Education, Training and Experimentation”. This initiative was created in 2022 so that students of electrical and electronic engineering could have a space outside the school premises where they could strengthen and deepen their education.

One of the projects included in the center is the construction of a greenhouse for experimental agricultural use, with an area of ​​about 50 square meters, which will operate thanks to the use of solar energy. The special feature of this greenhouse is that it can be controlled directly from the school thanks to home automation systems that will be designed and built by the students of the third and fourth years themselves. This will allow them to learn and control the automation of the sowing and cultivation processes of species with lower growth possibilities in the Atacama region.

“A few years ago we began working on the project of the school’s retreat house, to transform it into an educational center that favors the development of other skills, more in the field and in practice,” says the Rector of the Salesian School of Copiapó, Michael Orellana.

The teacher also thanked the alliance formed by Mainstream Renewable Power and the Universidad de Atacama, which has allowed the Agricultural Solar Innovation Program to begin. “It is a challenge and a great opportunity for us as a training center for professional technicians, because the alliance with the company allows us to be up to date with the requirements and needs that the industry requires today, and at the same time, the university’s specialists provide us with all the technical knowledge. Then, all the work complements each other and creates a true alliance,” he said.

In this way, the Universidad de Atacama, through the Department of Energy and New Technologies, will provide specialized advice to the teaching staff of the Salesianos School and will provide the materials and equipment necessary for the production of greenhouse systems. The acquisition of the necessary tools that will allow the automation and remote management of the plantations will be possible thanks to the resources provided by Mainstream Renewable Power.

“The integration that will take place will be interactive, multidisciplinary and will allow for the increase of knowledge that exists in the region from different points of view: the innovative perspective of young people, the knowledge of teachers and the experience of the industry. “The fact that these elements can find common space will allow us to open spaces that go beyond the simple transfer of knowledge,” said the director of the Department of Energy and New Technologies of the Universidad de Atacama, Carmen Aguirre.

For his part, the Deputy Head of Public Affairs and Communities in the North Zone of Mainstream, Sebastián Espinoza, appreciated that initiatives are being created to promote the sector and the future generations that will work in the energy sector. “It is essential that more initiatives of this type are promoted in the region, which instill, promote and show that sustainability can be combined with innovation, to realize that from your profession you can generate a factor of change,” he said.