International Projects

Los Guaricano Projects Description

The community of Guaricano is a developing area north of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. They currently have a small medical clinic run by an NGO named FEDOPO. Originally, we were told that the most important need of the clinic was power for the two pumps that provided water to the building. However, after our site assessment it was apparent that the primary need was power for the 24-hour emergency room.

The current electrical system in the clinic is inadequate. The current system has no central breaker, or central disconnect. Rather, there are at least six separate breaker boxes for different parts of the building. In addition to the unorganized fashion of the system, it is also very unsafe. All the wires are open to the outside, and water leaks into at least two of the breaker boxes. The current backup system in the clinic uses four unsealed deep-cycle lead-acid batteries. Unfortunately, they are not maintained well, and need to be replaced almost every six months.

The proposed project is to implement an energy management system, as well as making the system safer.