Image by Courtesy Eight students pose in front of the solar panels that they helped install at a school in the Dominican Republic. From left, Ryan Aistaid, Colin Ormond, Vidit Jain, Chaitanya Pyata, Nuala Rodgers, Jacob Hoffman, Jackson DeMello and Nadia Eshun.
When entering a dark room, most people turn on a light without thinking twice, but for 730 million people worldwide, access to electricity is scarce.
“People deserve to have these basic necessities. It shouldn’t be something they have to fight for,” says Jacob Hoffman, a rising junior mechanical engineering major.
Image by Courtesy Mechanical engineering major Jacob Hoffman assists with the solar power installation at a school in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Sosúa, Dominican Republic.
Hoffman and seven other UMass Lowell students completed a mechanical engineering directed study during the spring semester, which included a one-week trip to Sosúa, Dominican Republic, where they installed solar panels for residents without reliable electricity. The trip was sponsored by UMass Lowell’s Center for Energy Innovation (CEI) and the Energy Access Foundation, whose mission is to accelerate access to sustainable energy in developing countries.
“We were able to help people in need and, at the same time, help educate students and give them a valuable experiential learning experience,” says Christopher Niezrecki, CEI’s director and a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, who led the directed study. “The students got a better understanding of what life is like without the resources that we take for granted.”
Working alongside representatives of the Energy Access Foundation, the students installed solar panels at a school in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Sosúa. They then presented to the school about solar power and how it will help their educational experience.
“We were all very touched by how much this means for the community and how this will help them keep the school up and running when they have power outages,” says Nuala Rodgers, a rising junior climate change and sustainability major.
The students also installed solar power systems at three homes in the area. They designed the systems before the trip, after researching quality, cost-effective solar components and studying how much sun Sosúa receives.
“It’s really nice that the projects we engineered and installed are making an impact on people’s lives by bringing them light and energy,” says Ryan Aitsaid, a rising junior electrical engineering major.
Image by Courtesy Climate change and sustainability major Nuala Rodgers, energy engineering master's student Chaitanya Pyata and mechanical engineering master's student Vidit Jain install solar panels at the school.
The students learned a valuable lesson during the trip: Not everything goes as planned. They faced multiple challenges, including a solar battery being confiscated by the Transportation Security Administration at Boston Logan International Airport, tin roofs being too sharp to wrap wires around, and screw holes from mounting brackets posing leak hazards. However, they got creative and found solutions for each issue that appeared.
Image by Courtesy Political science major Nadia Eshun uses a drill to install a solar panel mount.
While in the Dominican Republic, the students immersed themselves in the culture. They tried local cuisine, participated in activities like surfing and explored the nearby city of Puerto Plata.
“I felt connected to the people,” says Nadia Eshun, a rising junior political science major. “They really made me feel at home.”
The students are getting updates from the Energy Access Foundation on how their solar power systems are performing.
“An important part of installing these projects, both at a larger scale at the school and smaller ones at the homes, is that our mission wasn’t just to install and forget about it. It’s about sustained community impact,” Rodgers says. “In the case of the school, we heard that they had an all-day power outage recently, but with the power generated from our solar panels, they were able to keep school in session all day.”