Protect forest now

Protect forest now
Wilderness International

Self-sufficient energy in the Secret Forest at last! 

We have installed solar systems in our research and forest guardian:indoor stations in our protected areas in the Peruvian rainforest, which finally guarantee a permanent, sustainable power supply 

We already announced it in our expedition report: our research and forest guardian:inside stations now finally have self-sufficient energy! 

 

We would like to thank the Audi Environmental Foundation for co-financing the installation of the solar systems and the batteries for a sustainable, self-sufficient power supply! Together with local solar installers from Soleil Ambiental, we brought the entire technology to the Secret Forest in March and April and set it up. 


Stationary researchers and forest guardian staff live and work in the two stations at the heart of our protected areas. The researchers conduct long-term biodiversity monitoring and project-based research to collect important environmental data that we use for environmental education and communicate to you as donors. The forest guardian team monitors our protected areas on a daily basis to protect the flora and fauna from illegal deforestation and poaching and is in constant communication with the local communities. 

 

The WI Peru team is growing steadily, and we are delighted that more and more Peruvians are getting involved in protecting the rainforest! Of course, we also want to offer the forest guardian and researchers in our protected areas a good livelihood - because this automatically increases the quality of our research work. However, our two stations are located in an area far away from any central energy supply, and the living conditions for all residents are rudimentary. Nevertheless, charging facilities for drone batteries, air quality sensors, camera trap systems, lamps for night research missions to analyze biodiversity, research technology and refrigerators must be kept in operation. Until now, we have obtained the necessary energy exclusively from fossil fuels. Fortunately, this has now changed! 

 

Since April 2024, the solar power grid has been saving 3,500 liters of petrol a year for the generators, which we have completely replaced with solar energy! The solar stations greatly improve the quality of life on site because electricity is now available at all times. The two systems even offer the possibility of storing energy for several rainy days! What sounds obvious to us brings an enormous amount of freedom for our teams in the rainforest. They can now communicate with the outside world at any time and research on the internet, allowing them to organize their daily routine much more independently! 

 

The installation of the systems also has a great and important side effect: the solar panels at the forest guardian:innen station were built as a roof construction with a stable base - and thus form the previously missing roof of our newly created Green Classroom! In future, this will serve as a central location for community and environmental education projects.