NICARAGUA NEWS – Stamford-based Viridian, a unit of Crius Energy, has chosen Portrero Platanal, Nicaragua, a village inaccessible by car and with no prospects of an energy grid supply, as the fifth location of its global sustainability initiative.
The community in 2015 will receive power in 48 homes.
Since 2011, Viridian has completed a major project on a different continent each year, including reforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and solar power installations on schools, homes and community centers in Ghana, Indonesia and Fiji.
Projects have included tree planting in a deforested area of the Amazon basin, installation of renewable power units in three villages in Ghana, installation of solar power and lighting and a clean-water pipeline in Indonesia and this year the installation of solar panels on a community center, planting of 4,000 tree seedlings and instructing children in envionmental awareness on Fiji.
“Viridian Energy designs its `7 Continents in 7 Years’ projects with an eye for continuing service,” said Cami Boehme, chief strategy officer. “For example, following our project in the Amazon rainforest, we established an ongoing project called Amazon Preservation Project where we travel back to the Amazon each year to continue to reforest badly damaged forest area.”
Viridian said use of its products, including residential solar power, has helped avoid more than 4.5 billion pounds of carbon emissions.
The announcement was made at Viridian’s fifth annual PowerUP! convention, held in Ledyard at Foxwoods Resort & Casino.
PowerUP! began with tours of a nearby waste-to-energy plant that processes tons of casino and municipal waste to generate enough electricity to supply 18,000 Connecticut homes. Home to its own 16-megawatt natural gas fuel tri-generation power plant, Foxwoods Resort & Casino was chosen as the venue for Viridian’s annual event, in part, because of its commitment to reducing its own carbon footprint and operating greener enterprises.
The Foxwoods tri-gen plant supplies roughly 60 percent of the electricity used by the resort and casino and is capable of producing steam which can heat and cool all of Foxwoods.
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