acciona.org promotes universal access to clean energy and water in Dominican Republic

11/18/2024
  • acciona.org starts its activity in the country with a rural electrification program in the Elías Piña province as well as a water and sanitation project in the San Cristóbal province.

acciona.org announced today the start of its activity in the Dominican Republic, with the creation of a local nonprofit organization that will carry out projects to provide access to basic services such as clean energy, quality water and proper sanitation to households that do not expect to have them in the short term.

acciona.org has already begun work to carry out a rural electrification project for households without access to electricity in the Elías Piña province in order to reduce the electricity supply gap in the country. The service will be provided through residential photovoltaic systems. Elías Piña is the province with the lowest percentage of electrification in the country (87.8% in 2022), according to the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic (ONE), a problem that is more acute in rural areas.

acciona.org is also working with other organizations to bring water and sanitation to the residents of the Dominican municipality of Bajos de Haina, in the province of San Cristóbal, in order to combat the shortage of drinking water as well as deficiencies in wastewater treatment. According to the latest ONE census, “while 62.7% of urban households have access to running water within their homes, this figure drops to 44% in rural areas.”

To ensure that the services offered through these projects last, acciona.org will implement an innovative model based on affordable and sustainable long-term supply that gets local communities involved from the very first steps of the schemes.

The acciona.org foundation directly addresses two of the challenges set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs expressly call for “ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” in Goal 6 and “ensuring access to affordable, safe, sustainable and modern energy” in Goal 7. These basic goals have a direct impact on the rest of the SDGs, as they contribute directly to improving the living conditions of the beneficiaries and to making communities more resilient to climate change.

 

GLOBAL IMPACT

The projects to be implemented in the Dominican Republic will have a direct impact on improving the living conditions of communities, as demonstrated by acciona.org's track record in other countries.

Having clean energy and quality water will lead to improvements in education by facilitating the use of digital educational resources through electronic devices and providing more hours of light for children to complete homework. It will also reduce the gender gap by freeing up time primarily spent by women and girls collecting firewood or water, apart from improving their safety and including women in the decision-making and management of the services. It will also improve health by facilitating hygiene and ensuring the quality of drinking water; it will promote inclusive development by encouraging the creation of small businesses and facilitating agriculture and animal husbandry; and it will regenerate the environment by reducing the consumption of firewood, purifying water resources and avoiding the uncontrolled disposal of batteries and the use of fossil fuels such as diesel.

The Dominican Republic is the ninth country in which acciona.org is active, together with Peru, Mexico, Panama, Chile, the Philippines, Spain, Ethiopia and South Africa, where more than 130,000 people are already benefiting from sustainable, reliable and affordable clean energy, quality water and proper sanitation thanks to the foundation.

The various acciona.org projects in these countries generated 37 million hours of electricity last year, allowing families to benefit from almost 11 million additional hours of light.

The set of clean energy systems in operation prevented the emission of almost 8,800 tonnes of CO2 during the year and the uncontrolled disposal of more than 40 tonnes of batteries, while curbing forest and environmental degradation by preventing firewood collection and unhygienic waste dumping habits.