A colleague of ours has been exploring Panama recently and brought Rancho de Caldera to our attention. It’s a small resort set in the mountains of Panama with nine cabins and it’s largely energy independent. Despite being close to a volcano, geothermal systems are not part of the harvest system (even for heating/cooling), rather it is solar, wind, and micro hydro harvest backed by a battery bank and supplemented by a generator. The operator estimates that between 4.5 – 5 kW of electricity are generated per hour (1 kW from hydro/wind and the balance from solar.)

Solar Panel Array next to Powerhouse

Photo Credit: Rancho de Caldera

Battery bank in Powerhouse

Photo Credit: Rancho de Caldera

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 6:41 am and is filed under Hydro, Solar, Wind.