Doe Run Peru Helps Bring Electricity to Padre Cocha, Peru
Solar power and lead-acid batteries provide residents with basic utilities.
St. Louis, MO (PRWEB via PR Web
Direct) February 4, 2005 -– Doe Run Peru, a subsidiary of The Doe Run
Company, is helping to develop a low-cost and environmentally friendly
technology designed to support the sustainable development of isolated
communities, providing essential, affordable electricity. Alongside the
International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO) and the Common Fund for
Commodities, Doe Run Peru has sponsored the pilot project in Padre Cocha, Peru,
since its inception in 1997. The project uses a hybrid of solar power and
lead-acid batteries to provide the region with an economic and eco-friendly
source of energy.
“In a country like Peru, thousands of communities are
lacking electricity. This technology can support basic services that are often
taken for granted, including lighting for hospitals, refrigeration of medication
and food, as well as improvements to sewage systems and the water supply,”
explained Bruce Neil, president of Doe Run Peru.
Doe Run Peru operates a
metals processing facility in La Oroya, in the Peruvian Andes, and the Cobriza
copper mine in southern Peru.
At an international workshop held in
November, the participants focused on the new technology, as well as its
implications for the sustainable development of rural towns like Padre Cocha,
which is located in the Peruvian Amazon. The community, which currently relies
on expensive and environmentally unfriendly diesel generators to provide limited
electricity, lacks proper equipment to provide continuous nighttime lighting and
daytime power.
In his keynote address at the workshop, Neil stressed the
empowering benefits of this technology. “We are hopeful that this project will
serve as a model to promote health and economic benefits across Peru and in
other impoverished communities around the globe.”
The Doe Run Company,
along with its subsidiaries, is a privately held natural resource company
focused on environmentally sound mineral production, recycling and metals
fabrication. Based in St. Louis, the company and its subsidiaries serve as North
America’s largest integrated lead producer and third-largest total lead producer
worldwide, employing more than 4,000 people. The company and its employees are
committed to keeping its operations and communities clean and safe while
producing essential raw materials – lead, zinc, copper, gold and silver – that
are needed for everyday life. Doe Run and its subsidiaries have U.S. operations
in Missouri, Washington and Arizona, and in South America in Peru. Find Doe Run
on the Web at http://www.doerun.com.
Contact:
Christi
Dixon
Doe Run
(314) 469-3500
e-mail protected from spam bots
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb205762.htm