Solar Cooking
Last edited: 18 December 2023      
Bolivia Inti-Sud Soleil reports a decade of success - Bolivia Inti-Sud Soleil reports they have distributed more than 20,000 ecological appliances since 2000. From these 20,000, 14,000 have been solar cookers, mainly distributed in the South American countries of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Additionally, 5,000 Rocket Stoves were distributed in the African countries of Benin, Chad, and Guinea, as well as to the South American countries. Besides solar cookers and stoves, they have also provided fireless cookers, solar food dryers and solar showers.

Events[]

Featured international events[]

ISES SWC 2025 logo, 7-22-25
  • 3-7 November 2025 (Fortaleza, Brazil): Solar World Congress 2025 - The Solar World Congress (SWC) is the official congress of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), held every two years since 1970. It is the world’s largest event for scientific and technological dissemination in the field of solar energy conversion technologies, along with other renewable energy sources. The congress gathers professors, researchers, students, public managers, company representatives, and other professionals in this field. SWC 2025 will take place at a crucial time for global discussions on the advancement of renewable energy, as COP30 will take place in Belem, Brazil only a few days after SWC 2025 closes. (Early bird registration by 7 August 2025) More information...
COP30 logo, 10-30-25
  • NEW:  10-21 November 2025 (Belém, Brazil):The Conference of the Parties (COP30) - The largest global United Nations event for discussions and negotiations on climate change. COP is held annually, with the presidency rotating among the five UN-recognized regions. In 2025, Brazil will have the honor of hosting the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). The chosen city will provide the world with a unique platform to discuss climate solutions, firmly rooted in the heart of the Amazon. The event will gather world leaders, ministers and representatives of international organizations to discuss how to tackle the climate crisis through fair and sustainable energy transitions, as well as forest and biodiversity conservation. Solar Cookers International's, Executive Director, Caitlyn Hughes, Science Director, Dr. Alan Bigelow, and Strategic Partnerships Manager, Keith Wingeard, will be representing the solar cooking community. The SCI team will showcase the success of new programs in Mali and the Central African Republic, along with progress from the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. See the schedule of SCI's participation and presentations...
See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in Peru

News[]

Tara Edna Miller box oven, Puna, Peru, 12-16-23

Fresh pink trout from Lake Titicaca is baked in an ULOG style solar box oven, Photo credit: Tara Edna Miller

  • December 2023: Tara Edna Miller shares a photo of fresh pink trout from Lake Titicaca baking in an ULOG-style solar box oven on the Capachica Peninsula in Puna, Peru. The oven was constructed by a skilled Moreno carpenter who lives in the heights of Puno. The reflectors are made from printer plates.
  • September 2015: Bolivia Inti-Sud Soleil (BISS), in association with Engineers without Borders, has started a new project called Plug in Peru (PIP), implemented by three engineering students from École Centrale de Nantes. Photovoltaic (PV) panels were added to the solar stoves, which were distributed in the Andes. While the solar cooker is in position for cooking, these PV panels will store energy to charge cell phones, radios, and batteries – a need that was identified in the local villages. The students’ project was based in La Paz, on the premises of Inti Illimani (BISS’ partner in Bolivia), which enabled the team to obtain the necessary materials and build the kits before the workshop which was organized in the community of Ch'uxña Quta, 250 km north of La Paz. Despite some initial technical difficulties, this project raised interest from the local population, and the team left one of the kits behind so that the villagers could use it as needed. Follow-up visits will be made by local teams to evaluate the use of the kits.
Tara Miller, El Collao, Peru, 2-26-12

Tara Miller demonstrates the solar cookers to a government official in Feb. 2012.

  • February 2012: At the invitation of the Municipalidad de El Collao, Ilave, Tara Miller and Sam Brown gave a solar cooking demonstration to a gathering of over 200 government officials from the area. They used a ULOG cooker newly made in Puno and an older four reflector panel cooker we had made in 1997 on Taquile Island. We cooked yams in both cookers in partly cloudy conditions. Tara mentioned, there were 300 printed copies of our cooker building instructions available, and they ran out. Read more...
  • August 2010: Project News: Bolivia - Peru Solar Cook Stoves - actioncarbone.org
BYU project in Peru

Residents try cooking with the new oven provided by the Brigham Young University student project

BYU project in Peru at lake

Brigham Young University student project.

  • May 2010: Nineteen Brigham Young University student engineers traveled to Peru’s fabled high mountain Lake Titicaca to deliver a special solar oven as part of their course on sustainable engineering projects that help improve local people’s standard of living. The students worked with the people of the Uros Islands. The islands are constructed from floating beds of reeds and soil about nine feet thick, anchored to the lakebed with boulders. Power is difficult to come by, so the Uros cook fish, fowl and homegrown potatoes with expensive propane stoves or time-consuming, reed-fed fires. Local residents were intrigued by the new approach to cooking. More Information...
  • November 2008: In late 2006, Acciónatura, a Spanish NGO, approached Solar Household Energy (SHE) about implementing a project in Peru with their Peruvian partner NGO. While they had the funding to buy the HotPots and implement the project, they did not have the solar cooking technical expertise. Therefore, they requested in-country technical solar cooking support from Solar Household Energy (SHE). SHE signed a Terms of Reference with Acciónatura to work in a consortium with Asociación de Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) to conduct a solar cooking project. The solar cooking trainings were launched in mid-April outside of Lucre, Peru (about 30 kilometers from Cuzco). During five separate trainings, 100 women learned solar cooking techniques. Traditional Peruvian dishes, estofada (chicken and potato stew), rice, and baked peaches were cooked. All the women were extremely impressed with the ability of the HotPot to cook traditional food. In the coming months, the women will attend follow-up meetings where they will share solar cooking experiences. Additionally, the women will participate in a work-exchange program. In the work-exchange program, the women will plant trees in a reforestation project, conduct solar cooking demonstrations in their communities, and conduct solar cooking demonstrations at a regional food fair.

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History[]

Centro de la Familia Anna Dengel

Two staff members of the Centro de la Familia Anna Dengel in Arequipa, Peru undertook a pilot project early in the 1990s. The project included both a pilot and an implementation stage. In the pilot part, they considered a range of cooker designs, and settled on a box cooker of cardboard. After that decision, an implementation process involved the construction of 30 cookers by persons who were also trained in cooking methods. All 30 persons were able to complete the construction process successfully.

Next, 24 people were trained in use of the cooker; 80% or 19 family cooks successfully used the boxes they had made. With that project behind them, the two promoters began to seek additional resources to expand their efforts. To the best of our knowledge, they were not successful in locating funds for a larger effort.

In 2002, each was however working separately to promote cookers. Sister Patricia Gootee continued to make and sell a small number of cookers, and Geovana Rivera also taught solar cooking, and designed and built new types of cookers.

A Center of Renewable Energy was created in Lima. Its work included design, research, and construction of several models of solar cookers. In addition, Jorge Armando Choque Chacolla, of the Centro Poblado Menor in Tacna, an Andean area, worked to spread solar cooking in mountainous areas.

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The entities listed below are either based in Peru or have initiated solar cooking projects there:

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