Quiron-Project by IDEAAS

Brazil

One of the most important activities of the Canopus Foundation is the funding and support of strategies for poverty alleviation through the deployment of sustainable technologies and associated financing solutions.

In 2004 the foundation supported the set up of the Brazilian non-profit organization IDEEAS’s (Instituto para o Desenvolvimento de Energias Alternativas e da Auto Sustentabilidade) project Quiron. The contact had been formed while working for the initiative “Entrepreneurs for a World Free of Poverty“. Quiron is a unique and exemplary project that shows possible productive uses of sustainable energy in the following areas:

  • Rural electrification through photovoltaic technology
  • Organic agriculture and livestock farming
  • Species protection and forestry with native plants
  • The fight against global warming

Quiron links the rural power supply through photovoltaic systems with an increased yield of organic dairy and meat production by means of solar energy electric fences. The result at the end of the supply chain is a certified organic “water buffalo mozzarella”, a premium product for the American and European delicatessen market that will secure the Quiron peasants and gauchos an adequate income.

An equity stake of 50.000 euro by Canopus Foundation’s affiliated company forseo GmbH the Quiron helped to put the project on a sound capital basis in its critical early stages and to guarantee IDEAAS a better solvency.