2019_06_24_CIE_energy_global_award

Xabier Álvarez de Eulate, Paola Juan Pérez and Raúl Ilundain López - graduates in Biology from the University of Navarra - have participated in the project "Utilization of solar energy in the drying process of agricultural products" awarded with the Energy Globe Award, an international distinction that recognizes sustainable projects in the energy field.

This project, led by the high school Tecnológico de Costa Rica (TEC), "allows the use of solar energy (thermal and photovoltaic) in small companies in the agri-food sector (dairies, cocoa producers, etc.) to reduce the energy costs of production", according to Xavier Álvarez de Eulate, one of the scholarship holders from Navarre.

The three Navarrese have participated in the winning project in Costa Rica thanks to a scholarship PIN (Plan Internacional de Navarra) which has involved a six-month internship at the high school Technological of Costa Rica. Raúl Ilundain has indicated that his responsibility has been to supervise several companies where the project was being developed. "Working in the analysis and management of data, in the essay of reports and academic papers or in the exhibition of the results", adds Álvarez de Eulate.

For his part, the coordinator of the project and tutor of the students, Dr. Tomás de Jesús Guzmán has highlighted the good preparation of the students: "It has been a great satisfaction for me to have been their tutor and to see the academic quality of their training".

The PIN scholarships are aimed at university graduates from Navarra who want to start their working life in non-EU countries and who spend six months doing internships abroad related to their professional field. Ilundain has positively evaluated his stay in Costa Rica: "I have been able to get to know another culture and another way of life, travel through several Central American countries and make friends from all over the world. Professionally I have learned to collaborate in a very ambitious project , to know the way of working in other countries and universities".

This is the second consecutive year that TEC has received this award. Last year the award was given to project "Solar thermal systems for agricultural operations" in which alumni OihanPlá, Santiago Redin and Irene Duque participated.

The award, awarded by the Austrian-based Energy Globe Foundation, was created in 1999 by Austrian energy pioneer Wolfgang Neumann and is one of today's most prestigious environmental awards.