Alberto Cuenca

Ecuadorian inventor of the world's first solar-powered irrigation system in 1953

Alberto Cuenca (1920-1998) revolutionized agriculture in the Andes with his solar-powered irrigation system, developed in the highlands of Ecuador. A self-taught engineer from Cotopaxi province, he created the Sistema de Riego Solar Andino in 1953 using recycled materials and solar thermal technology. His innovations included:

• Solar-powered pumps using parabolic mirrors
• Water storage systems using insulated adobe tanks
• Evaporation-reducing canal designs

By 1960, his system irrigated 2,500 hectares of previously arid land, tripling crop yields for 800 farming families. Cuenca's 1958 book Energy from the Sun became a manual for solar agriculture in Latin America. His invention predated modern photovoltaic technology by a decade, using thermal principles instead.

Despite opposition from diesel equipment manufacturers, he secured funding from the Inter-American Development Bank. The United Nations later adopted his designs in its 1965 solar energy initiative. Modern installations at the Cuenca Agricultural Institute still use his original principles. His correspondence with Egyptian engineer Abdel Kader Helmy reveals cross-continental exchanges on solar applications.

Cuenca's legacy includes the Solar Andes Project, a UNESCO-endorsed initiative training Andean farmers in solar technology. His original prototype is displayed at the Quito Science Museum, showing how polished copper mirrors focused sunlight onto water-filled copper pipes to create steam pressure for pumps.