!["It trains local technicians to maintain and control [the] technology."](https://www.thecooldown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kara-Solarimage-recOx4UYcJus7owoy.jpg?w=1920&h=800)
A fleet of solar-powered canoes is quietly reshaping life along Amazonian rivers, giving Indigenous communities a greener, more independent future.
As reported by Mongabay, a project called Kara Solar, led by Indigenous engineers and community leaders, has been building and deploying solar-powered canoes since 2017.
The initiative began in Ecuador's Amazon and has since expanded to Brazil, Peru, Suriname, and even the Solomon Islands. Each boat replaces noisy, gas-guzzling motors with clean solar power, helping residents cut fuel costs while protecting the rivers they depend on.
The first solar canoe, named Tapiatpia, completed a 1,100-mile journey through the Amazon in 2017, proving the design could handle the rigors of river life. Since then, Kara Solar has delivered 12 boats and built solar recharge stations that double as community energy hubs.
As executive director, Nantu Canelos explained to Mongabay, "It trains local technicians to maintain and control [the] technology, ensuring that power and the future remain in their hands."
For many Indigenous communities in the Amazon, rivers are the highways of daily life.
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By choosing solar boats over road expansion, Kara Solar is doing more than saving fuel; it's also keeping deforestation at bay.
Roads often invite destructive industries like illegal logging and mining. Canoes, on the other hand, strengthen river transport while protecting local ecosystems and traditions.
The benefits go beyond the environment. Gasoline boats are loud and disruptive, sometimes scaring off fish and wildlife. Solar boats glide almost silently, improving hunting and fishing while keeping the air and water free from exhaust fumes.
Kara Solar's ambitions are big: expand across 400 kilometers (249 miles) of rivers in Ecuador's Pastaza province, then across the Amazon Basin, with 10,000 boats in operation by 2030. Its sister company, Motores Amazonas, is working to build local manufacturing units so that communities can produce and maintain the boats themselves.
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Very 😍 "The Amazon is one of the few regions in the world without existing wide-scale infrastructure for transportation and electricity. How it is built will determine the future of Indigenous territories and the fate of the planet," said co-founder Oliver Utne.
From powering canoes to preserving culture, these solar boats aren't just navigating rivers. They're charting a new course for the Amazon's future.
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