We support beekeepers activity in Chile

The first jars of honey from the Bee production monitoring programme in the area around the Tolchén power transmission line are handed over

Did you know that bees pollinate a third of what we eat, and that they play a vital role in the maintenance of our planet’s ecosystems?

 

However, these -and other- pollinators are increasingly under threat from the effect of human activity and they run the risk of becoming extinct, as the United Nations has reiterated on many occasions.

 

Furthermore, it is undeniable that beekeeping plays a major role in support for rural communities and in improving food and diet security.

Aware of this, ACCIONA’s Energy Division has set up a Bee production monitoring programme in the area around the Tolchén power transmission line; the line transports the electricity generated in the San Gabriel and Tolpán Sur wind farms in Chile. This activity, which began in June 2019, sets out to ensure that the livelihoods of the 14 local beekeepers are not affected by the operation of the power line. The programme monitors honey production at three different stations.

In a meeting with the beekeepers of the community of Mulchén held on October 8th, the progress made in the project was presented and ACCIONA handed over 30 jars of honey from the first production to members of the community and other collaborators. It is another step forward in the initiative, which still has two years to run.

Some of the activities monitored in the project are: the state of the infrastructure, the queen bee’s egg-laying capacity (number of beehives with eggs, larvae and chrysalids), the death rate, nutritional management, an estimate of the number of entries and exits to/from the hive and the measurement of the intensity of electrical and magnetic fields.

In this way, and thanks to the relationship with the communities in the areas around the wind farms, ACCIONA supports local beekeepers and also contributes to the conservation of bees, those excellent pollinators that play a key role in the ecosystem and our ability to feed ourselves.