Solar Baking Under the Sonoran Sun
Laurie Stone
©1997 Laurie Stone
W
alk down almost any city street
in Sonora, Mexico and you’re
likely to see bakeries filled with
sweet breads, empenadas and Mexican
cookies. Ciudad Obregon is no different.
In a small, poor neighborhood on the
outskirts of Ciudad Obregon (a city of
400,000), a group of women have
started their own bakery. Along the dirt
roads of Aves del Castillo and under the
heat of the Sonoran sun, this small
group of women make and sell their
own breads and empenadas. These
women are taking a different
approach—they’re baking with the sun.
50 Home Power #59 • June / July 1997
Two years ago, Ken Olson and I, of Solar Energy
International (SEI), had the pleasure of visiting Aves del
Castillo. Through the Tucson based Farmer to Farmer
organization and the Sonoran branch of Save the
Children (FAI), we were introduced to a woman’s group
called Mujeres Activas (Active Women). And active they
are. These women, from one of the poorest
neighborhoods of Ciudad Obregon, have not let their
economic problems impede their desire for an improved
quality of life. With the help of FAI, Mujeres Activas
have held nutrition clinics, started a program to sell soy
products, learned to build straw-bale houses, and have
been building and cooking with solar ovens.
There is a great need for employment in Aves del
Castillo. The women of Mujeres Activas were looking
for a micro-enterprise that could help support their
families. Of all the different possibilities presented
before them, they felt a solar bakery could best meet
their needs. And having solar cooked for their families
for months, they were already hooked on solar cooking.
 Solar Cooking

Above: Cutting the wood Above: Making templates of the Above: The basic oven box.
for the oven frame. oven so it can be easily replicated. Photo by: Cholla Eaton
Photo by: Cholla Eaton Photo by: Cholla Eaton

For the next two years while we looked for funding, the
women worked out their plan. They decided who would
be involved, what they would bake, and how they would
advertise. With the help of the Tides, Greenville, and
International Foundations, SEI was able to return to
Ciudad Obregon to help the women with the solar oven.
Ed Eaton, Cholla Eaton (Ed’s daughter and our trusty
photographer), Laurie Loeb, and I, all of SEI, headed
down to Sonora to meet the women involved, teach
them to build commercial size solar ovens, and try out
numerous solar baked mexican pastries.
The Oven
Ed had designed a large commercial size solar oven
which we use to bake cookies at our local summer fair.
With adjustments to the materials and the angle of the
glass we had a great model for the bakery in Sonora.
We built two ovens for the Aves del Castillo bakery. The
first one was built at our office in Colorado. We made
this oven into a kit for easy assembly. This made it
much simpler to teach all the steps involved in building
the oven while we helped them put together the kit. It
also made the second oven, built from scratch in
Ciudad Obregon with local materials, come together
quicker than we could have ever imagined.
Each oven is 76 by 34 inches to accommodate a
standard sized glass pane. They are made of 3/4 inch
plywood and ductboard insulation. The double pane
tempered glass is angled at 30˚ (the latitude of Ciudad
Obregon is 28˚). There are two side reflectors (40 by 42
inches), angled at 60˚, and a back reflector (76 by 42
inches) which hinges so it can be adjusted to any angle
depending on the season and time of day. The
reflectors are covered with Everbright, a shiny
aluminum. The ovens are divided in half with a door on
the back side of each. We have found in our cookie
baking experience that using a fan to circulate the air
does wonders for cookies and pastries. We included
one PV powered fan in each side of the oven. The fans
are run by a 6 Volt, 5 Amp module.
The ovens are on stands with wheels on the bottom to
accommodate easy tracking of the sun. A local
carpenter built the stands along with an adjustable rack
to hold the PV panel. When the ovens are not in use
the panel folds down out of the way, and when in use it
can be tilted to varying angles.
Building the ovens couldn’t have gone smoother. There
are four women involved in the bakery, but on the first
day of the oven
building eight
women showed
up. They told us
they weren’t all

Above: Attaching the doors Above: Working on the oven box. Above: Patricia attaching the
for the oven. Photo by: Cholla Eaton Everbright to the reflector.
Photo by: Cholla Eaton Photo by: Laurie Stone

Home Power #59 • June / July 1997 51

 Solar Cooking

Above: Julia, Guillermina, and Above: Siliconing the oven. Above: Attaching the Everbright
Rosario working on the oven. Photo by: Cholla Eaton to the reflector.
Photo by: Cholla Eaton Photo by: Cholla Eaton

part of the official bakery group but were eager to learn
about building ovens. They asked us if it was okay if
they helped out. We were ecstatic that more people
wanted to learn about solar cooking. During the next
few days many people stopped by to pick up a hammer,
sketch out the oven plans, or just watch this huge solar
oven being built.
On the first day we had barely pulled out the tools
before the women were hard at work. Their energy and
enthusiasm made the first oven come together in a day
and a half. We thought that building the second oven
from scratch would take much longer, yet the women
knew exactly what to do and were so eager to get the
oven built they didn’t want to stop working. One day
after getting the main box put together and the
insulation put in, we left for our lunch break. When we
came back three hours later (many Mexicans like long
lunch breaks to avoid working during the hottest part of
the day), we were surprised to see that Rosalinda and
Lupita had not even left for lunch. They had worked
straight through and both of the side reflectors were
now on the oven. At that rate it only took two days for
the second oven to be ready for cooking.
Empenadas and More Empenadas
Now, with the ovens built, came the hard part—learning
to run a business. The first thing that needed to be
done was to test out the recipes in the ovens. The next
three days were spent making empenadas filled with
squash or strawberry jam, cookies, breads, muffins,
pizzas, and coyotas (a Sonoran staple, a large flat
pastry filled with brown sugar). We, of course, had to be
the tasters to make sure all the recipes were up to par.
They were delicious! Every day the women also cooked
lunch for everyone in the ovens, making rice, fish,
pizza, and steamed vegetables.
During those next days we also discussed the follow-up
to the project. We provided the women with a weekly
form to be filled out. The forms are to be used to keep
records of the bakery and for us to keep track of how
the bakery is doing. It asks questions such as:
• How many of each type of pastry or bread was made
each day?
• How many customers did you have each day?
• How many people worked and how many hours were
worked each day?
• How much money was spent on ingredients weekly?
• What was the weekly profit?
• What problems, if any, did you have with the oven?
• What new things were tried?
The women already have an advertising plan worked
out. They are going to hang up and hand out flyers

Above: Rosalinda attaching Above: Three of the children Above: Everybody working
the sides of the oven. working on the doors. on the oven.
Photo by: Cholla Eaton Photo by: Laurie Stone Photo by: Cholla Eaton

52 Home Power #59 • June / July 1997

 Solar Cooking

Above: Rosalinda and Lupita Above: The bakery crew in front of Above: Making empanadas
varnishing the finished oven. the two finished ovens. and coyotas.
Photo by: Cholla Eaton Photo by: Cholla Eaton Photo by: Laurie Stone

throughout the neighborhood and advertise on the local
radio station. Dora Elia, a woman working with FAI, is
going to teach them about accounting. SEI provided the
women with a loan to buy any baking equipment they
might need such as bread pans and cookie trays. FAI is
providing them with a location for the bakery. Any profits
they make, after they pay themselves a decent salary
and pay off their loans, will be reinvested in the bakery
to build more ovens, build a nicer space for the bakery,
or even expand to open a cafe. They are also thinking
of building and selling smaller family size ovens to
people in Aves del Castillo and neighboring
communities.
Solar Baking Significance
The bakery was to open at the end of March. The
women of the solar bakery will not only be earning
much needed salaries, they will also be spreading the
word about solar cooking. Micro-enterprises like the
Aves del Castillo solar bakery have far reaching
consequences. Now that the women are earning
money their children can go to school, they can provide
their families with shoes and clothes, and they don’t
have to worry about whether they will be able to put
food on their plates.
This model micro-enterprise also has significance world
wide. The women of Aves del Castillo have proven that
with some will, determination, and sunshine, people can
improve their quality of life. There are people all over
the world who could benefit from a solar business like
this bakery. Although most solar projects in developing
countries focus on rural areas, there is also great need
in the cities. Unemployment is high in the developing
world. Often people from rural areas flock to cities in
search of employment, only to find themselves living on
the streets with the rest of the unemployed. Reducing
the appeal of urban life by bringing electricity to rural
areas is one way solar energy can improve people’s
lives. But creating employment in cities is another way
to better people’s lives which cannot be overlooked.
The Sonoran commercial solar ovens are sure to bake
up hundreds of empenadas and coyotas. However,
there is much more to running a successful solar
bakery than a hot solar oven. The enthusiasm,
competence, and devotion of these women is sure to
make Ciudad Obregon’s (if not Mexico’s) first solar
bakery a huge success.
Access
Author: Laurie Stone, Oven designer: Ed Eaton,
Solar Energy International, PO Box 715,
Carbondale, CO 81623 • 970-963-8855
Fax: 970-963-8866 • E-Mail: sei@solarenergy.org
Web: www.solarenergy.org

Above: Watching the Above: Rosalinda with some Above: Enjoying the empenadas
empanadas bake. fresh baked cupcakes. fresh out of the oven.
Photo by: Laurie Stone Photo by: Laurie Stone Photo by: Cholla Eaton

Home Power #59 • June / July 1997 53