PV system-based rural electrification. Oxapampa-Ashaninka-Yanesha biosphere reserve.
On 27 August 2012, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved the financing for one million dollars for ACCIONA Micronergía Perú (ACCIONA Microenergy Peru) for the purchase of 1,700 Domestic PV Solar (DPVS) units, as well as an additional $300,000 donation towards technical assistance, which will be made formal on 27 September. This credit line will help to drive and further develop the project has been welcomed as a guarantee for the project’s sustainability and its business model which is rather unusual in this kind of financing. This financing follows an intense process of explanation and documentation of the proposal, and ACCIONA corporate volunteers and staff from the ACCIONA Microenergy Foundation and ACCIONA Microenergy Peru have worked hard and very closely over the past six months with IBD professionals. The “Luz en casa” (“Light in the Home”) program was developed as a project capable of being sustainable over time, based on a business model that ensures that economic benefits are channeled mainly towards end-users.
The first PV-based rural electrification concession
In addition, the Directorate-General of Electricity of Peru’s Energy and Mining Ministry granted ACCIONA Microenergy Peru a rural electricity concession to provide energy to the town of La Lucmilla, in the Cachachi district (Cajabamba Province) in Peru’s Cajamarca region. This is the first rural electricity concession awarded in Peru to be based exclusively on PV solar systems. Applications have already been made for electricity concessions in the other towns and areas covered by ACCIONA Energy Peru.
These two events come as milestones in the consolidation of a social micro-enterprise project. However, the project will only be sustainable over time if those who benefit from the systems help to run them. Accordingly, ACCIONA Microenergy Peru organized special training sessions for end-users and set up PV Electrification Committees in each town whose mission it is to provide information on the correct use of the equipment and acquaint users with preventive maintenance procedures. The first beneficiaries to receive training at this stage were the inhabitants of the Tumbadén district of San Pablo Province (Cajamarca region) in the towns of El Suro, Ventanillas, Chaupiloma, El Progreso, Tumbadén Grande, Chacapampa, Choro El Triunfo, Ingatambo, Vista Alegre, Maraypampa and Peña Blanca. The local townspeople showed an interest in getting involved in the project when many of them turned out for the sessions and then signed their respective contracts for the use of the domestic PV solar units and the service agreement for parts and maintenance.
Since 2010, Acciona Microenergy Peru has been providing basic electricity services based on domestic PV solar units to 610 households in isolated rural communities in the Cajamarca region. At present it is installing a further 700 systems and, there are plans to equip another 1,700 households in 2013, giving access to energy to more than 3,000 families in all and making the “Light in the Home” program economically sustainable.
Source: ACCIONA
More information (ES): Acciona Microgeneration
