- 2,000 beneficiaries: It will supply electricity for the first time to the isolated communities of Machupicchu, Vilcabamba, Santa Teresa and Huayopata
acciona.org will expand its activity in Peru to the Cusco region, where it will provide electricity through residential photovoltaic systems to 500 homes in isolated communities in the areas of Machupicchu, Vilcabamba, Santa Teresa and Huayopata.
Thanks to this service, about 2,000 people will have access to reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity for the first time. To this end, the foundation will provide photovoltaic systems capable of providing electricity for more than six hours a day, which can power cell phone charging and a few hours of radio and TV in their homes. This equipment will replace other precarious and polluting energy sources used until now, such as diesel generators, candles, battery-powered flashlights or oil lamps.
The benefits of access to clean and reliable energy in their homes has a direct impact on the improvement of the beneficiaries’ quality of life, who report better health from avoiding toxic fumes, as well as greater economic development and a reduction in school dropout rates. Photovoltaic systems also prevent the pollution of this valuable natural environment.
acciona.org relies on the participation of the population who benefits from the project, with whom it works on the rights and duties they have, individually and communally, for the provision of the service, as well as authorities, community leaders, traditional leaders, etc. In addition, it will create the so-called Centros Luz en Casa (Lights at Home Centers) managed by local entrepreneurs, which are meant to ensure the maintenance and optimal use of residential photovoltaic equipment.
The isolation of the most remote rural houses in the department of Cusco is extreme, due to which they have no expectations of access to electricity by conventional means.
29.72% of homes in Vilcabamba still lack lighting connected to the public grid, as well as 16.19% of homes in Santa Teresa, 15.27% in Machupicchu and 13.04% in Huayopata, according to Peru's National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI).
THIRTEEN YEARS IN PERU
acciona.org began its activities in Peru thirteen years ago in the Cajamarca region, where it supplies electricity to almost 4,000 homes, as well as to community centers (schools, churches, health centers...).
In Peru, the foundation is also carrying out the Lights at Home Amazonia program, which provides electricity to more than 2,200 homes in the Peruvian basins of the Napo, Ucayali and Amazon rivers and is currently in a new scale-up phase. It also works on the Water at Home program, which has improved the water sanitation and management system in two communities in the department of Ica.
acciona.org is present, in addition to Peru, in Mexico, Chile, Panama, Spain, the Philippines and Ethiopia, where it carries out projects to provide basic water, sanitation and electricity services that already benefit about 80,000 people.