Enel Green Power Brings Renewable Energy to Rural Peru

Collaboration between Enel Green Power and the Indian NGO Barefoot College has produced its first major achievement, after electricity was brought to the village of Japopunco in the Peruvian Andes.

Enel Green Power and the Indian NGO Barefoot College has seen its first major achievement, after electricity was brought to Japopunco, a village in the Peruvian Andes. The project, carried by the Peruvian NGO Labor, centres on mothers and grandmothers from the village, which is located at a height of 4800 metres, where they installed PV solar panels at every house after having been trained for six months at the Barefoot College in India.

The solar kit supplied to each family consists of a solar panel, a battery, LED lamps and a mobile panel to charge the portable solar lantern. A solar electrical box, which is powered by four panels, has also been installed for the community.

The main feature of the Barefoot approach is identifying a number of women, who are often semi-illiterate and range from 35 to 50 years of age, and putting them in a special training programme aimed at turning them into Barefoot Solar Engineers (BSE). While no longer young they can nonetheless very easily learn a new skill, care about their land and have a smaller family burden than that of young mothers.

Panels are also a source of income for Japopunco