<
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/may/08/latin-america-community-energy-indigenous-lighting-electricity-solar-pollution-diesel-just-transition>
"When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Roxana Borda Mamani had to leave
Mexico, where she was studying for her degree in rural development and food
security, and return to her remote village in the Peruvian Amazon.
At the time, the Indigenous community in Alto Mishagua had neither an internet
connection nor a reliable energy source. “How am I going to study?” Borda
asked. “With energy from the sun,” replied her friend, a fellow member of the
Latin American Observatory for Energy Geopolitics at the Brazil-based Federal
University of Latin American Integration (Unila).
Borda began researching the components of an off-grid solar energy system:
photovoltaic (PV) panels, a battery, an inverter and a charge controller.
Five years later, her community has a 400W solar system powering a 24-hour
satellite internet connection and charging points for phones and torches next
to a small school that was set up thanks to the new energy source.
A second phase, due to be implemented this year, will equip households with PV
panels, providing the community’s 50 families with regular electricity access
and ending their reliance on expensive and polluting diesel generators.
The initiative was developed by Borda and five other students at the Energy
Observatory, with the community’s backing, support from the Canadian
energy-access charity Light Up the World, and grants.
“Our idea was to be independent [and] promote the autonomy and self-management
of the energy and communication systems,” says Borda.
The project is called Aylluq Q’Anchaynin, which means “the energy of the
community” in her native Quechua."
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
