Some months ago we reported on solar panels being fitted to a shack in one of the many shanty towns in South Africa and discussed the difference that was making to an individual’s life. Therefore, it is interesting to hear of solar panels being fitted to some homes of those less well off than many of their fellow countrymen in another part of the world.
Jorge Merino (standing)
(image credit: Congreso de la Republica del Perú)
The country concerned is Peru and it has been announced by Jorge Merino, who is the Minster of Energy and Mines, that in excess of two million people in the country will have an electricity supply provided to their homes by the use of solar panels. Initially, the project has started off with 1,600 solar panels being installed in a rural location in Contumaza that is situated in the Northwest part of Cajamarca.
Although the project is in the early stages, it is expected that as many as half a million homes that are located in areas that suffer from very bad poverty will benefit from receiving electrical power for the first time of a kind that we are used to using here in the UK. Yes, this may surprise a lot of you to hear that, in the world that we currently live in, that people could still be without electricity supplies as we know it.
Therefore, this scheme is not only of environmental benefit to Peru but it is also one of potential social benefit.
If the scheme goes according to plan, it is hoped that, by 2016, things will have progressed to such an extent that as many as 95% of those people living in Peru will have electricity at a cost of about £136 million. Yes, it will still mean that 5% will not have power but progress will have been made. There are currently many homes that do not even have an electric light.
We shall continue to monitor progress of the installation of this solar panel project in Peru.
