Rural electrification in Peru

At the request of MPs in Peru, Climate Parliament has developed a document on the role of renewable energy in providing access to electricity in rural areas. The document provides a brief description of the current status and challenges of rural electrification in Peru in the context of the National Plan of Rural Electrification (2015-2024) developed and implemented by the National Directorate of Rural Electrification of the Ministry of Energy and Mining. Progress on rural electrification in Peru has so far been limited to plans to extend the national grid to isolated communities. This expansion will reach a limit of technical feasibility within three or four years. In order to reach the whole Peruvian population, future efforts on rural electrification must be based on renewables, particularly solar PV. The briefing note summarises the Community Grids Initiative currently being implemented by the Climate Parliament in West Africa. The central aim is to develop generic best-practice contracts and concession agreements governing the relationships between authorities, project developers, investors, grid utilities and the communities. Adapting this model to the Peruvian context could be crucial to guarantee the economic sustainability of investment in remote areas of low electricity consumption.