Beyond the grid: photovoltaic electrification in rural Mexico

✍ Scribed by Jorge M. Huacuz; Jaime Agredano

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 226 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1062-7995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-159x(1998090)6:5<379::aid-pip238>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

A rural electri®cation programme with renewable energy systems was launched in Mexico in 1989, based mostly on solar home systems due to the large population dispersion. In spite of the high per-watt costs of current photovoltaic technology, over 1250 rural communities have already been electri®ed, bringing light and basic entertainment to a population of almost 200 000 people. The Mexican programme is characterized for its large scale and fast pace, and also for being socially driven. Over the years the programme has evolved into a mature, well-institutionalized process, which is described in this paper. One of the main achievements of the Mexican programme has been the full involvement of the national electric utility and other government organizations, which led to the creation of an operational framework for quality assurance, including user training and the development of technical speci®cations.