Regulatory and planning approach to rural electrification in insolated areas of the Amazon: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and and Perú. the case study of Villa Santa Rosa, Peru

Abstract

The Latin America and the Caribbean regions are very close to achieving universal energy access. As a matter of fact, access to electricity is currently 95% according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). However, although efforts have been made by governments to achieve universal access to electricity, there are still approximately 34 million people that are not provided with modern electricity services. Many of these people live in rural areas that are found in isolated remote locations, as it is the case of some of the inhabitants of the Amazonian region. Providing electricity services to communities in the Amazon rainforest is a big challenge. Besides the remoteness and isolation situation of these people, there are additional factors that hamper the progress of electricity access for these populations such as; the high poverty levels they face, the lack of road infrastructure to access to these communities, the low density of these areas and, not to forget that some zones of the Amazon are protected which restricts possible electrification projects. Despite these difficulties, there are rural electrification solutions that can be implemented to tackle this problem. Lack of electricity access in the Amazon is not due to a techno-economical problem, as now there are different technologies available for this purpose. The establishment of sustainable business models that have an impact on universal electricity access in this area require a sound regulatory framework, which plays an important role as national policies and legislations, as well as, rules of remuneration, financing programs and; subsidies can either incentivize or deter companies for investing in rural electrification projects. Nevertheless, undertaking rural electrification projects in the Amazonian rainforest can be a complicated, time and money consuming task especially due to the lack of perfect information because basic data is not easy to obtain such as knowing the approximate number of people, their electricity needs or even worst, the exact location of some communities. Moreover, since rural electrification depends on limited economic resources, the need of taking advantage of software tools that help overcome the lack of information and that support the electrification planning becomes essential so that these resources can be optimally allocated in order to obtain cost-efficient solutions. In sum, this thesis aims to contribute to the development of rural electrification in isolated areas of the Amazonian region that delimits Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. First, by studying the current electrification situation of the Amazon rainforest and the existing rural electrification framework of each country. Second, by presenting a case study of the Villa Santa Rosa community in Peru where the implementation of software tools will be described to be considered as an option to support rural electrification planning in the Amazon.