Photovoltaics for Rural Development in Latin America: A Quarter Century of Lessons Learned

Over the past quarter century, Latin America has widely adopted photovoltaic (PV) technologies for social and economic development. Latin America is the world’s birthplace for small rural solar electric systems used for residential power, refrigeration, distance education and hybrid systems. The use of PV systems has increased dramatically from an initial concept pioneered by a few visionaries to many thriving businesses throughout the rural regions today. PV is a viable alternative to conventional large-scale rural grid systems. With the advent of PV as a dependable technology alternative allowing local private enterprise, and made available to the general public, PV systems have become attractive all over Latin America with hundreds of thousands of rural households electrified via solar energy. During the early 1980s, solar energy pioneers began to disseminate PV technologies in rural Latin America as a solution for providing basic electricity services for non-electrified populations. Some of the first pilot projects in Latin America were undertaken by NGOs, such as Enersol Associates in the Dominican Republic, beginning in 1984. In the late eighties, small solar companies began to form gradually throughout Latin America; the key module manufacturers such as Solarex and Arco sought out distributors for off-grid rural markets. By the mid-1990s, these activities were followed by large-scale solar electrification activities sponsored by government agencies in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. Many of these early governments efforts for large-scale PV electrification faced sustainability issues; planners attempted to force “free” solar electrification projects onto unknowledgeable rural users. In Mexico, there were large-scale government PV rural electrification projects undertaken under PRONASOL (a Mexican program to better people lifestyle) in the early to mid-1990s with over 40,000 PV systems installed, especially in southern Mexico. In the State of Chiapas more than 12,000 systems were installed. The government also dabbled in village scale PV and wind electrification. Unfortunately, over two thirds of these systems ceased functioning in only a couple of years. The era of large PV electrification projects in Mexico came to a temporary halt in the late 1990s, in large part due to the poor performance and image of these original substandard PV systems. Typical problems on PV systems installations were not related to the PV modules, but rather due to poor quality installations and problems