In 2015, The UN reached a major milestone by releasing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals SDGs for 2030 which Ban Ki Moon (the General Secretary at the time) called “humanities’ Plan A” as there was no Plan B “because there is no planet B” .
To honor the SDGs, Peru celebrated for the second year its biggest sustainability conference. Over 2,000 representatives from local and international corporations, associations, academia and experts got together to recognize the challenges and celebrate recent achievements towards the sustainable development of Peru.
The SDG#7 – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all- was presented in a panel of representatives from major electrification multinationals. The key point of the panel was to present that renewable energies are viable today and they can supply our energy needs. Photos from the largest projects and urban technologies were presented from all around the world.
While we are observing more solar and wind farms electrifying whole cities and electric cars in our developed cities, it’s easy to forget that there are still almost a billion people without any access to electricity. These people can’t use the hundreds of electricity powered tools that we take for granted every day and make our lives easier. Ultimately people without access to clean energy face inequality of opportunities for education, good health and wellbeing, decent work and economic growth.
The great news is that the technology is also there to bring affordable and clean energy to the most disadvantaged people and it is also a very exciting field! Today, 63.6 million people are meeting their basic electricity needs with off-grid renewable energy products, the vast majority being from Africa and Asia2 ; And this number is projected to keep growing with two main driving factors: improvements in technologies and acceptability.
LUTW Peru has experienced the evolution of solar technologies from their beginnings. Improvements in affordability and quality have translated into more impactful projects, where LUTW can electrify schools, clinics, community buildings in areas with higher electricity demand and less maintenance requirements. The other relevant aspect is the introduction of PayGo technologies (integrated financing for solar electricity systems) which now allow us to make quality energy products affordable to many more people for their homes and farmhouses in remote locations.
Regarding the SDG#7 – ensure access to clean and affordable energy- it is important to remember that we have the challenge of 900,000 households living without basic electricity2 in Peru, but also we can celebrate that there are technologies and organizations working to support the SDGs in Peru.
Gracias Perú, and looking forward to being part of the sector that is building a more sustainable future.
Post written by Andres Clavier, Social Enterprise Development Officer in Peru.
1 Lighting Global World Bank Group https://www.lightingglobal.org/
2 Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Informatica (INEI 2017). https://www.inei.gob.pe/
