(Sept. 28) – The first solar engineers have returned to Chile and Peru after having been trained for six months at the Barefoot College in Rajasthan, where they learnt how to install and maintain solar panels and lamps. At the same time, two women from Guatemala and four from El Salvador have just left for India to receive the same training. Specifically, five women have returned to their communities in the north of Chile, in the area of Calama, while another five returned to their villages in Peru, in the area of Tacna, down south. When they arrived to the capitals of their home countries they were welcomed by a delegation including representatives from Enel Green Power, the Italian and Indian embassies and local institutions. The next step under the project consists in the installation of almost 700 solar panels in the eight rural communities that are involved, planned by the end of the year. The programme is part of an agreement signed between the Indian NGO Barefoot College and Enel Green Power, which aims at enacting a rural electrification project in Guatemala, Peru, Chile, El Salvador and Colombia. The “Barefoot” approach mainly consists in identifying women who are often semi-illiterate (between 35 and 50 years of age), to be included in a special training programme that will turn them into Barefoot Solar Engineers (BSE). Once they are chosen, these women move for six months to the Barefoot College in India (Tilonia, Rajastan), where they learn to install and maintain solar photovoltaic panels. The project, included among theactivities of the Enabling Electricity programme that regards the whole Enel Group. The latter was presented to the United Nations and aims at facilitating access to electricity in rural communities. (red)
