Solar modules of another Emelectric installation in Hualañé, El Maule

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Infrastructure provision is one of the most challenging activities with which governments are charged, particularly in a developing country setting. Rural electrification is no exception: the need is great, the capital requirements are large, and the potential environmental impacts are important. Responsible management of electrification investments is essential for stretching scarce resources to reach the maximum number of rural users in a sustainable fashion.

The main impetus for rural inhabitants' demand for electricity is often the desire for high-quality, clean lighting. Another major reason, shown in this photo of the interior installation of a solar system in Curepto, El Maule, is the potential for access to television.

Chile provides an interesting case of a rural electrification program (the "PER") that both relies on existing private utilities for project implementation and provides heavy state subsidies for the costs of these projects. In Chile, this process is relatively efficient and transparent, and private-sector accountability for achieving desired results is fairly high. In addition, one innovative aspect of the PER is its multi-technological approach. Renewable energy options ("non-conventional energies" in the Chilean lexicon) can be funded through the same subsidy mechanism as traditional grid-based projects. For these reasons, Chile's program may provide valuable lessons for other developing country governments seeking to promote technological diversity within a transparent and accountable system for the expansion of rural electric service.

Purpose and Goals of Travel

This sign notifies visitors to the community of Emelectric's solar energy activities in the area.

During the summer of 2000, I traveled to Chile to perform an in-depth institutional, technical evaluation of the first experiences in Chile with non-conventional energy systems to be funded through the PER. The most important of these provided around 120 families in four small communities in the south-central part of the country (Region VII, also called El Maule) each with a small-scale solar-photovoltaic systems (solar home systems, or SHS). My research goal for the summer, then, was to understand the institutional and technical issues around the solar energy projects in El Maule.

Activities in Chile

I spent seven weeks in Chile visiting a number of PER-funded electrification projects, interviewing project participants and PER officials, and collecting program data. Time in the field was limited somewhat by heavy July rains which caused widespread flooding and cut off a number of the main transportation arteries in the southern regions. Even so, access was sufficient to complete the proposed work there. Specifically, my activities consisted of the following:

1) Twenty-three interviews, with a broad range of project participants in Region VII and in the national capital, Santiago;

2) Collection of electrification data from the main utilities, and from national, regional and municipal government officials;

3) Visits to a number of solar energy installations in Region VII; and

4) A brief visit to Region X, in the far South of the country, to visit a wind-energy project and to interview regional PER officials there.

Preliminary Conclusions

Gladys Jara, solar energy customer in the Emelectric project in the town of Cancha el Quillay, with her daughter in front of their house. The residential electric system's solar panels, or modules, are at the right. The other ones at left supply the rural telephone system that Ms. Jara operates for the town.

The Region VII project presented the implementing utility, Emelectric, with the difficulties of maintaining adequate levels of service using solar energy systems. Centralized utilities, accustomed to stringing power lines, have generally not proven exceptionally agile in management of decentralized technologies such as stand-alone solar and wind systems. One of the primary aims of this research, then, was to dissect in this instance the particular character of the institutional changes implemented at the regional and local levels. Some interesting conclusions emerge from this research. First, the PER itself is considered to be an extremely successful program. That is, utilities, governments and the majority of rural users have all benefited from this aggressive electrification scheme. And renewable energy technologies have filled an important niche in the PER-namely, providing electric service to the most remote communities where the line extensions are not feasible. Second, it is also clear that the performance of small-scale renewable energy technologies in remote communities in Region VII has not lived up to the initial expectations of planners in 1996. Several factors are responsible for this situation, including:

- Lack of technical expertise in utility managers and maintenance staff, due both to personnel turnover at the utilities themselves, and to the lack of continuity from the implementation stage to execution and long-term management

- Wide financial shortfalls of the renewables project in question for Emelectric, due to unanticipatedly high maintenance costs, combined with monthly user charges which do not provide sufficient cash-flow to cover them;

- General user dissatisfaction, resulting from the low capacity of the systems installed and from feelings of unresponsive service from Emelectric.

In fact, Emelectric is actually considering the feasibility of building lines to the areas currently served with solar energy, in order to solve these problems while also complying with its 20-year service guarantee with the regional government.

At the same time, a number of prescriptions, both technical and managerial, might be implemented to improve the future performance of renewable energy systems within the structure of the PER. Some of these are in fact being attempted in other regions:

- instituting long-term maintenance contracts with firms specializing in renewable energy technologies (Region IV);

- subcontracting project implementation and management to provide continuity (Region X);

- defining large blocks of installations targeted for renewables, in order to provide an economically attractive user base (Region X).

Relevance to Degree Goals

My Ph.D. research focuses on understanding the interrelation between private enterprises, governments and rural communities in technologically challenging infrastructure investment programs. As an example of a successful such program, the solar energy project in Region VII will serve to highlight the institutional and managerial challenges, as well as possible solutions, to the incorporation of renewable energy within a comprehensive electrification program. I anticipate that this example will provide a fruitful case study for my dissertation.

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