Living Without Electricity in Baja California

Living Without Electricity in Baja California

From our project, we learned that many households without electricity already use photovoltaic technology, but in a limited way. Basically, homes use solar bulbs, or small photovoltaic panels to light a few bulbs in the house for a period of short time. However, there is a lack of knowledge of the potential of solar technology to supply the more robust quantities of electricity that homes require. Many respondents perceive that a large number of photovoltaic panels are required for all the electronics and appliances required in their homes, an option that they cannot afford. It is precisely for this reason that when they talk about electricity, they think almost exclusively of the state power utility CFE, while they see photovoltaic energy as a temporary option. Given this reality, a key question at the core of this project was: Is it possible to link the energy transition to a strategy that aims to achieve universal access to electricity in Baja California? In other words, can the distributed generation of renewable electricity end extreme energy poverty in Baja California? To answer these questions, we organized a virtual workshop with stakeholders in which members of the affected communities, representatives of indigenous peoples, academics and officials from all levels of government participated in order to provide solutions to the problem of energy poverty in the state. The overwhelming recommendation was to use clean energy such as solar with batteries given that costs have been on the decline in the last few years. The solution of using renewable energy equipment would help eliminate energy poverty without negatively affecting the environment. Conclusion The study revealed the daily challenges faced by families living without electricity in Baja California. The negative impacts on the education of children, people with disabilities, and the safety of communities were quite evident. We found that the cause of energy poverty is not only economic or technical, since it has a lot to do with the irregularity of the land and the construction of housing and infrastructure that makes it difficult for these families to interconnect. Create an implementation group at the state level that includes government agencies, local and international NGOs, and of course, members of the communities so that, with a self- management approach, community renewable distributed generation projects can be developed to serve the population ’s needs. Work with the proper government agencies and authorities to pursue the legalization of housing titles as soon as possible. To confront the problem we propose the following:

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