“Three years ago, I bought a solar panel so we could have light at home. Before that, we could only light our house with candles. We don’t have power, so everyone gets a solar panel that provides whatever energy they can get their hands on, but it’s not enough,” says one of the inhabitants of Peru’s Huarca community in Espinar, Cusco. She does not want her name published, because those living in the mining corridor of southern Peru who protest mining activities fear the consequences of speaking out against the companies that operate here. Not everyone has electricity in Huarca, she adds, maybe only half the town does. The solar panel she bought in 2021 cost her 1500 soles (about $400). Until then, she says, there was no light in her house. “It’s a small panel… and it’s only enough to light the two rooms of our home.” Only 33.5% of households — some three out of every 10 homes — in the rural areas of Espinar Province have electricity, according to the latest population and housing census conducted in Peru. While copper is an excellent conductor of electricity, in Espinar, where large copper mines are located, electricity is not available to the entire rural population. Image by Miguel Gutiérrez / Cooperacción. Paradoxically, copper, which is extracted from the area’s mountains, is an excellent conductor of electricity — used in electric cables, solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and batteries — and there is an increased demand for it, given…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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