Off-grid Power for Small Communities with Renewable Energy Sources in Rural Guatemalan Villages

This paper describes the process used to plan, design, and implement an off-grid electrical system for a village with less than 50 homes in rural Guatemala. The community has a small school, community center, community kitchen, and 43 homes/families. The availability of energy in a community allows advancement of rural populations in Guatemala through the use of electricity for lighting, computer use, studying, cooking tasks, and general lighting for safety. This energy can be supplied by renewable energy sources provided careful evaluation of the basic needs and commitment from the community are maintained throughout the process. Candles were the original source of light in the community and were used for cooking and general lighting. The cost of candles has been shown to exceed the operation and maintenance cost anticipated for the installed electrical system. Candles are a source of indoor pollution as well as a fire hazard in a home or building partially or completely constructed of combustible materials. A project through Engineers Without Borders (EWB) - Marquette University Chapter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has provided a system to La Nueva Providencia (NP), a community in Central Guatemala, that eliminates these hazards and provides not only a safe, but renewable energy source for the community. The evaluation for this project looked at extending power from the utility grid approximately 0.5 miles away as an alternative to off grid power in order to determine what alternative was most sustainable in the village given current and future ability to support the installed system.