Coalition Calls For 100% Electricity Access In Latin America by 2030

Forbes

a day ago

A new white paper has been launched to help achieve universal electricity access across Latin America and the Caribbean by 2030.
The strategy was unveiled by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) at a summit earlier this month in Rio De Janerio and calls for urgent action to address energy poverty in the region.
According to the report, there are 16 million people in the region still without electricity and another 60 million experiencing unreliable service.
And it reveals that while the region has made notable progress in connecting citizens to electricity, the most marginalized and geographically isolated communities continue to face significant barriers.
The study found many of these areas remain disconnected from national grids and are highly dependent on costly and polluting diesel generators.
But is also presents a roadmap for achieving universal access by 2030, highlighting both the barriers that must be overcome and the innovative solutions, which can transform energy access for many of the region's last-mile communities.
In particular, it calls for enhanced knowledge creation and sharing across the region, strengthened policy and regulatory environments and increased technical capacity to plan and develop energy projects.
The GEAPP's vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Isabel Beltrán, said the region so far has made 'incredible progress' in electrification with almost 97% of all people connected, in an interview.
But Beltrán said reaching the remaining 3% is technically more difficult, as many still rely on diesel generators, live in remote locations and are not big consumers of electricity.
'Getting electrification to 100% is a real challenge and no developing region has got there yet,' she told me.
Beltran said ministers and utility companies in Latin America have been very good at extending the grid where possible and developing large-scale off-grid solutions, but this approach does not always reach last mile communities.
'One of the challenges was bringing the key partners together – public, private, and philanthropic - to agree on an approach.
"The region's approach has been excellent at getting us to 97%, but it is not the approach, which is going to get us to 100%. A new approach to electrification is needed,' said Beltrán.
She said the next phase will need more cooperation, innovative thinking, scaling up new technologies, especially distributed renewable energy and supporting the increased use of energy for productive activities that lead to economic development.
'By elevating the political ambition, being bold and going for 100%, governments are now thinking about the issue of energy, not just as an end-in-itself, but as a means for economic development.
'We could be the first region to reach 100%. It's going to be expensive, it's going to be complex, but we could lead the way. Africa and Asia are going to have the same issues at some point.
"Latin America could lead the way in terms of figuring out how to deal with these complex rural electrification issues,' added Beltrán.
The LAC Universal Access Coalition has also brought together various organizations, including the GEAPP, the International Energy Agency, the Latin American Energy Organization and the National Renewable Energy Lab to accelerate efforts.
Francesco La Camera, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency said Latin America and the Caribbean stands at a pivotal moment in the global energy transition, in a statement.
La Camera added with 76 million people still lacking reliable electricity access, there is an 'urgent humanitarian imperative and an unprecedented economic opportunity' to demonstrate renewable energy solutions can provide energy security and advance climate goals.
'As we approach COP30 in Brazil, the region has the chance to set a powerful example for the world, proving that energy justice and climate action are not competing priorities, but complementary pathways to a more equitable and sustainable future,' he added.