Micro-hydro plant at La Realidad - Chiapas: an example of rural village electrification in no-steady social-political conditions

摘要

Throughout the world, many rural villages lack access to electricity, especially in non-industrialized areas of developing countries. The remoteness of many villages often makes the extension of the electrical grid more expensive than providing each village with its own autonomous electrical generation system. In this is case study, the community itself decided not to wait for any electric supply after many years of government failures due to political and social decisions. La Realidad, Chiapas, in the south of Mexico, belongs to the communities strictly connected with the EZLN (Exercito Zapatista de Liberacion National). This indigenous movement in 1994 rose up against the Mexican federal government claiming the respect of fundamental rights of the indigenous population. The high water resources for hydroelectric production in Chiapas are widely used, considering that the 49 % of all the Mexican hydroelectric production comes from the south of the state. In 1996 La Realidad community, through its own representatives, asked to the world civil society to produce electricity in its own places, using renewable local resources. The choice of a micro-hydro plant for the autonomous electric production has been considered after one year of measurements, and the study of ten years data collected in statistical government literature. The specific water possibilities of La Realidad, the environment point and the autonomous management of the energy production are the positive aspects that lead to the micro-hydro as the most appreciable energy production system, considering the not high energy needs of this small village with an agricultural economy, it is giving nowadays good results.