Pelvic

Each morning, Roja Chammi woke up the flames of licking on cardboard scrap in a temporary stove in his yard.

Once he brought home after keeping 800,000 high-tech solar panels. Now, they fuel his fire.

Between 2018 and 2024, those panels were installed in two large -scale solar plants in Rub and Classes in Peru’s Mokwagua region, which was about 1,000 kilometers south south of the capital Lima. Together, they make the country’s largest solar complex – and one of the largest in Latin America.

Pampa can see rows of panels shining under his house in a small settlement of Classi, Rosa white floodlights. Ruby plant is just 600 meters away.

Nevertheless, his house – and the rest of its villages – live in the total darkness, which is unrelated to the grid, in which the plant has food.

None of the 150 residents of Pampa Classi have access to the national power grid.

Some have been donated by the operator of the solar panel Ruby, Origen, but most of them cannot tolerate the batteries and converters required to work. At night, they use torches – or simply live in the dark.

The contradiction is striking: Ruby Solar Power Plant produces about 440 GWH a year, which is sufficient to supply electricity to 351,000 homes. MOQUEGUA, where the plant is located, is an ideal site for solar energy, which receives more than 3,200 hours of sunlight, more than most countries.

And this contradiction also intensifies in a country that is currently experiencing a renewable energy boom.

In 2024 alone, renewal increased by 96%in power generation. Solar and wind energy depends more on copper due to its high conductivity-and Peru is the second largest producer in the world.

“In Peru, the system was designed around profitability. Carlos Gordilo, an energy expert at Santa Maria University in Arequipa, describes.

Origen says that it has fulfilled its responsibility.

“We have joined the government project to bring electricity to Pampa Classy and have already created a dedicated line for them. We also completed the first phase of the electrification project, which are ready to operate 53 power towers,” Marco Fragley, Executive Director of Origen in Peru, BBC News Mundo, BBC’s spanish-grain service.

Fragel says that about 4,000 meters underground cable was installed to provide a power line for the village. They say an investment of $ 800,000 has been completed.

But the light has still not come.

Final phase – connecting the new line with individual homes – it is the responsibility of the government. As per the plan, the Ministry of Mines and the Energy should be in a wires of about two kilometers. In March 2025, the work was slated to start work, but has not started.

BBC News Mundo tried to contact the Mines and Ministry of Energy, but received no response.

There is no socket in Roja’s small house.

Each day, she revolves around the village, hoping that someone can leave some electricity to charge their phone.

“It is necessary,” she says, explaining that she needs a device to stay in contact with her family near the border with Bolivia.

One of the few people who can help is Ruben Pongo. A group of spotted chickens for the location of the roof between the solar panels – with the pisto and several rooms in their large homes.

“The company donated solar panels to most villagers,” they say. “But I had to buy the battery, converter, and cable myself – and to pay for installation.”

Rubin some other people only dream: a fridge. But it only lasts for 10 hours a day, and in cloud days, not at all.

He helped build a Ruby plant and later worked in maintenance, cleaning the panels. Today, he manages the warehouse and is motivated to work by the company, even if the plant is crossed by the road.

Crossing the pan-American highway on the foot is prohibited by Peru’s law.

From its roof, the rubin indicates a group of shining buildings in the distance.

“This is the substation of the plant,” they say. “It resembles a slightly burnt city.”

In the early 2000s, residents began to settle in Pampa Classi. Among them is Pedro gradual, which is now 70. He has seen an increase in about 500,000-panel ruby plant at his door.

Most of the village is made from the materials sacrificed from the plant. Pedro says that even their beds come from scrap wood.

There is no water system, no sewage, no nonsense collection. There were 500 residents in the village once, but due to the rare infrastructure, the majority left -especially during the Kovid -19 epidemic.

“Sometimes, after waiting for so long, fighting for water and electricity, you just feel like dying. This is the case. Die,” they say.

Rosa reaches her aunt’s house, expecting the daylight to catch the daylight. Tonight, she is cooking dinner for a small group of neighbors who share food.

In the kitchen, a gas stove heats a kettle. His only light is a solar -powered torch. Dinner is sweet tea and fried flour.

“We only eat what we can keep at room temperature,” Rosa says.

Without refrigeration, it is difficult to store protein -rich foods.

The fresh yield requires a 40-minute bus ride for moquegua-they can tolerate it.

“But we don’t have money to take bus every day.”

With electricity, many people in Latin America cook with firewood or kerosene, risking respiratory disease.

In Pampa Classi, the residents used gas when they could tolerate it – wood when they cannot.

They pray by torch for food, shelter and water, then eat in silence. This is 7 pm, their final activity. No phone. No TV.

“Our only lights are small torches,” Rosa says. “They don’t show much, but at least we can see the bed.”

“If we had electricity, people would come back,” says Pedro. “We stayed because we had no choice. But with light, we could build a future.”

A soft air teases desert roads, raising sand. A layer of dust freezes on the lamppost on the main plaza, which is waiting for the installed. Wind signs that are coming evening – and soon, there will be no light.

Without solar panels, like Roja and Pedro, darkness extends to sunrise. So do they hope that the government will act for one day.

Like a lot of nights, they prepare for another evening without light.

But why do they still live here?

“Because of the sun,” Rosa responds without hesitation.

“Here, we always have the sun.”