Powering life’s essentials in San Luis Potosí, Mexico

For most of us, there is abundant access to energy providing electricity to power essentials, such as heating, cooling, lighting, charging, refrigeration, and many more of life’s comforts.

For some families, living in remote and impoverished communities, there is no energy, no electricity, nothing to power daily needs and essentials.

Approximately 1.6 million people living in 1.2 percent of private homes in Mexico do not have electricity, according to Mexico’s 2020 Population and Housing Census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).

“Many people take for granted the basic conditions to carry out our daily lives. Turning a switch on allows us to have light for our children to study in the afternoon, keep our food cold in a refrigerator or find out what is happening through the radio or television,” explains Fernanda Hermosillo, TC Energía’s Senior Community Investment Advisor in Mexico.

TC Energía believes in providing affordable, safe, sustainable and modern energy, helping reduce poverty and inequalities in disadvantaged communities, so our Mexico team seized this opportunity to work with a partner to make a difference in communities near our Tula-Villa de Reyes natural gas pipeline project.

We partnered with Iluméxico, an organization focused on bringing electricity to low-income families in Mexico, and installed residential solar panels, providing essential power in two remote central Mexico communities, including Tortugas — part of the Santa María del Río municipality — and La Lomita, in the state of San Luis Potosí.

“The energy problem we are trying to solve here, is the most fundamental — providing the essential access to energy for people who have been deprived from it,” explains Hermosillo.

“These people did not have power, until today, and for TC Energía it is a source of pride to be able to contribute with actions like this that positively change the lives of the people close to our pipelines,” adds Hermosillo.

As part of the solar installation program, local people will be trained and employed by Iluméxico to maintain, service and repair the solar panel system.

Iluméxico, with the support of Concentrarte AC, also provided a week of recreational science workshops, music and community cinema.