Working alongside communities, but with an eye to the future. Bringing energy to the most remote places on the Earth means creating the necessary conditions for the growth and sustainable development of communities, starting from the smallest ones.
Peru is a concrete example of what the words sustainability and innovation mean to Enel: actively promoting the value of the territories in which it operates and contributing with innovative solutions to their long-term development, with 17 projects for their social and economic growth.
These initiatives demonstrate how the integration of the CSV (Creating Shared Value) model means adopting solutions within our business strategy that are the result not only of environmental, engineering and economic evaluations, but also social assessments, starting from the design phase, a proactive approach that aims to limit possible negative impact on local communities.
This is the idea that guided the renovation of the Malacas thermoelectric plant, in the region of Piura, on Peru's northern coast. The project is the first example of the expansion of a gas plant that was developed entirely through a CSV approach. In the Business Development phase, knowledge of the territory and its needs – in particular, the population that lives in poverty and that tends to leave the area due to lack of employment opportunities – led to the identification of an integrated action plan that promotes the improvement of environmental conditions, local support for businesses, and both preventive health care and school education.
Through our subsidiary Enel Peru, we are supporting the Colegio Santa Elena project in the village of Piedritas, a small school complex that was built in an arid territory not far from the sea and from the Malacas plant. The school consists of four housing units, which were recently renovated and expanded in order to welcome a larger number of students. The new buildings, which were built with recycled materials, feature an innovative design: the local community itself was involved in the design and construction of the new complex, which now accommodates 85 children and is aiming to accommodate more than 100. The objective of the Colegio Santa Elena project is to become a catalyst for the community’s share capital, in order to offer children and their families a real opportunity for growth and development. It is with this objective in mind that robotics has been included as a subject in the school curriculum: an innovative feature that projects the rural school of Piedritas into the future and that even impressed Enrico Viale, Director of Enel’s Global Thermal Generation business line, while on a recent visit to the village.
According to experts, one of the keys to ensuring a genuine and sustainable growth in Peru is overcoming social inequalities. In fact, despite the fact that the growth in employment and income between 2005 and 2014 has dramatically reduced poverty rates, bringing them from 55.6% to 22.7%, there are once again pockets of poverty in the country, where as many as 3 million people still lack access to electricity.
In Peru, as in other Latin American countries and around the world, our Group is supporting the development of the energy sector by focusing on innovation and sustainability, with concrete actions that range from health promotion and educational programmes, to providing support to both small and large businesses and start-ups. Our initiatives are in line with the UN’s sustainable development goals and with our Open Power strategy.