This Bolivian Solar Plant Is A Clean Energy Boom — And A Bust For Locals Who Lost Their Land

Free land

The highest indigenous authorities from Ancotanga also feel the bitter taste of disappointment, but they haven't yet lost all faith. They continue to knock on doors and seek conciliation so that the Government fulfills all its promises.

“The only objective of the community is for (the plant) to give us work,” explains Víctor Mamani, General Agriculture Secretary of Ancotanga. “We have not sold (the lands), we have not (received) compensation, financially (they did not give us) anything.”

"They told us that we would have free electricity."

Mamani explains that the lands were given “free of charge”, through the Departments’ Local Government, in 2017.

How is the agreement going? “They don't want to hire us, that’s what’s going on. We are having conversations, we have an agreement, they have to take us into account for the jobs,” he says.

He doesn't know the specific reasons that explain why the National Electricity Company (Ende), which is in charge of the plant, does not want to give them jobs. Ende did not respond to requests for comment.

A human transition

Currently, at least 15 Ancotanga community members work at the Photovoltaic Solar Plant and are among the personnel in charge of the security and cleaning of the solar panels, among other low-ranking positions, according to the authorities.

Mamani explains that there are other higher-ranking jobs, but those positions are given to people who are not native to the town.

Locals were never informed that to access jobs in technical or manual positions they had to apply through a recruitment process, which, in many cases, prevents the promise from being fulfilled.

The residents of Ancotanga are aware that to access jobs at the plant they must be prepared and they explain that they have always been open to learning everything required.

“At first they told us that there will be training. We are demanding for them to train us, but it is not being fulfilled,” says Mamani, who adds that the town has professionals who have the capacity to operate the plant, including electrical engineers

The installation of works to generate renewable and clean energy must also include a just transition for the people involved, says a report from the International Labor Organization (ILO). That “means making the economy as fair and inclusive as possible for all stakeholders, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind."

And clean power for us?

Despite hosting the largest solar power plant in Bolivia, Ancotanga has problems accessing this basic service. It receives electricity from Eucaliptos, another Oruro community, where conventional energy is produced. Often there are power cuts after low rainfalls or strong winds, according to locals.

And precisely one of the promises surrounding the construction of the plant was to provide Ancotanga with light. “They told us that we would have free electricity, but that has become somewhat difficult,” says Víctor Mamani.

The town wanted to have access to the electricity that the Solar Photovoltaic Plant already generates, but the answer they were given was that a small substation needed to be built to distribute this service and that this costs money.

A presidential visit

The Oruro Photovoltaic Solar Plant was built on 208 hectares in Ancotanga. In total, 300,000 polycrystalline panels were installed, with a capacity of 330 watts (W), each, and 19 inverters, according to a publication by Ende.

In September 2019, former vice president Álvaro García Linera inaugurated the first phase of the work. “We are delivering this plant, it is a sea of solar panels (…),” he declared.

The dream of turning Oruro into a clean energy generation powerhouse weighs more heavily.

Almost two years later, on February 10, 2021, President Luis Arce Catacora visited Ancotanga to inaugurate phase two of the Solar Plant that added 50 MW of production — with clean energy now reaching the departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Oruro, Chuquisaca and Potosí.

H2, and looking for more

With the installation of the Photovoltaic Solar Plant, the department of Oruro entered into the highest echelon of production of clean energy.

This department is also meant to be a pioneer in the approval of a law to declare the implementation of policies, plans, programs and projects for the generation of solar energy and renewable energy as a strategic interest and departmental priority. The standard determines the designation of an annual budget to carry out social programs and projects.

Jorge Vásquez, director of the Chemical, Petrochemical, Environmental, Food and Biotechnology Engineering program at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA), explains that the Oruro department has all the potential for maximum generation of clean energy and the production of green hydrogen.

According to the specialist, the Oruro highlands have one of the highest levels of radiation after the Atacama Desert in Chile.

“Putting photovoltaic panels (in that place) is wonderful, because we will have a good amount of energy,” says Vásquez.

He adds that some areas are quite windy and that is why they are ideal for installing wind turbines. The generation of these resources is ideal to guarantee the operation of the green hydrogen plant.

It is no coincidence that the green hydrogen plant is planned to be built in Sillota Belén, a neighboring community of Ancotanga. Some community members say that this project will be built on lands shared by the two towns. And despite the disappointment over the unfulfilled promises, the dream of turning Oruro into a clean energy generation powerhouse weighs more heavily. Even for Herminda Mamani.

“We want it all,” she declared.

*This article is part of the Green Hydrogen Challenges program of Climate Tracker and FES Transformación.