Edmonton students help connect a remote village in Peru to the internet

Sep 23, 2023

In the southern part of Peru, deep in the Andes Mountains, a small village nestled in the remote community of Pallccapampa is now connected to the world wide web.

Thanks to help from students at Edmonton's Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), the residents of the village are using solar energy to power their homes and go online.

The project is a partnership between NAIT and Light Up the World, a charity that installs solar panels in remote communities around the world.

NAIT wireless systems engineering technology program chair Kevin Jacobson and student Gavin Moses were part of a group that travelled to Pallccapampa in May.

"We're surrounded by mountains and a couple rivers, there's rolling hills in every direction. You look up, there's snow-covered peaks — and lots of alpacas ... they actually invaded our work space," Moses told CBC's Edmonton AM Wednesday.

The community is so remote that fibre optics weren't an option.

"The only way [the community] gets lights, plugs, anything powered is from the solar panels," Jacobson said.

Two groups installed a large solar-panel system and wired all the buildings. Then, they installed Starlink satellite dishes, operated by aerospace company SpaceX, to provide the internet connection.

The teams had to make sure the system they installed was robust, Jacobson added, because if something went wrong, there was no one in the community who could fix it. But the equipment they chose can be remotely monitored to help with troubleshooting.

"You eventually do need to have local people with some local knowledge," he said. "Hopefully, in the end, we'll find that there are some people who will take that on — they get interested and they want to know how it works."

Wireless systems engineering technology student Gavin Moses said the experience was life-changing, but not without its hiccups.

"Ironically, trying to set up the internet when you don't have any internet is a challenge," he said.

"The people here are not connected to the power grid for the rest of Peru," Moses added.

"From our perspective, it almost seems like they've been left behind by the rest of Peruvian society."

When the group finished their work, Moses said the community came together to celebrate.

"There were speeches, we danced, sang, cracked open a champagne bottle to mark the opening of the system," he said.

"It really puts into perspective how much we take for granted in Canada. They were talking about how today is a historic day for Pallccapampa. They were very excited, and that got me really excited."

Producer

Ishita Verma is an associate producer for CBC Edmonton, focusing on local and diverse voices in the city. Got a story? [email protected].