A Citizens Electric lineman will help bring electricity to a remote Guatemalan village this summer. Matthew Morison, a journeyman lineman at Citizens Electric, is one of eight volunteer linemen who will leave the United States, bound for Viucalvitz, Guatemala. Here he will build power lines connecting the village to a small hydroelectric project that will provide the village with electricity for the first time.

The project is the latest for the Missouri Electric Cooperative International Program, which has brought the benefits of electricity to previously unserved communities through group projects in parts of Bolivia and Guatemala. This time the electric cooperative linemen will be challenged with rugged mountainous terrain at elevations between 7,500 and 8,000 feet.

Viucalvitz is located in Quiche, a department in the northwest part of Guatemala. It is close to the last electrification project for Missouri’s International Program, which saw electricity turned on for residents of Trapichitos in 2020. The new lines will connect the two villages, providing power for approximately 130 families and businesses, along with a school and a medical clinic.

The project will be split into two parts, with Team 1 running wire to 45 poles, 30 of which can only be accessed on foot due to the steep inclines and dense vegetation across the mountainside. They will also hang streetlights and wire 25-30 homes.

Team 2, expected to travel in December, will encounter the same mountainous terrain but will be able to access the poles from a road in the more populated part of the village. They will be running wire to 40 poles, hanging more streetlights and wiring 55-60 homes.

Plans call for each house to have one light and one or two plug-ins for their appliances. During the trip the men will stay in the village school, without electricity until the power lines are completed.

The new power lines will be energized from a small hydroelectric project with a capacity of 90 kilowatts and a diesel generator that can produce 60 kilowatts. Each phase is expected to take about 2-1/2 weeks and will require a total of 12 linemen.

The project is coordinated by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association International Program. NRECA International can trace its roots to 1962 when it signed an agreement with U.S. Aid for International Development to use the rural electrification program model to bring electricity to unserved parts of the globe. NRECA International has since brought electricity to more than 160 million people in 44 developing countries.