Pignon’s Electric Cooperative
(NRECA International Foundation, May 2007)

Update: This past January, seven more volunteer linemen from Minnesota traveled to Pignon to continue providing technical assistance to COOPELEP. This included expanding the distribution system, providing maintenance to the utility trucks and generators, and beginning preparations for expanded future service to the school campus and airport. (January 2007)

Haiti is one of the least developed countries in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. That is why it was so significant when a Minnesota electric cooperative, Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative (MVEC), partnered with Dr. Caleb Lucien to form a local electric cooperative that would provide power to Pignon, Dr. Lucien’s hometown.

The Minnesota cooperatives have led the effort that to date has provided electricity to 110 homes and businesses and lights to the town square. They have organized fundraisers and collected good, used electrical equipment and material to help build the 5-km distribution system. They have sent six crews of linemen volunteers that have built the current distribution system and helped train local volunteer crews so that they can maintain the system properly, as well as continue to connect service drops along the lines.

The town of Pignon established an energy cooperative, the Cooperative Electrique de Pignon (COOPELEP), with a board of directors and a small staff that are working hard to make sure that the lights stay on for the six hours a day (ten on Sunday) that they are operating. They proudly state that they have not suffered unscheduled blackouts since the start of operations.

The NRECA International Foundation is also an active partner with COOPELEP and the Minnesota cooperatives, providing financial management, logistical and administrative support to the project.

The project is fully dependant on donations from the U.S. electric cooperatives, mainly from Minnesota, so this limits how quickly other families and businesses can be connected in Pignon. It is a long process, but definitely worth the effort. NRECA International Foundation, together with the Minnesota and other U.S. electric cooperatives, will continue to support the program and help bring Electricity to the World … One Village at a Time.