Xingu prepares to test federal energy program for the Amazon

All 120 villages in the Xingu Indigenous Park currently have solar energy. Not all, however, have a photovoltaic generation system available to serve all homes, due to cost issues for installing and maintaining solar systems.

In an attempt to expand access in communities, Xingu leaders decided to test Mais Luz para a Amazônia, the federal government project that seeks to supply isolated areas of the Legal Amazon with clean energy.

Over four months, a consultation was carried out with the communities. Technicians from Energisa Mato Grosso, the state’s distributor, are in the field to analyze the potential of each location.

According to the company, the technical teams have already visited 43 villages and interviewed 342 families. The installation of new solar panels in these locations, within the program, is scheduled for next year.

The Khikatxi village, belonging to the Kisêdjê people, with more than 400 indigenous people, is one of the places that intend to test the public program.

Chief Kuiussi Kisêdjê, 84, says he even looked for alternatives. He has already tried to get resources to install the solar system in the village with partners from the social area, and says that the Municipality of Querência (MT) has evaluated the possibility of participating in a project of the kind. But the discussions did not advance.

The interview with Kuiussi was translated by the health agent Poikô Kisêdjê, 49. The older ones prefer to make statements in the native language, which they master, accompanied by an interpreter of the ethnic group who is also fluent in Portuguese.

“One advantage of the government program is that the energy company maintains the equipment, sends technicians, and can change the board if there is a problem,” says Poikô. “That’s why we decided to test it out.”

Residents anxiously await the distributor’s technicians.

“With solar energy, we can have a freezer and, when our children bring a lot of game and fish, keep it for a few days, watch a movie on TV and use the cassava grater anytime,” says Sely Suyá, 52.

The mention of the cassava grater is a constant among women. One of the activities that most mobilize women is peeling, grating and fermenting wild manioc to prepare the cassava starch, which leads to the making of beiju, a type of tapioca that is the indigenous staple food.

When Sely spoke to the reporter, she, her daughters and a niece had been taking care of manioc from an early age. “It takes us two to three hours to grate a lot of cassava,” she said. “With the machine, it’s the same amount in half an hour.”

The most challenging part of Mais Luz para a Amazônia in the land of the Xingu has been explaining the electricity bill. Chief Melobô Ikpeng is one of those concerned about the costs of this offer.

No one among the Ikpeng is sure of Melobo’s age. All they know is that he was over 20 years old when he took part in the contact, as the moment when a people meets white people for the first time is called. This meeting took place in 1964, near the Jatobá and Batovi rivers, tributaries of the Xingu, where they originally lived.

In a short time, the ethnic group was almost decimated by the attacks of miners and diseases. The Villas-Bôas brothers convinced the 52 surviving indigenous people to migrate to the Xingu Park in 1967.

Installed in Moygu village since 1985, the more than 500 residents today suffer from the lack of energy. To charge a simple cell phone or a flashlight, most need to go to the Pavuru hub, which is a 15-minute walk away.

The translator of the interview with Melobô was Kamatxi Ikpeng, 34, an indigenous filmmaker and contributor to Mawo, the Casa de Cultura that works between Moygu and Pavuru. Created in 2009, its databases are collections of images and sounds, permanently stocked with details about the history, rites and songs of the ethnic group – and they depend on electricity.

Melobô declares he is tired of the promises of white authorities, especially Funai, which has forgotten about the Indians, he says, and does not want the government’s energy program to be a new trap.

According to Energisa, individual solar systems with up to 50 kWh (kilowatts-hour) will be exempt for those entitled to the social tariff. A 2010 law guarantees free access to indigenous and quilombola communities. Not every indigenous person, however, is on the CadÚnico (Single Registry), a prerequisite for accessing this benefit.

There will be a charge for community systems. The choice of system for each village will depend on technical analysis.

Details about the challenge of implementing the Mais Luz para a Amazônia program in isolated areas will be in the second report of this series, in which the Sheet went to Marajó Island, in Pará.

_{The series of reports Energia na Amazônia was produced with the support of Rede Energia e Comunidades.}