Guatemala Blog 2019

PVREA Journeyman Lineman Austin Maier is volunteering with the Energy Trails Team to bring electricity to an isolated village in Sillab, Guatemala throughout the month of August and into September. PVREA will be sharing blog posts from the group’s experience while they are in Guatemala.

The volunteers will spend three weeks building power lines along a 6 1/2-mile stretch of mountainous terrain. Plans call for 60 poles and four transformers. Each of the 60 homes to be served will be equipped with four light bulbs, four light switches and four electrical outlets. PVREA has been involved with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s philanthropic NRECA International Foundation by sending linemen to volunteer for the past couple of years. Volunteers from PVREA helped bring electricity to a different area in Guatemala last year, and to Haiti in 2017.

NRECA International, an affiliate of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, has been working in developing countries since 1962. Today more than 300 member electric cooperatives support its work through monetary contributions, material donations and sending hundreds of electric co-op lineworkers and employees abroad as volunteers.

Be sure to check back to this page for updates on Austin’s trip!