South Asian governments would do well to integrate off-grid with grid options in their quest to achieve universal electrification, says a new study. “The governments prefer to extend the grid even to those regions in which renewable energy sources are available in plenty,” says Debajit Palit, associate director, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New …
As the global population is still rising – albeit at a decreasing rate – we can expect an additional billion or more people in the next 10 years and yet another billion by 20401. Simple mathematical calculations would suggest that the number of off-grid global poor will nearly double within a decade. And the world …
More than a billion people worldwide still lack access to basic electrical services. As policy makers, entrepreneurs and academics work to address a UN goal of sustainable energy for all by 2030, there is a growing interest in off-grid solutions. However, the various options – pico-solar lanterns, solar home systems, or larger solar, wind, or …
Business models for off-grid energy remain one of the most fascinating–and challenging–topics, particularly for entrepreneurs working in the developing world. In this webinar, we will hear from several entrepreneurs who each have a unique approach to building a business while also making a social impact in India, East and West Africa, and South America. From …
Energy entrepreneurs: Business models for off-grid energy & social impact Read More »
[:en]Key Points: Off-grid technology can catalyse sustainable development for even the 1.1 billion without electricity in the remotest “last mile” communities Bottom-up approach key to achieving SDG7 Energy Access for All Goal Hub and spoke models combining hybrid mini-grids and solar home systems can provide starting point Governments need to create integrated off-grid and grid …
Access to energy, especially for rural communities, represents a central pillar of development. For the more than a billion people in the world without reliable access, the provision of electricity will have a huge impact on their livelihoods as it is crucial for human well-being and development. Without a reliable energy supply it is difficult …
Transforming rural communities through mini-grids Read More »
Governments across the developing world have identified ensuring universal access to electricity as a major policy goal. Despite this focus on increasing electricity access, more than one billion people globally do not have access to electricity. A large majority, (80% by IEA estimates) of those without access to electricity and modern energy services are based …
The Smart Villages Initiative organised a workshop on access to, and use of, renewable energy sources for rural communities in Bolivia on April 28, 2016, in La Paz, Bolivia to facilitate analysis and exchange of experiences of electrification of off-grid rural communities in Bolivia. The workshop brought together representatives of the public sector, international, and regional …
WR17: Sustainable energy sources for off-grid rural communities in Bolivia Read More »
Mini-grid Energy Generation, Storage and Transmission technology in India, for the next 10 years Solar and hybrid renewable minigrids are predicted to play a large role in the coming efforts to electrify those without access to electricity services. India currently has 240 million1 such people living without electricity. Along with smaller scale off-grid renewable energy …
This report summarises the findings and recommendations arising from the engagement activities of the Smart Villages Initiative in East Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and South America over the first 18-month period (October 2014 – March 2016) of the first phase of the initiative. Over that period, workshops and other engagement activities involved over 600 …
TR5: The Smart Villages Initiative: Interim review of findings Read More »
Two critically important and linked challenges face the global community in the 21st century: the persistence of widespread energy poverty and the resulting loss of economic opportunity; and intensifying human-driven climate disruption. These crises are inexorably linked through the energy technology systems that have so far provided the vast majority of our energy: fossil fuels. …
Worldwide, 1.3 billion people remain without access to electricity and 2.7 billion are still cooking on harmful and inefficient stoves1. Many live in remote rural village communities, and until they have access to energy services, little progress can be made to develop and improve their lives2. As United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stated, “energy …
[:en]On the stage of the Lighting a Billion Lives Convention in Delhi India, Smart Villages has announced Naturetech Infra as the winner of the Smart Villages Off-grid Energy Impact Competition for India. Applications from off-grid energy entrepreneurs across the nation were assessed on impact, level of project development, sustainability, innovation and replicability. Naturetech Infra was …
Professor AbuBakr S Bahaj is head of the Energy & Climate Change Division (ECCD) at the University of Southampton. He discusses an on-going project that is partnering with a village in Kenya to help them provide their own energy services and thereby invigorate their villages.
[:en] “Failure” – the word usually carries a negative connotation. But for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and NGOs working to provide energy access to people in the “last mile”, failure can actually provide important lessons. Is failure an important ingredient to success? In this webinar, we’ll gather experts who will talk openly about their experiences with failure …
[:en]Failure & off-grid energy access: Why failure matters to development[:] Read More »
[:en]Co-authored by a science journalist and an energy researcher, WGSI’s OpenAccess Energy Brief is an engaging overview of energy access issues that identifies challenges, knowledge gaps and opportunities. This version incorporates feedback collected by our advisory group who met in October 2015 to evaluate version 1 of the Brief and Summit goals. This version of …
Background/Rationale More than a billion people worldwide still lack access to basic electrical services. As policy makers, entrepreneurs and academics work to address a UN goal of sustainable energy for all by 2030, prominent technical solutions increasingly focus on decentralized connections to renewable, intermittent energy sources. Whether pico-solar lanterns, solar home systems, or larger solar, …
Frontier Energy Storage Technologies and Global Energy Challenges Read More »
Workshop on the energy and water nexus for remote off-grid communities: The Smart Villages Initiative and the Philippines Center for Water and Sanitation Throughout Southeast Asia, over 120 million people still live without access to electricity, with the majority of these people living in rural communities. This lack of energy has strong impacts on their …
[:en]Smart Villages is pleased to announce the launch of the second annual Smart Villages Energy Innovation Challenge. Building on last year’s success, this year’s competition challenges aspiring young East African entrepreneurs to come up with an idea for a social business powered by off-grid energy. Social businesses deliver positive social impacts to the end user …
The second annual East Africa Energy Innovation Challenge took place in summer 2016. With restructured selection criteria, 85 East African applicants applied to the programme by pitching their ideas for providing energy services to off-grid villages. Eight aspiring entrepreneurs developed their ideas over seven weeks with the Cambridge Development Initiative (https://cambridgedevelopment.wordpress.com/) in Dar es Salaam …