The first annual East African Energy Innovation Challenge was an entrepreneurial training course and competition that took place in summer 2015. Over 225 East African applicants across nine countries applied to the programme by pitching their ideas for providing energy services to off-grid villages. The entrepreneurs identified a number of issues and opportunities in the …
This ‘State of Play’ ‘technical report provides a review of the literature relating to the issues around provision of electricity to off-grid villages in 2015. It summarises key challenges associated with the provision of electricity to off-grid villages, and views set out in the literature on the opportunities and required framework conditions to address those …
TR2: Electricity for off-grid villages – an overview Read More »
Innovation competitions for new technologies and business models are one tool used by policy makers in a range of contexts and countries to help businesses in new fields overcome practical barriers blocking progress between successful pilots and commercialisation. This brief note discusses competitions relevant to African off-grid energy and how they could be designed and …
BR2: The role of innovation competitions for off-grid energy in Africa Read More »
Summary This report summarises the information presented at, and conclusions arising from, the second major international workshop of the Smart Villages Initiative. The workshop took place in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak, Malaysia, on the campus of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), and marked the beginning of a 12-month programme of engagement by the Smart …
WR4: Kuching Workshop Report on Smart Villages in Southeast Asia Read More »
This infographic summarises the requirement for and the challenges to energy access across the ASEAN region (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore , Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam). The ASEAN region is now the engine of the global economy. Its spectacular growth over the past two decades has lifted hundreds of millions of people out …
“It was a degrading life full of humiliation and shame. We were often victims of rape and beatings by the hoodlums who hid themselves in the forest” ̶ (An Ethiopian fuel wood carrier, Panjwani, 2005). Energy provision and sexual violence appear to be distant problems. However, with the possible exception of rural energy supplies in …
Sexual Violence against Women and Girls: Is Energy part of the Solution? Read More »
Claudia Canales, a Smart Village Project leader describes her visit to the remote community of Amaguaya, recently in receipt of energy from a newly constructed micro-hydro plant. The visit was in preparation for a Workshop to be held in the Bolivia later this year – ed. I was fortunate to arrive in Bolivia a few days earlier than the rest of …
A long climb to energy access: an off-grid success story Read More »
Two billion people rely on wood and charcoal for their daily energy needs. But supply chains are often environmentally unsustainable, and poor actors rarely capture enough value from trade in these products. This briefing discusses two innovative cases in the governance of biomass markets, which enhance the inclusion of informal actors. The first shows how …
Informality and market governance in wood and charcoal value chains Read More »
This note provides a summary of the workshop’s findings and recommendations for policy makers. A more detailed report of the workshop, together with copies of the presentations made at the workshop can be found here. Key points 1.3 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity. 3 billion people are still cooking with dangerous and inefficient stoves. Policy …
BR1: Findings from the Arusha Smart Villages workshop Read More »
This opening workshop of our engagement in Southeast Asia, organised with the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), was held to gather input and stimulate discussion from stakeholders involved in off-grid projects in ASEAN countries. Participants included renewable energy experts, technology providers, funders, community projects leaders, corporations/ private sectors, policy makers, …
Southeast Asia Regional Workshop – Kuching, Malaysia Read More »
In order to design effective, participatory and sustainable energy access interventions that are in sync with real community priorities, it is necessary to understand and capture nuances of community energy needs and preferences across the target population. In South Africa, the CHOICES community energy project organised ‘energy options’ workshops to discuss and prioritise local energy …
Exploring energy priorities: a community workshop tool Read More »
This 2012 scoping study analyses aspects of contemporary work concerning village-level energy services in developing countries. African countries, particularly Ghana and Tanzania, and India are the primary geographical focus. The study also analyses social businesses and entrepreneurship in the area of sustainable off-grid energy provision. This study, carried out at the behest of the European …
This workshop was a two-day residential event featuring a combination of background briefings from local and international experts and entrepreneurs, together with Smart Villages team members on energy markets and provision in general, the off-grid sector in particular, the Smart Villages concept and perceived need, case studies of embryonic Smart Village projects and relevant technologies, …
This workshop was a two-day residential event featuring a combination of background briefings from local and international experts and entrepreneurs, together with Smart Villages team members on energy markets and provision in general, the off-grid sector in particular, the Smart Villages concept and perceived need, case studies of embryonic Smart Village projects and relevant technologies, …
In his maiden Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Modi took the opportunity to announce the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (Parliamentarian’s Model Village Scheme). Since coming into office, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wasted no time in pushing through reforms to modernize India’s economy. His speech stressed the importance of undertaking similar efforts in rural …
Three years of complementary funding from the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) has just been confirmed by Smart Villages. The funding will help Smart Villages continue to explore technical, entrepreneurial and policy solutions for providing sustainable energy for development in off-grid rural communities. The project will now travel to Africa, Asia and Latin America to …
Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy sector can be improved to unlock a better life for its citizens. This report describes one of the most poorly understood parts of the global energy system, offers an authoritative study of its future prospects, broken down by fuel, sector and sub-region and shows how investment in the sub-Saharan energy sector can …
What is a ‘smart village? How can we ensure that people in rural villages have access to energy, connectivity, education and jobs? Hear from experts in the fields of energy, science, entrepreneurship and finance, including the Tanzania Renewable Energy Association, the Tanzania Academy of Science, Practical Action, Solar Aid, Global Village Energy Partnership, the Swedish …
