In this video, you’ll learn about the new business opportunities that solar power has created in one off-grid village in northern Tanzania. Rafiki Power’s solar kiosk allows an entrepreneur to build his business while selling mobile money, charging phones, and providing other useful services to the wider community.
70% of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Many of them rely on agriculture for their incomes. Equally, many of them lack access to energy. But what if they can access energy – and apply it to their livelihood? Within this webinar, we will hear from several speakers who are focusing on exactly this …
December webinar: Growing smart villages: Energy & agriculture for development Read More »
In this video, you’ll hear from Akua Adu of PEG. PEG is active primarily in Ghana and offers solar energy products, including solar home systems, to people in rural and urban areas. Adu notes that mobile money to pay for energy is not yet popular in Ghana, unlike in East Africa – but PEG is …
In this video, you’ll hear from José Eddy Torres, an energy consultant who has worked extensively in rural development in Colombia and beyond. Torres explains the challenges facing rural energy and development – and tells what must be done for rural energy projects to be sustainable in the long-term.
Brian Heap talks with Ashok Mangotra, former Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). They discuss the Indian government’s aim to electrify all villages by the year 2020. Since 80% of energy in rural areas still comes from biomass – how will the transition to clean …
Dario Rodriguez, an engineer with Ecuador’s National Institute of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, explains some of the unique social and environmental challenges that Ecuador faces in its efforts to promote renewable energy, including the delicate environment of the Galapagos Islands and the remoteness and isolation of the Amazon.
In this one-day workshop in Quito, Ecuador, participants came together to discuss risk management and how communities’ resilience can be strengthened.
This report focuses on mini-grids that generate a substantial portion of electricity using renewable energy sources. The IEA (2011) estimates that mini-grids are the best solution for providing electricity to 45% of the rural population without access to electricity. Mini-grids can utilise locally available energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass, and hydro. Using locally available renewable energy sources has the advantage of low …
Interview with Jodie Wu CEO & Founder at Global Cycle Solutions “New products need to be used and experienced and taught” When Jodie Wu was still an engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she invented a simple device that let farmers use a bicycle to shell corn. The mechanism allowed rural farmers to …
Leading experts from across Latin America and the Caribbean were brought together for a work-shop in Quito, Ecuador, on 30 January 2017 to discuss the challenges and opportunities of building resilience to natural disasters of villages in the region, with a particular concern for the contribution of energy services. Key points made in the presentations …
In January 2017, Smart Villages and the Observatoire de l’Energie en Haïti (OBSERVEH) joined together in the context of “Energy Week”, organised by OBSERVEH at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This collaboration originated from the participation of OBSERVEH in the regional Smart Villages workshop on offgrid energy held in the Dominican Republic in November 2016. …
In Haiti and other islands in the Caribbean, the need is not just for energy access. Communities and villages need to be more resilient to natural disasters and other socioeconomic shocks such as internal conflict, fuel price fluctuations etc. Off-grid energy and innovative use of energy to provide decentralized services such as healthcare and education …
Interview with Dr. Sebastian Groh Managing Director of ME SOLshare Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh “People are very smart about solar home systems in Bangladesh” In Bangladesh, 17 million households are off-grid, and 85% of the population lives in rural communities. Solar works here and has done ever since the early nineties when the first solar home …
Can mini-grids be profitable? SOLshare in Bangladesh doubles down Read More »
Interview with Avishek Malla Director of Engineering and Operations for SunFarmer Nepal, a subsidiary of SunFarmer International Location: Kathmandu, Nepal “Farmers in Nepal could never in their lives imagine having a solar-powered pump” In 2015, Nepal was hit by a series of devastating crises. One earthquake was followed by another, and the year ended with …
Solar technologies offer hope in post-disaster Nepal Read More »
Rural areas that are not connected to an electricity grid are nevertheless seeking to increase their use of electricity to support services such as healthcare, education, and entertainment, and for productive uses to increase incomes. Such increases in electricity use in rural communities—“ climbing the energy ladder”—require a step-change in electricity provision to currently off-grid households. The supply of electricity through centralised generation and …
TR8: The future of DC systems for the off-grid environment Read More »
Interview with Henri Nyakarundi Founder, The African Renewable Energy Distributor Location: Kigali, Rwanda “Looking back, the only way you can be in business is to be a little bit naive” From bus stops and hospitals, to marketplaces and health centres, to Nyabiheke, one of the four major refugee camps in Rwanda, Henri Nyakarundi is ensuring …
Franchising renewable energy: Smart kiosks across Rwanda Read More »
The concept of the “smart village”, as developed by the Smart Villages Initiative, is that modern energy access acts as a catalyst for development—education, health, food security, productive enterprise, environment, and participatory democracy—which in turn supports further improvements in energy access. In the global context, energy access can provide a much needed driver for sustainable economic growth and development for …
TR7: Energy and agriculture for smart villages in India Read More »
Interview with Sayouba Guira Director of Nafa Naana, a social enterprise providing clean cooking and lighting products Location: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso “It’s a crisis, but we are in a country with so many other priorities that people don’t talk about it, which is why we are doing something about promoting clean and affordable energy solutions” …
A clean energy crisis: One Burkina Faso social business aims to address it Read More »
Interview with Nir Marom Co-founder, Lumos Global Location: Israel “Time is the most expensive resource for an entrepreneur” On the same day that Nir Marom’s company won a tender—he spent about seven years working in on-grid solar energy—he came across an article about people living off kerosene or candles, spending 50 cents a day. “I …
Unlocking rural electricity with a text message in Nigeria Read More »
This sixth media workshop of the Smart Villages project took place in November 2016 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. This followed the main regional workshop reported on separately, but to which the journalists were also invited. The general theme of rural development, resilience, and recovery as renewable energy dividends seemed particularly newsworthy in view of …
WR29: Central America, Caribbean and Mexico – Smart Villages Media Dialogue Read More »