Decentralized Solutions for Developing Economies: Addressing Energy Poverty Through Innovation

304 Pages·2015·7.58 MB·English

by  Sebastian Groh

Springer Proceedings in Energy
Sebastian Groh
Jonas van der Straeten
Brian Edlefsen Lasch
Dimitry Gershenson
Walter Leal Filho
Daniel M. Kammen Editors
Decentralized
Solutions for
Developing
Economies
Addressing Energy Poverty Through
Innovation
Springer Proceedings in Energy
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13370
Sebastian Groh Jonas van der Straeten
(cid:129)
Brian Edlefsen Lasch Dimitry Gershenson
(cid:129)
Walter Leal Filho Daniel M. Kammen
(cid:129)
Editors
Decentralized Solutions
for Developing Economies
Addressing Energy Poverty Through
Innovation
123
Editors
Sebastian Groh DimitryGershenson
MicroenergySystems Research Group, Berkeley RuralEnergy Group
ZTGSekr. Universityof California, Berkeley
Technische UniversitätBerlin Berkeley,CA
Berlin USA
Germany
Walter Leal Filho
Jonas vander Straeten Faculty ofLife Sciences
MicroenergySystems Research Group, Hamburg Universityof AppliedScience
ZTGSekr. Hamburg
Technische UniversitätBerlin Germany
Berlin
Germany Daniel M.Kammen
Universityof California Berkeley
BrianEdlefsen Lasch Berkeley,CA
MicroenergySystems Research Group, USA
ZTGSekr.
Technische UniversitätBerlin
Berlin
Germany
ISSN 2352-2534 ISSN 2352-2542 (electronic)
Springer Proceedings inEnergy
ISBN 978-3-319-15963-8 ISBN 978-3-319-15964-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-15964-5
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015932434
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
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Foreword by ADA
ADA is a nongovernmental organization approved and cofinanced by the Lux-
embourgDirectorateforDevelopmentCooperationandHumanitarianAffairsandis
placedundertheHighPatronageofHerRoyalHighnesstheGrandDuchessMaria
Teresa.
Over the past 20 years, ADA has been dedicated to building and catalyzing the
financialinclusionofpopulationsexcludedfrom conventionalbankingchannelsin
developing countries. ADA empowers microfinanceinstitutionsandnetworks, and
helps them obtain funding for sustainable growth through the Luxembourg
Microfinance and Development Fund. It also supports them through specific
technical assistance projects enhancing human resources and capacity building
throughtheimplementationofmanagementtools.Convincedthatthedevelopment
of healthy local financial institutions is essential to the success of any sustainable
development strategy, ADA offers its know-how to individual States and collabo-
rates with them to support their inclusive finance expansion strategy. ADA makes
available its expertise in areas including youth financial inclusion, access to green
energy through microfinance, microinsurance, and linking remittances to savings
for migrants.
Research and innovationareofthefoundingblocks for thedefinition ofADA’s
activities. The provision of adapted financial services to underserved populations
requires research on the one hand in order to understand markets and document
unknown practices, and development or innovation on the other hand to resolve
problems and propose solutions responding to people with unsatisfied needs. This
means targeting excluded populations, understanding their context, and helping
institutions design financial products that have greater impact by enabling popu-
lations to achieve their own development objectives and improve their quality of
life. ADA strongly believes financial inclusion is a means and not an end in itself.
Therefore, if vulnerable populations need better energy services, which should be
clean, renewable, efficient, and affordable, access to financial services providing
themwiththeopportunitytoacquiretheequipment,thetechnology,orthetechnical
assistance required for this purpose, should be provided. In this sense, ADA
v
vi ForewordbyADA
believes that it can contribute to poverty alleviation and autonomous development
through financial inclusion.
Reverseinnovationortrickle-upinnovationaretermsreferringtoanyinnovation
that is adopted first in the developing world. ADA believes this is an eye-catching
field for applied research. The processes for developing and marketing goods and
services arising from grassroots ingenuity are subject to become more inclusive as
theyarerelevanttomarketslowerdownthepyramid.WeapplaudandthankBREG
and MES for their Symposium and for choosing to focus it on Innovating Energy
AccessforRemoteAreasanddiscoveringuntappedresources.Westronglybelieve
this approach is critical for improving peoples’ living conditions and advancing
inclusive and sustainable development in the developing world.
ADA’s research and development activities focus on establishing the link
between scientific research and practical experiences in the financial inclusion
sector. This frequently entail, bringing private and public actors together to share
experiences and learn from each other. The MES and BREG Symposium in
Berkeley have strongly contributed to these efforts.
We were delighted to have the opportunity to share our experience in linking
access to finance with access to energy with participants and for having the
opportunity to have a first-hand account to research findings. We congratulate
researchersfortheirinsightfulpapersandencouragemicrofinanceexpertsandother
financialindustryproviderstotakeintoaccountthetechnicalsolutionspresentedas
investment opportunities. ADA will be happy to continue its collaboration with
BREG and MES in the future and will also encourage, young as well as experi-
enced researchers to continue their good work. Their contribution is fundamental
for capacity building purposes, for the professionalization of the microfinance
sector and for advancing inclusive innovation.
Olivier Massart
ADA, Operations Director
Juana Ramirez
ADA, Research and Development Project Officer
ADA asbl, 39 rue Glesener
L-1631 Luxembourg
Tel.: [phone], Fax [phone]
adainfo@microfinance.lu, www.adamicrofinance.lu
Inclusive Finance. Increasing Autonomy. Improving Lives.
Preface by Microenergy Systems
Research Group
In2001,attheTechnischeUniversitätBerlinInstituteforEnergyTechnology,two
young researchers, Noara Kebir and Daniel Philipp, traveled to Bangladesh to
explore a seemingly simple question: How is it possible that in a country like
Bangladeshsolarenergyisimplementedonasustainablebasis,whereasinGermany
itisconsideredamerefancydream?Intrigued bytheexampleofGrameenShakti,
whichsinceitsfoundingin1996continuestosuccessfullyexpandthedissemination
of solar home systems in rural areas of Bangladesh, they founded a new research
focusattheirUniversity,whichtheynamedMicroenergySystems(MES).
Microenergy systems can be defined as decentralized energy systems based on
smallenergyappliances,whichprovidehouseholds,smallbusinessesorfarmswith
locally generated energy, enabling a spatial link between energy demand, supply
and generation. The systems provide solutions for single households or micro-
enterprises (e.g., solar home systems, irrigation pumps, biogas plants) as well as
technologies for several interconnected households or communities (e.g., mini-
grids). In recent years there have been growing expectations that microenergy
systems can play an important role in shifting energy policy as well as creating
co-benefits where development goals (e.g., reducing poverty) are combined with
climate mitigation and adaptation actions.
A systemic perspective on microenergy systems stresses the need for a holistic
and rigorous interdisciplinary research methodology, including feasibility analysis,
productdevelopment,manufacturing,planning,implementation,servicing,anduse
of decentralized energy systems, combining different perspectives stretching from
end-users to policy decision-makers. Therefore, the term “Microenergy System”
refers toabroaderunderstandingoftherespectivetechnicalartifact ininterrelation
with its natural conditions, social context, economical system, organizational
structures, and political framework. The introduced research concept is demand-
driven and deduced from practical needs rather than a product of pure theoretical
consideration, and consequently exists outside the purview of any individual
discipline.
vii
viii PrefacebyMicroenergySystemsResearchGroup
Wefindthatthereisastrongneedtoconsolidatetheknowledgeaccumulatedin
the various overlapping fields of research focused on such solutions, through reg-
ularexchangeaswellasthroughjointexplorationandeducation.Theaimofthese
effortsistoenablethetransferofstrategies,programs,andtoolsthatcanbetailored
tothediversemyriadoflocalconditions.Thiswastheoriginalgoalofthefounders
of MES and continues to be our driving force for our ongoing activities including
thethirdeventwehaveorganizedondecentralizedenergysupply:theMES-BREG
symposium held at the University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, in 2014.
Sebastian Groh
Jonas van der Straeten
Researcher, Microenergy Systems
Preface by Daniel M. Kammen
After what seems like years of slow and uneven action in the off-grid and remote
energy sector,there aredramatic signsof innovation.One only needs toassessthe
progress of mobile phone coverage across the Global South to see new technolo-
gies,businessmodels,andmodesofcommerceandgovernance.Atthesametime,
theglobalenergysectorisscattered,andlacksrigorouseffortstosupportinnovation
to build greater sustainability in the services that are made available—generally as
commercial products—to billions of people. For much of the last century, the
energy sector was dominated by monopolies with partial or complete ownership
oftheregionalgridsandlarge-scalepowerplants.Researchhasshownthatinareas
with these monopolies the metrics of energy sector innovation are markedly low,
perhaps because such monopolies are not motivated to disseminate results, or that
they patent defensively, or simply underinvest in new scientific, technical, and
business models. This raises a red flag if we are to employ an innovation-based
strategy to confront the major energy-related challenges facing our society today.
Thankfully the energy field overall has seen more change and innovation over
the past decade than arguably at any time in the last 100 years. New large-scale
energytechnologiesandpracticesareonlypartofthatchange.Therapidevolution
of decentralized approaches to energy access has been dramatic. Increasingly,
bottom-up business and community-based efforts are playing important roles in
changing the types and quality of energy services available worldwide. Today, a
genuine hope for energy inclusion has gained momentum. This new paradigm is
visible in high-level United Nations and national development efforts, through a
vibrant private sector, and through the expectations that a diverse provider and
consumercommunitybringstotheequation.Thevalueofdiversityandthedemand
for quality service has been instrumental in driving innovation.
It is in this spirit that last year’s symposium had innovation as its focal point.
InnovatingforEnergyAccesssetouttobringtogetherleadingexpertsinthefieldto
share theirexperiences oninnovative approachesandtojointly drive newthought.
The idea that innovative approaches can work with previously underutilized or
unrecognized resources is central to this symposium, as this may lead to circum-
stances or cues for the development of successful and sustainable energy access
ix