Rural Electrification

 

In countries where the energy infrastructure is under-developed and few towns are adequately electrified, extending the grid is often not financially viable, and certainly not likely to happen in the short to medium term. 

And so 1.4 billion people are currently living without electricity. 

In sub-Saharan Africa, only 8% of the population in rural areas has access to mains electricity but mini-grids – localized generation, transmission and distribution of power – could change all that.

As the cost of solar energy in rural Africa, parts of India and other countries in Asia has fallen dramatically in recent years, setting up a mini-grid powered by renewable energy has become the cheapest way to provide electricity.

The people of Bellewakh, Lemcid, Loubeir and Lemhaijratt currently get by with candles, kerosene lamps and car batteries for lighting, and use costly and dangerous canisters of butane to power refrigeration units. 

Their new mini-grid will consist of 18 wind turbines of 15kW and will provide electricity for households, schools, health facilities, civic buildings, a desalination plant to produce drinking water and an ice-making plant.

Where mini-grids already exist but are currently powered by diesel Wouters says it is now a no-brainer for them to switch to renewables: "Where people are using diesel to generate electricity any renewable source of energy is at the moment more cost effective."

Hydroelectricity is by far the cheapest – where it is available – followed by wind power, and then solar panels. A report by the Alliance for Rural Electrification found that towns could save up to 60% of their bill if they switched from diesel to hydroelectricity or 16% if they switched to solar.

The cost effectiveness of renewable energy has really changed the marketplace. Before, says Wouters, people thought: "solar is nice for [communities that are] off-grid, but it's expensive, but that is not true anymore. It's now cheap as well as being reliable, clean and low maintenance."

Wouters says the first challenge has been making people aware of the falling prices. "When something halves in price every two years it's hard to catch up, but I think that we've reached the point where people understand.