Electrification of Remote Rural Areas- Challenges and Possibilities

1. Electrification of Remote Rural Areas- Challenges and Possibilities Mekong Seminar November 03, 2008 Suvisanna Mustonen M.Sc. (Power Engineering)

2. Basic energyneeds, energypoverty • Basic needs: food, shelter • Staple foods, cooking • Illumination • Space heating • Energy poverty • About 1.6 billion people are without electricity • About 2.5 billion people depend on animal dung, crop residues, wood, and charcoal to cook their daily meals • Without efficient, clean energy, people are undermined in their efforts to engage effectively in productive activities or to improve their quality of life

3. Energy issues in developing countries • Inefficient production and use of traditional energy sources, which pose economic, environmental, and health threats • Economic: inefficient use requires large primary energy input per unit useful energy output • Environmental: increasing scarcity of fuels, deforestration, • Health threats: physical labour, accidents, physical assault, particulate matter, respiratory problems, eye illnesses • Highly uneven distribution and use of modern energy sources • Availability and price of electricity, petroleum products, liquefied and compressed natural gas • Important issues of economics, equity, and quality of life

4. Benefits of rural electrification I Links to MDG1: Energy and eradication of extreme poverty and hunger • Efficient technologies • Saving time and money • Increased availability of cooked foods • Better preservation of agricultural produce • Water pumping for households and irrigation frees up time for other work • Reliable and efficient energy supply can support enterprise development • Lighting permits income-generating activities beyond daylight hours • Using energy to power machinery • Reduction of manual labour • Increased productivity in enterprises and agriculture Ines Havet (2003): ”Linking Women and Energy to the Local Level to Global Goals and Targets” Turku School of Economics Suvisanna Mustonen

5. Benefits of rural electrification II Links to MDG3: Gender Equality • Electricity enables access to educational information and information communications • Street lighting improves safety for women and girls at night • Attending schools, community activities • Lighting at home enables studying in nighttime • Reduced physical labour in daily subsistance tasks Ref: Havet (2003)

6. Benefits of rural electrification III Links to MDGs 4-6: Improving Health • Improvements in health clinic facilities and services • Safer homes for children and household work due to increased quality of lighting • Reduction in indoor air pollution due to decreased fuel burning indoors fir lighting • Production and distribution of family planning information

7. Village energy demand scenarios Inefficient fuel wood use dominates primary energy demand Electrification helps increase energy efficiency

8. Electrification options • Grid-connection • Traditional approach to rural electrification • Centralized electricity generation and long distance electricity transmission and distribution • Mini-grid • village size systems with local electricity generation and distribution network • Stand-alone systems – induvidual small systems for household, health clinic etc • ”Least-cost frontier” defines economically best option

9. Challenges in access to electricity • Availability: poorest and most remote areas in developing countries tend to remain without electricity due to cost of electrification • Affordability to the poor when electricity available: • Connecting may be too expensive for some households • Fees/ tariffs may not be affordable

10. Challenges for developer: appropriate technology choices • What is the energy needed for? Energy services • Sustainability: social, environmental, economic, technical • Renewable energy: local resources and self-sufficiency

11. Challenges in operating a village power system • System / load management (quality of electricity) • Operating and maintaining the installation (technical skills) • Management of operation, decision-making on community applications • Tariff structure and collection • Managing the finances collected