no coal, no grid
Decentralized renewable energy has traditionally been under-estimated in emerging markets as only being capable of delivering electricity for home use, and then mostly for basic lighting. “Productive use”—creating goods and services either directly or indirectly for the production of income or value—has been more elusive.
But the reality is that decentralized technologies such as microgrids have been powering businesses in remote areas of the United States, Australia and China for years, while micro-hydro is a mainstay of the Nepalese rural economy. Even the smallest solar lights are used to illuminate shops, help farmers tend their cattle and enable mobile phone charging businesses.
With rapid market growth and increased investment in decentralized renewables, many companies are now accelerating their push into productive use solutions. This is resulting in the emergence of a “Micro-Enterprise Economy”.
In Africa, Off-Grid Electric’s ‘business in a box’ is their latest innovation designed to catalyze micro-enterprises, and Mobisol is also extending it products to boost economic activity—a third of its customers already use their system for business purposes creating around $5 million per year in additional income. In Somalia, the Business Opportunities with Solar Systems (BOSS) initiative is focused on powering shops and restaurants with solar, and has moved from providing lighting, fans and blending to support for solar refrigeration, while in Mali, FRES has been using solar PV to develop rural trading hubs, supporting tailors, bakeries, radio stations, banks, game rooms, pharmacies, ICT services and commerce.
renewableenergyworld.com |
