Solar-Based Rural Electrification and Micro-Enterprise ... - NREL

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daily needs, while also elevating the imperative decision-making role women play to ensure the systems’appropriate use.While the decentralized paradigm of energy delivery is gaining favor in rural areas of developingcountries, the successful implementation of such systems requires a keen understanding of local energyneeds and preferences, a sensitivity to the local cultural and economic realities, and an understanding ofthe technology. Enersol Associates, Inc. (“Enersol”) has developed a successful implementation modelfor decentralized renewable energy. Enersol is a U.S.-based, nonprofit international developmentorganization founded in 1984 to improve the quality of life in rural areas of developing countries byfostering the use of solar energy for rural electrification. The model, known as SOlar-BASed RuralElectrification Concept, or SO-BASEC for short, initially focused on disseminating residentialphotovoltaic (or solar-electric) systems to rural households in the Dominican Republic via local marketand institutional mechanisms. The model has been expanded over the past decade to encompass otherenergy needs for potable and agricultural water, cooking and park and buffer zone area management.Enersol’s success is grounded in its ability to leverage indigenous resources and knowledge byempowering local nonprofit partners to be drivers of information dissemination, training and financingwhile at the same time enabling entrepreneurial forces to drive hardware availability and systeminstallation. In addition, Enersol uses its programs to encourages governmental and aid agencies tovisualize an environmentally viable, decentralized energy future.Enersol’s work is not focused exclusively on women in energy and the current inclusion of women in allproject stages has been an evolutionary process. Enersol’s programs are an interesting review because,while much of the focus on women was deliberate from the outset, over the years, external as well asinternal forces have influenced the inclusion of gender considerations in the model’s development.Positive internal influences include the early balancing of female and male staff members in eachdiscipline and geographic region and conscious decisions to address women when discussing energyoptions. External influences include the provision of funds for the express purpose of sponsoring gendercenteredfinancing and training activities and participation in national organizations that mandate genderstandards.Among the lessons to be gleaned from Enersol’s experiences are the challenges organizations faces inincorporating women into market-driven development projects. Enersol’s focus on using microenterprises to disseminate and maintain decentralized energy systems has caused the organization toexamine creative ways first, to attract women to entrepreneurial ventures and second, to help themconfront the cultural constraints inherent in participation in such a mobile and traditionally male-focusedendeavor. Enersol’s credit activities encourage women to become borrowers in order to finance thepurchase of energy systems. All of these activities seek to harness the power and benefits of women asagents of change. Enersol is far from asserting that it has a globally applicable solution to this problem,but the lessons learned from its experience generate interesting and useful dialogue.v
IntroductionThe Rural Energy Situation in Developing CountriesApproximately one third of the world’s population lack access to modern energy supplies and services tomeet their daily needs. Electricity is unknown in the daily lives of approximately 1.5 to 2 billion people,and over 2 billion people continue to meet their cooking needs with traditional fuels. 5 The vast majority ofthis population live in rural areas of developing countries, including the 100 million people in the LatinAmerica and the Caribbean (LAC) that lack electricity. From 30 to 90 percent of this 100-millionunelectrified population live in rural areas. 6The challenge thus becomes finding an efficient and economically feasible way to provide modern energyoptions in some of the most remote and needy regions of the world. A projected 100 GW of increasedconventional electrical capacity for LAC will be installed over the next decade in addition to theextension of transmission and distribution systems. 7 However, it is likely that this infrastructureimprovement will be largely absorbed by demand growth within residential and industrial areas alreadyconnected to the electricity grid system. The rural areas that do not yet benefit from energy services tendto have a low population density, low energy demand and are located very far from the energy servicenetworks. These factors greatly increase the cost of extending services and reduce the chance that ruralareas will receive conventional energy services within the foreseeable future, leaving energy planners,local development organizations, entrepreneurs and the rural communities themselves to confront seriousenergy deficiencies, and its consequences, in remote outlying areas.The rural communities that are beyond the reach of the electric grid or cooking fuel distribution networkare forced to rely upon crude power sources and their own ingenuity and dedication to provide for theirminimal energy needs. In the Dominican Republic, families use dangerous and unhealthy kerosene lampsor candles, at a cost of between $3 and $11 per kWh equivalent. These kerosene lamp emit 0.2 lumens perwatt of energy, compared to the 10 lumens per watt emitted by a 40 watt incandescent bulb found in mostelectrified homes. 8 The same Dominican families listen to small radios powered by poor quality,disposable dry cell batteries, costing between $30 and $60/kWh. Television sets, a source of pride as wellas much needed information and entertainment in many rural areas, are often powered by poor-quality carbatteries. These batteries are fully discharged then hauled, on the backs of motorcycles or donkeys, to arecharging center on a weekly or biweekly basis at a significant time cost and economic cost of between$2.50 to $3.50 per kWh 9 . Refrigeration is practically nonexistent except for the occasional propane-5 Reddy, Amulya K.N., Robert H. Williams, Thomas B. Johansson, (1997). Energy After Rio: Prospects andChallenges. New York: United Nations Publications.6 Country Profiles: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean (1995). U.S.Export Council for Renewable Energy. xviii.7 Moore, Taylor. (July/August 1995). Developing Countries on a Power Drive [Online]. URL:http://www.epri.com/epri_journal/jul_aug95/develop.html.8 Derrick, Anthony, Catherine Francis, Varis Bokalders, (1989). Solar Photovoltaic Products: A Guide forDevelopment Workers. London: Intermediate Technology Publications, Ltd.9 Hansen, R. and Martin J., (1987). Photovoltaics for Rural Electrification in the Dominican Republic, Produced byEnersol Associates and the University of Lowell Foundation for the Department of Energy. Note: Cost ranges stillaccurate in 1998, based on author’s experience1
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