Roundup: UNEP's mini-grid program helps to achieve Sustainable Energy for All

"Life is easier when you can see what you are doing after dark," said a mother of three children in Haiti about her life-changing experience brought by electricity thanks to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s mini-grids.

When most of us in the modern society take electricity for granted, many families are awed for the first time by the magic power of electricity. Walta Guerrier, the mother of three, is one of the beneficiaries of the minigrid work in Haiti, EarthSpark minigrid in Les Anglais.

"I was one of the first customers, and it has been a life-changing experience for me and my family to have electricity. The children have been able to do their homework, and just in general life is easier when you can see what you are doing after dark," she said.

EarthSpark minigrid in Les Anglais is one of the energy-related activities managed by the UNEP in a bid to ensure access to electricity in remote areas in developing countries.

Worldwide, around 1.4 billion people across the globe do not have access to electricity, primarily in rural areas. Many of them rely on biomass or expensive, polluting fossil fuel solutions such as diesel generators, according to UNEP.

Dean Cooper, Energy Finance Programme Manager at UNEP, told Xinhua in an email interview that UNEP's Clean Energy Mini-Grids programme (CEMGs) has a two-phase approach, targeting both the replacement of diesel generators and the filling the void of electricity in remote areas.

"In brief, we've planned a 2-phase approach: brownfield then greenfield. Brownfield sites are existing isolated 'mini'-grids, usually diesel-powered. The idea is to replace as much of the diesel as possible with locally-available clean energy sources," said Cooper.

"Building on the brownfield phase, we have now commenced our greenfield activities, i.e. the demonstration of commercially-viable clean energy mini-grids in communities that are currently unserved with modern energy," he added.

According to Cooper, the greenfield programme spans over Africa, Asia and Latin America.

"In Africa, it is targeting Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa. We are most advanced in Mozambique, with 1.75 million euros of the budget secured. In Asia, we're planning to focus on the demonstration of CEMGs for islands in Indonesia and the Philippines," he said.

"In Latin America, we are demonstrating different sizes of clean energy mini-grid in Haiti to assess different models and scales, and to show that the technology can be effective in meeting the SE4All (Sustainable Energy for All) goals," he added.

With the access to electricity, many benefits accrued from modern technologies can finally reach the vast population that has been left behind for too long.

Moreover, the access to electricity can have a ripple effect. Just like a video on YouTube about the Titimane project in Mozambique shows that with power, electrified cookers can be used, which helps save a great deal of time of the local women who would otherwise have to collect woods for cooking. With more free time, women can engage in more productive activities, or even join the workforce.

"Everyone wants electricity and is fed up of living in the dark or using dirty fuels like kerosene that are bad for your health," said Rithot Thilus, General Manager of Cooperative Electroque de l'Arrondissement des Coteaux (CEAC), NRECA minigrid, Haiti.

"UNEP's Clean Energy Mini-Grids programme is managed from Paris by the Energy, Climate and Technology Branch -- the main aim is to demonstrate the commercial viability of CEMG operation in several developing countries, and therefore the investment opportunity," Cooper said.

It is estimated that over 40 percent of all installed capacity to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030 will be most economically delivered by mini-grids, according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2011.

Moreover, this programme is closely linked to Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) since it addresses all three SE4All goals, namely universal energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency, Cooper said.

Energy-related goal is a key component of the new sustainable development agenda that is going to be adopted in September to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to guide the world development in the next 15 years.

Hailed by UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon as a "bold, ambitious and transformative sustainable development agenda for the next 15 years", the goals are a comprehensive approach to sustainable development addressing a broad range of issues from ending poverty and hunger to climate change and peace.

Leaders from more than 150 nations are expected to attend the Sustainable Development Summit on Sept. 25-27 here at UN Headquarters in New York to formally adopt this outcome document setting a sustainable agenda. Endit