Mini-Grid Workshop
Almost 1.3 billion people across the globe still do not have access to electricity and probably an equal number have access to unreliable and unaffordable supply of electricity which is not sustainable. The International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2011 estimated that over 40% of all installed capacity to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030 will be most economically delivered by mini-grids. A clean energy mini-grids High Impact Opportunity (HIO) group has also been formed within the international framework of sustainable energy for all to further enable, enhance, and promote existing and upcoming efforts in the sector, with a view to increasing rate of deployment and market transformation impact. However, despite advances in technology and cost reductions, the pace at which clean energy mini-grids are being developed and financed remains slow, due to various technical and financial barriers.
A mini-grid workshop was held on April 22, 2015 in Bengaluru by TERI in association with Micro Energy International, Berlin and United Nations Environment Programme with the objective to identify and address challenges and issues related to the sustainable implementation of clean energy mini-grids across Asia and Africa. Specifically, the objectives were to identify and address the missing link to the sustainable implementation of clean energy mini-grids; bring together key stakeholders sharing the passion to successfully push forward energy inclusion, aligned with the SE4A goals and establish a core group of institutions for a regular exchange and provide a platform for the establishment of future partnerships for financing and implementation. The workshop was organized under the OASYS South Asia project, lasting from October 2009 to April 2015, which is supported by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, United Kingdom (UK) and Department for International Development (DFID). The OASYS project investigated a suite of alternative decentralized business solutions and corresponding institutional frameworks for electricity and rural energy supply with a specific focus on South Asia.
The workshop attracted 70 delegates from government agencies, private sector, project implementers, practitioners, academia, and policy advocacy agencies from more than 10 countries including Bangladesh, India, Germany, Kenya, France, Norway, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UK, and the USA. The event started with a welcome address by Mr P R Dasgupta, Director, TERI Southern Regional Centre. It was followed by video addresses in the Saving CO2 session by Prof Daniel M Kammen from UC Berkeley, California, USA and Mr Dean Cooper, Head of UNEP's mini-grid programme.
Thereafter, Mr Debajit Palit, Associate Director, TERI presented the "OASYS South Asia Project: Experiences and Lessons" in the first technical session of the day. The presentation highlighted the various research and demonstration activities that have been undertaken as part of the OASYS project, the lessons learned through the different business models being implemented in different sites with different partners and academic and other outputs from the project. It was followed by a presentation on the Swarm Electrification concept by Mr Sebastian Groh, Managing Director of ME SOLshare Ltd, Bangladesh, wherein he spoke about an innovative concept of interconnecting solar home systems to share the electricity generated to cash in as you go (CAYG) by the consumers. The session ended with Mr Abhimanyu Sahu, Director, Schneider Electric, sharing the 'BiPBoP access to energy' programme with the audience. The session was moderated by Mr Daniel Philipp, Managing Director of Micro Energy International, Germany.
This was followed by two dynamic breakout sessions, where the participants were divided into three round table groups to discuss the various challenges and solutions for enhancing electricity access through clean energy mini-grids. The first session on "Development and innovations in mini-grid design" included three topics on bottom-up versus top-down design; AC versus DC mini-grids; and green versus brown field mini-grids. Some of the key issues/questions that were discussed and debated in the breakout session were: how to deal with community outliers and the need to integrate with stand-alone systems; what financial models are appropriate for consumers and investors; the technical and cost feasibility of AC and DC micro-grids for different types of usages and the risks involved; the question of converting diesel to clean energy as a good investment opportunity; and about investment environment for green field and brown field mini-grids. All the issues were discussed in great detail by the respective groups and the group coordinators namely Mr Daniel Philipp, MEI and Mr Shahriar Ahmed Chowdhury, United International University, Bangladesh. Ms Chitra Narayanswamy of IRENA, thereafter, presented the key points from the discussion in the plenary session chaired by Dr Akanksha Chaurey, Director, IT Power.
Post lunch, the 2nd breakout sessions on commercial viability and scaling up of mini-grids also included three topics: Enabling policy framework, partnerships, and institutional requirements led by Mr S C Rajshekar of Symbiotic Research Associates, India; Attracting public and private capital and innovative financing led by Mitra Ardron, Lumeter Networks and Technology; and Resource matching led by Prof. Peter Adelmann, Hochschule Ulm, Germany). Some of the key issues discussed were key constraints to acceleration of small scale, village level micro-grids; policy and regulatory thrusts required at sub-national/provincial levels; structural barriers limiting the investment by the private sector; public-private cooperation for scaling up mini-grids; need for super-efficient loads and quality measurement frameworks for ensuring viability of mini-grids. These topics were intensely discussed by the respective groups and then presented at the plenary session chaired by Mr Harsha Wickramasinghe, Deputy Director General of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, Sri Lanka.
The workshop concluded with the closing keynote address by Prof Saifur Rahman of Virginia Tech University, USA. He touched upon various issues of sustainable electricity supply and talked about a pyramid framework where the technology is at the top; followed by human resources; regulation and finance in the middle; and at the base is customer acceptance. He stressed that it is not the cost but the usefulness of the service which is more critical for success. He emphasized that customer acceptance is essential for the success of any business model. During the workshop, a poster display session was also organised to showcase and share the key findings from the research undertaken as part of the OASYS South Asia project.