Renewable Energy to Reduce Poverty in Africa Toolkit for Planning Decentralised Renewable Energy Projects
Final Version 5th August 2010
Target Audience
Christian Aid Programme and Partner Staff • Introduce key concepts in planning decentralised renewable energy projects
Objectives
• Summarise technology and financing options • Provide project tools and links to further information
Outcomes
Users able to take first steps in planning and promoting pro-poor, commercially sustainable decentralised renewable energy applications
Introduction 3 1. Rationale 4 2. Applying renewable energy
Contents
6 2.1. Biomass energy technologies 8 2.2. Solar energy technologies 13 2.3. Water energy technologies 17 2.4. Wind energy technologies 20 2.5. Human powered water pumping technologies 2.6. Liquid fuel technologies 22 3. Investment finance and end-user finance 25 3.1. Investment finance for an NGO or enterprise 3.2. Operational models 27 3.3. End-user finance mechanisms 29 4. Project funding sources 30 4.1. International multilateral agencies 31 4.2. Bilateral agencies 32 4.3. National institutions 32 4.4. Local investment 32 4.5. Social investment 32 4.6. Foundations and charities 33 4.7. Carbon finance 33 5. Monitoring and evaluation 34 6. Summary and recommendations 37 Annex 1: A project planning framework 40 Annex 2: A financial planning framework 42
5th August 2010 Final Toolkit Drew Corbyn, Steven Hunt, Teo Sanchez John Chettleborough, Richard Ewbank
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Date Revision Authors Reviewers
Cover photographs: 1. Copyright © 2000 Practical Action Consulting, Photographer Zul Mukhida; Glowstar solar lantern field test in Nakuru extends this carpenter’s hours by facilitating work after dark. 2. Copyright © 2008 Practical Action Consulting, Photographer Steven Hunt; Anagi Stoves ready for collection by distributors. 3. Copyright © 2002 Practical Action, Photographer Steve Fisher; Installation of electric power lines and street lighting; 4. Copyright © 2000 Practical Action, Photographer Zul Mukhida; Man stands on weir next to inlet channel at Kenyan micro-hydro plant.
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Introduction
This toolkit is intended to be used as a resource by Christian Aid Programme and Partner Staff in order to enable them to design and plan decentralised renewable energy projects better. The toolkit should be equally useful to staff designing energy access projects, as well as those integrating energy access elements into projects with wider objectives (e.g. secure livelihoods). The toolkit aims to: • Provide a resource that can be used to increase the awareness of staff and partners of the opportunities provided by pro-poor energy interventions • Provide practical guidelines and advice that can be used to assist project planning, proposal development and review processes. It is intended to support the ongoing development of a body of work on pro-poor energy that supports the development of the Pan Africa Narrative and helps us achieve the vision and objectives set out in Turning Hope Into Action. The toolkit is not intended to be prescriptive. It provides case studies and guidelines that can be adapted to the context of particular countries. The toolkit is designed as a gateway to a series of other resources, tools, organisations, approaches and technologies which can be explored in more depth via links, as relevant to the particular project context. The toolkit is arranged so as to guide users through the key considerations linked to designing renewable energy projects, with links to further information provided throughout as well as a comprehensive references section in the annexes. The toolkit is provided as a PDF file with clickable links, which can be downloaded, e-mailed or transferred on CD or memory sticks for easy dissemination. Although it does not aim to be a complete guide in and of itself, the toolkit aims to guide practitioners towards best available practice in the sector, and in this way to assist Christian Aid in optimising planning and promotion of pro-poor and commercially sustainable decentralised energy installations.
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1.
Rationale
The importance of energy access in combating poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals has been increasingly recognised in the last decade. Detailed studies 1 have shown how meeting the MDGs is contingent on an increase in access to energy as summarised in the table below: Table 1: Energy services contribution to MDGs.1 MDG To halve extreme poverty Energy Services Contribution Access to energy services facilitates economic development - micro-enterprise, livelihood activities beyond daylight hours, locally owned businesses, which will create employment - and assists in bridging the ‘digital divide’. Energy services can improve access to pumped drinking water and 95% of staple foods need cooking before they can be eaten. Irrigation, aided by energy access, can increase local food production. Energy installations that pump water in drought prone areas can increase the resilience of livestock. Energy is a key component of a functioning health system, for example, lighting health centers, refrigeration of vaccines and other medicines, sterilization of equipment and transport to health clinics. Improved lighting and cooking units can significantly reduce the incidence of respiratory diseases: a major killer of under fives in Africa. Improved access to energy increases the retention of health workers in remote areas. Energy services reduce the time spent by women and children (especially girls) on basic survival activities (gathering firewood, fetching water, cooking, etc.); lighting permits home study, increases security and enables the use of educational media and communications in schools, including information and communication technologies (ICTs). Improved energy efficiency and use of cleaner alternatives can help to achieve sustainable use of natural resources, as well as reducing emissions, which protects the local and global environment.
To reduce hunger and improve access to safe drinking water
To reduce child and maternal mortality; and to reduce diseases
To achieve universal primary education; and to promote gender equality and empowerment of women Environmental sustainability
Lack of energy access is a form of poverty, but it also contributes to perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Lack of access to modern and convenient forms of energy in particular reduces people’s ability to work themselves out of poverty via income generating activities, many of which are based on energy. Poor and polluting energy services create health problems which undermine productivity and strain household resources. The poor often pay a ‘poverty penalty’ effectively paying more for energy services than more wealthy consumers.
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Improved energy access contributes to creating new product and service opportunities, improve the efficiency and viability of existing activities, and reduce the opportunity costs associated with ineffective forms of energy. Many modern energy services will also save households significant sums of money which can be re-invested into other development needs. Table 2: Energy Services and Income opportunities. 2 Energy Service New income opportunities
Sale of improved lighting products. Micro enterprises at home possible through improved lighting, street lighting maintenance Manufacture & sale of improved stoves and fuels
Improvement of Existing activities
Later opening of shops and cafes
Opportunity Cost saving
Creating opportunity for night time activities, improved health / financial savings from reduced dependence on kerosene and other lighting fuels Avoided time in wood collection and pot cleaning, improved security for women, increased access to education for young girls who would otherwise need to collect firewood Food no longer wasted, cash flow improved in livestock areas where assets are tied up in animals Time saved in collecting wood for heating Distance walked to charge phones, cost of charging phones
Lighting
Cooking
Cleaner and more cost effective cooking
Refrigeration
Selling ice, ice-cream etc. Storage & sale of milk, meat & other perishable food products Process heat for new industrial processes charging
More livestock products sold, markets opened in areas where livestock exist due to storage facilities Improved comfort within hotels and cafés Finding best prices at various markets, obtaining meteorological or livelihoods based information Better yields, increased resilience to drought
Heating
Communications Internet cafes, phone
Irrigation & water for livestock Agro-processing
Growing new kinds of crops, increasing number of crop cycles in a year, income from livestock water pumps Adding value via processing agricultural products
Time spent manually watering crops, time spent walking livestock to find sources of water (and livestock losses) Time spent manually grinding/pounding etc reduced labour for women / young girls & increase in time for education, other income generation and recreation as a result Time saved in hand making repetitive designs
Increasing throughput and lowering costs
Manufacturing
Welding and metalwork enabled
Improved quality and speed of carpentry
Access to energy enabling improvement in the efficiency of existing development activities (such as agriculture via irrigation) and diversification of livelihoods, via
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