UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Major Groups

Submitting organization:

Affiliation:	- Business and industry

Initiative Title:	Access to Electricity Programme Eases Poverty

Internet links:	http://www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTarget.asp?type=DocDet&id=14048

Scope:	Global

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: End:

Lead Institution:	ABB

Stakeholders/Partners:	ABB, WWF, UN agencies, NGOs, governments, local authorities, low-income populations without electricity

Relevent issues:	- Energy and rural development - Increasing access to energy for the poor - Industrial developments impact on poverty and social development - Promoting industrial development: framework conditions - Corporate social responsibility

Objectives/Challenges:

• Provide electricity to remote villages in developing countries
• Develop a sustainable energy market
• Reduce forest destruction by providing alternate sources of energy
• Provide renewable wind energy to the village
• Provide electricity without disturbing the wildlife in the area
• Create employment in the village
• Create better education and health care through provision of electricity
• Develop the economy of the village through time saving and provision of energy for income-generating activities
• Educate local communities on sustainable forest and wildlife management, health and education, including HIV/AIDS

Lessons Learned:

• Partnership with WWF was crucial due to their strong relations with local communities and experience in conducting local development projects
• The chances of success increase significantly in a rural electrification project if there is a certain level of development in the area and other development efforts are being made
• Successful technologies can withstand severe climatic conditions, be resistant to vandalism and theft and are simple and easy to maintain
• An integrated view that includes certain development activities in neighboring villages, the customer’s supply chain, and/or among end-customers may secure local sustainable business practices and attract a broader scope of partners, investors, financiers and donors
• Feasible projects include the supply of power to rural growth spots such as tourism, mining, agriculture and other small and medium sized enterprises with settlements in and around urban growth spots connected at low marginal cost helping further enterprises and improvement in local conditions
• Local manufacture in own factories keeps costs down and ensures performance and quality of products
• Educational and training schemes must be an integral part of the electrification process as resources and qualified personnel for operation and maintenance are not guaranteed

Policy Options:

• Foster public-private partnerships
• Develop “frame” agreements between companies, governments, the World Bank, UN organizations and others for collaboration on development projects and strategies

Summary:

ABB’s Access to Electricity program explores business models that facilitate electrification of low-income populations in developing countries, where local culture and established practices have not yet been exposed to the socio-economic benefits of electricity. The local, bottom-up projects focus on the productive use of electricity to establish sustainable power systems that can bear operating and maintenance costs. ABB takes on non-traditional partnerships and cooperates closely with UN agencies, Governments, non-governmental organizations and other civil society actors, and works together with other companies that are specialists in infrastructure development. A synergetic approach to other sectors such as water, agriculture, development of small- and medium-sized enterprises helps to achieve sustainable rural transformation.

In the remote village of Ngarambe, Tanzania, outside the Selous game reserve, ABB partnered with WWF, the local community and the district council in supplying electricity. The village, comprised of around 275 homesteads with a population of around 1800 people, supported itself on hunting and subsistence farming. The aim was to provide economic, environmental and social development while helping local conservation efforts. ABB supplied the mini-grid, and laid underground power lines so that wildlife in the area would not be disturbed. Power is supplied from a modern diesel generator, where retrofitted spark arrestors clean out emissions. ABB trained two generator attendants from the village to operate and maintain the system. WWF provided guidance on issues ranging from reducing deforestation and sustainable forestry and wildlife management to health care and education, including education on HIV/AIDS. Tangible benefits include allowing the schools to stay open late in the evening to provide more classes to more pupils; enabling local doctors being to treat patients in the evening and install a refrigerator to store medicines, saving patients the long trek to the hospital; and reduction of forest destruction hitherto relied upon as a source of energy in terms of firewood collection and charcoal burning. A feasibility study is being prepared to install a windmill to supply Ngarambe and a neighboring village with renewable energy, reducing the dependence on diesel and turning the present generators into back-up power.