Replication of Rural Decentralised off-grid Electricity Generation through Technology and Business Innovation

英国政府通过其DFID和EPSRC机构正在支持解决发展中国家农村电气化问题的研究项目。为了解决这一问题，两所英国大学（南安普顿大学和帝国理工学院）、一家国际可持续能源咨询公司（IT Power）和一家发展机构（GVEP international）组成了一个联盟。我们的理由是，在可预见的未来，东非农村等地区电气化的前期高成本障碍仍将存在。大多数项目将继续需要外部机构的资助（世界银行、欧盟、英国国际发展部等），关键问题是支持这些初始投资，以提供持久的社会、技术、商业和环境遗产。因此，该提案的总体目标是实施可持续的电力供应系统，以促进社区的发展和改善福祉，并可以通过业务流程进行复制和改进。因此，我们认为，一个适当和成功的农村电气化项目基本上应包括三个组成部分：(a)人民- -实现人民的愿望并为他们提供实现其目标所需的环境和工具- -社会、经济和环境。这既可以是最终用户，也可以是实施者——在非洲的背景下，这两者都是重要的目标。(b)产品-提供人们所需的能源基础设施的技术。可持续和模块化的解决方案最适合农村地区。(c)过程-建立能够为社区带来社会利益和创造财富的强有力的能源技术和经济评价所需的过程和机制。这样的过程和机制可以成为学习实体，使可持续能源项目得以复制和传播，从而带来地方参与和经济效益，并降低资本和实施成本。产品（技术）组件被认为是相对容易理解的。有了适当的资金，社区能源供应可以通过采用诸如风能、光伏、生物质能、微型水力或混合系统等技术来提供。业务流程和与人的联系往往仍然薄弱，危及现有的农村电气化项目。因此，重要的是要了解业务流程的变化，这些变化需要使村庄能源系统能够自给自足，并为社区提供经常声称的更广泛的利益。此外，还需要了解哪种业务流程最适合哪种类型的社区，以及如何从“一次性”项目的问题中取得进展，提供可复制的模式，从而降低成本，提高质量和当地参与度，并提高村民的生活质量。所有这些都与理解和量化改善发展中国家农村地区福祉和经济繁荣的潜在社会经济影响相结合。这些问题是本建议的核心。我们的建议将形成系统的方法来实现该项目的目标。该工作方案将承担肯尼亚农村三个村庄的电气化工作，并根据联合国千年发展目标评估供电对人民生活的影响。通过该项目，我们的目标是与伙伴国家和组织建立能力。为了实现这一目标，项目的进展将通过一个专门制定的开放的学术和利益相关者网络进行传播，该网络最初将在整个非洲传播，并在五年计划期间在非洲举办专门设计的讲习班。

The UK government through its DFID and EPSRC agencies is supporting research projects which address rural electrification in developing countries. To address this call a consortium of two UK universities (Southampton University and Imperial College), an international sustainable energy consultancy (IT Power) and a development agency (GVEP International) has been formed. Our rationale is that the high up front cost barrier to electrification of areas such as rural East Africa will remain for the foreseeable future. Most projects will continue to require external agency funding (World Bank, EU, DFID etc) and the key issue is to support these initial investments to provide a lasting social, technical, commercial and environmental legacy. The overarching aim of this proposal therefore, is the implementation of sustainable electricity supply systems that promote development and improve wellbeing in communities and can be replicated and improved through business processes. Hence, in our view a proper and a successful rural electrification project should essentially encompass three components: (a) People - delivering on the aspirations of people and providing them with the environment and the tools they need to achieve their goals - social, economic and environmental. This can be both the end users as well as the implementers - both are important to be targeted within an African context.(b) Product - technologies to provide the energy infrastructure people require. A sustainable and modular solution is best suited to rural areas. (c) Process - processes and mechanisms needed to establish robust energy technologies and economic assessment that can deliver social benefits and wealth generation for a community. Such processes and mechanisms can then be learning entities to enable replication and dissemination of sustainable energy projects that can deliver local participation and economic benefits, and drive down the capital and implementation costs. The product (technology) components are considered as relatively well understood. With appropriate funding, community energy supply can be delivered by adopting technologies such as wind, photovoltaics, biomass, micro-hydro or hybrid systems. The business process and connection with people often remains weak and compromises existing rural electrification projects. It is therefore important to understand the changes in business process that need to be made to enable village energy systems to become self supporting and deliver the wider benefits for communities that are often claimed. In addition, it is also necessary to understand which business process is best suited for which type of community and how one progress from the issues of 'one off' projects to deliver replication models that drive down costs, raise quality and local participation, and enhance the quality of life of villagers. All the above is coupled with understanding and quantifying the potential socio-economic impact of improving the wellbeing and the economic prosperity in rural areas in developing countries. These issues are at the centre of this proposal.Our proposal will develop systematic approaches to achieving the aim of the project. The program of work will undertake the electrification of three villages in rural Kenya and assess the impact of the provision of electricity on people's lives against United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Through the program we aim to build capacity with partner countries and organisations. To deliver this, the progress of the project will be disseminated through a specially formulated open network of academics and stakeholders, initially across Africa as well as specially designed workshops to be held in Africa over the five year program period.