This knowledge guide highlights current local supply chains for clean, productive use of energy (PUE) equipment in sub-Saharan Africa and identifies key insights, gaps and learnings about the challenges, opportunities and successes from PREO funded projects.
Lacking reliable access to electricity, one in four healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to provide quality care, resulting in poor outcomes like high infant and maternal mortality.
Discover how Afya Research Africa (ARA) is unlocking productive use of energy in healthcare by spearheading decentralised solar and information management systems in medical facilities across Kenya.
New analysis examining the scale of investment opportunity in the productive use of energy (PUE)
PUE market opportunity in rural sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is estimated to be $864 billion over the next ten years, $86 billion per year. The report highlights the economic and social benefits of
The latest results from the PREO programme: demonstrating the business and impact case for investment in the productive use of energy (PUE)
Stimulating demand for off-grid renewable energy through PUE applications is a critical way to support sustainable business opportunities, grow local economies and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
This research focuses on the street food-processing sector since this is an important sector in which women are heavily involved.
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This research presents new insights that involving women as entrepreneurs in the renewable energy sector can positively impact businesses and provide positive welfare impacts on their households.
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This tool has been developed for businesses to allow them to directly enter data, in order to assess their business operations from a gender perspective at three levels: human capital, productivity management, and market.
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This research presents new evidence that shows that interventions promoting productive use of electricity (PUE) without gender approaches are more likely to benefit male-run than women-run enterprises, and provides recommendations to ensure equal benefits for women and men.
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The document looks at the lessons learned, unsuccessful and productive strategies over a four-year journey on the field with five leading partners working in developing women’s enterprises in the renewable energy sector in hard to reach areas.
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This is a literature study showing that energy entrepreneurship can transform women’s lives and captures key lessons learned on including women in energy supply as entrepreneurs to increase access to energy for all.
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Distributed renewable energy can not only empower women economically and socially as end users, but the sector itself can hugely benefit by integrating women across the value chain as designers, educators, trainers, managers, and entrepreneurs.
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Strengthening gender equality in business is an important and valid entry point to achieve Sustainable Development Goals that leave no-one behind. Making progress on gender means tackling entrenched power inequalities in diverse societies. At the heart of gender inequality lie systems of patriarchy and related socio-cultural norms which must be challenged at multiple levels. In practice, social and religious taboos restrict entry points. But upscaling collective action to strengthen women’s role in business can be facilitated.
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this paper takes a focused approach to understanding the key bottlenecks to women’s full participation in the most value-bearing places such as pits and fair markets, with the aim of informing highly sought interventions to address those challenges.
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In much of sub-Saharan Africa, women have little say in decisions over land. Unless proactive steps are taken to enable women to have a stronger voice, large-scale agribusiness projects will leave them even more marginalised. Though there has been little research in this area, an emerging body of thinking and practice provides clear pointers as to how governments, NGOs and investors might mitigate such risks in future, particularly by explicitly addressing gender issues head-on from the very outset.
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This article presents learning from a pilot to test the business impact of gender inclusion strategies with energy enterprises, as a key door-opener to the gender conversation.
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The Gender and Energy Capacity Building and Knowledge Exchange workshop provided a forum for country counterparts to document the lessons and approaches on integrating gender issues into their energy programs under the first phase of AFREA
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The purpose of the ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access is to provide policymakers with instrumental and human rights based indicators and rigorous arguments to align energy interventions with principles of gender equality.
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Le manuel sur l’utilisation productive de l’électricité offre un cadre simple et une approche systématique et progressive s’accompagnant de conseils pratiques sur la façon de planifier, promouvoir et mettre en œuvre des composantes consacrées à l’utilisation productive dans divers programmes d’électrification.
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The 2019 State of the Off-Grid Appliance Market Report analyzes the major market trends for off-grid appropriate TVs, fans, and refrigerators across eight representative markets in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This report aims to size the existing market and estimate the addressable market in 2030. It also identifies barriers to market growth and identifies the steps companies, governments, and development actors can take to accelerate growth.
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Présentation des possibilités offertes par cette technologie
et d’approches pour sa promotion
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This toolkit was developed to inform rural communities of the benefits electricity can bring and the advantages of electricity from renewable energy sources. The purpose of this toolkit is to help rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa
understand and benefit from the economic, productive and social opportunities from electricity access.
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The 2019 State of the Off-Grid Appliance Market Report analyzes the major market trends for off-grid appropriate TVs, fans, and refrigerators across eight representative markets in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This report aims to size the existing market and estimate the addressable market in 2030. It also identifies barriers to market growth and identifies the steps companies, governments, and development actors can take to accelerate growth.
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Off-grid appliances are appliances that can operate in resource-constrained settings, or that are designed to operate in off-grid energy systems such as low-voltage DC solar home systems or on AC/DC mini-grids. This factsheet draws on three new reports to provide the most up-to-date data on off-grid appliances – their demand, markets, impacts and consumer behavior.
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This study presents an analysis of selected project case studies from the EEP Africa, highlights an evolution in productive use business models, and identifies some of the key innovations taking place in the next generation of projects and companies combining clean energy and green growth.
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The 2019 State of the Off-Grid Appliance Market Report analyzes the major market trends for off-grid appropriate TVs, fans, and refrigerators across eight representative markets in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This report aims to size the existing market and estimate the addressable market in 2030. It also identifies barriers to market growth and identifies the steps companies, governments, and development actors can take to accelerate growth.
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A compendium of global information on appliance energy efficiency testing prices and testing laboratory costs for common energy consuming products. The purpose of the catalogue is to make it easier for governments, industry, and energy efficiency practitioners to evaluate where and how to test products in accordance with appliance standards and labeling programs, and ultimately make better-informed decisions about how best to allocate their program resources.
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clasp.ngo/publications/sead-global-appliance-testing-costs-catalogue…
At Factor[e] Ventures, we know that connecting high-power appliances to small, islanded minigrids or stand-alone systems can be a challenge. We know because we spent a good part of 2018 investigating income-generating appliances (IGAs) commonly found in rural SSA.
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This report summarizes data from 3,920 interviews with 2,370 solar TV customers in East Africa to provide compelling preliminary evidence of the positive social impacts of solar TVs on consumer quality of life.
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This report provides an overview of the market for PULSE micro-applications, which can be powered by standalone solar systems of one kilowatt or less.
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This report explores the findings of Solaris Tanzania. It examines the results of a long term surveying project; looking at products and services that are of most interest to rural communities, along with their current levels of access to these.
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The report contains the first-ever snapshot of the global off-grid appliance market and includes information on key market trends in three of the most important and promising appliance categories: fans, televisions, and refrigerators.
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This report by Power Africa provides insights into the opportunities and risks associated with Senegal’s
off-grid solar energy market and gives companies, investors, governments, and other stakeholders a deeper
understanding of the market.
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With the publication of this catalogue, the BMZ-funded GIZ sector program ‘Basic Energy Services (HER A)’ provides a market overview of DC-powered appliances, use-ful for developing and strengthening business activities in rural areas. This 1st Edition does not claim to provide a conclusive and comprehensive picture but rather to offer an overview of selected appliances available on the market today, complemented with elemental technical details, established distribution channels and, where possible, practical experiences from the field. The catalogue is directed at practitioners and public and private sector actors promotion
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Regional report covering the enabling policy and market
environment for the OGS sector in West Africa, including a summary of off-grid development initiatives; an overview of the status of the on-grid and off-grid markets, an analysis of off-grid energy
policy and regulation and gaps in the existing framework at the regional and national level.
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This report – sponsored by the Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), a Clean Energy Ministerial initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy – seeks to deepen our understanding of the current state of this burgeoning off-grid appliance market, explore key market trends and areas of future opportunity, and explore linkages and interdependencies with existing off-grid clean energy markets.
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clasp.ngo/publications/the-state-of-the-global-off-grid-appliance-market…
This report assesses the market opportunity for off-grid solar products and systems by estimating demand
from the household, institutional, and productive use sectors in Senegal
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This report highlights how the off-grid solar industry is currently providing energy to over 100 million people around the world, with sales of 4.4 million off-grid solar lighting products and 460,000 appliances in the last six months of 2019 alone.
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This new report finds an overwhelming majority (97%) of people living with a solar home system in West Africa report quality of life improvements as they feel safer, healthier and children have more time to study. 1 in 7 households report additional income of $31 per month on average after buying a solar home system.
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The findings presented in the 2018 Off-Grid Appliance Market Survey report serve as a key piece of market intelligence to enhance our global understanding of the off-grid appliance market, and provide a framework for stakeholders to identify business opportunities and high-impact interventions around efficient appliances.
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Ce rapport explore comment les kits solaires permettent aux foyers en Afrique de l’Ouest de développer leur activité économique, d’augmenter leurs revenus et d’améliorer leur qualité de vie.
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The Uganda Off-grid Market Accelerator (UOMA) is pleased to release a 2019 version of the market map to give a valuable snapshot of the Ugandan landscape and continue it’s role in coordination and communication for the market. This version has been expanded to cover solar home systems, mini-grids, productive use and an appendix with key industry stakeholders.
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uoma.ug/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/UOMA-Market-Map_FullVersion-1.pdf…
In this study, Factor[e] Ventures and The Energy Institute of Colorado State University (CSU) sought to demystify appliances that have a drect economic benefit to the end user, because these appliances are often unelectrified even in villages where a mini-grid is present
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This report provides an overview of the market for PULSE micro-applications, which can be powered by standalone solar systems of one kilowatt or less.
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The report is a resource to understand the technical and business model challenges related to PUE in smaller micro-grids. It examines best practices for promoting PUE and the business models used by developers. The report focuses on small agricultural processing, and small industrial and commercial loads.
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This report presents the findings from a multi-day technical conference on mini-grids and what is required to support rapid upscaling, with a focus on “operationalization”.
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A summary of the state of the industry and Kenya’s role as an industry trailblazer.
Kenya shows that the global microgrid market is ready for significant private investment. While challenges still remain – especially around the regulatory framework and aggregation of projects – there are now enough businesses with viable business models to provide early stage, strategic or even crowd investors with commercially attractive opportunities.
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Cartographie du secteur de l’énergie solaire au Sénégal. Vers la création d’un écosystème favorable
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While the interest of policy makers in the nexus between electrification, productive electricity usage and development impacts has been increasing steadily over the last decade, the lack of robust evidence on causal effects of electrification is striking. This joint GIZ-ESMAP study: Productive Use of Energy (PRODUSE) – Measuring Impacts of Electrification on Small and Micro-Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa sets out to improve the understanding of this issue
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Mini-grids for rural electrification in developing countries are growing in popularity but are not yet widely deployed. A key barrier of mini-grid proliferation is the uncertainty in predicting customer electricity consumption, which adds financial risk. Energy-use surveys deployed in the pre-feasibility stage that capture present and aspirational consumption are intended to reduce this uncertainty.
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Mini-grids could help unlock inclusive growth in remote rural areas, but few proactively stimulate productive uses of electricity, as this often requires resource-consuming actions and expertise. This paper characterises the current mini-grids’ industry, taking into account operators’ models and strategies
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Rural electrification programs are generally motivated by the effective and lasting impacts that they are expected to generate in the field. While there may be some natural trickle down effect from the massive investments required to reach high rates of rural electrification, spontaneous positive effects on social and economic development are generally limited by a number of local bottlenecks.
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The Manual provides energy practitioners with step-by-step guidance for designing and implementing activities to promote the productive use of energy in the context of electrification programmes.
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Most electrification programs focus on expanding supply with limited investment devoted to enabling end uses that drive productivity improvements and meet critical needs. This report, makes the case for a greatly increased focus on supporting demand, outlines the key barriers hampering increased use of electricity, and provides a succinct set of recommendations on actions that can be taken to complement the current focus on supply- side solutions.
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Closing the Circuit, Stimulating End-Use Demand For Rural Electrification
Clean Energy Mini – Grids are isolated electricity grids powered by renewable or hybrid sources. Given the actual distribution of the unconnected population in Africa, and the cost of extending the central networks to reach remote settlements, the development of Clean Energy Mini-Grids (also called Green Mini Grids) is an important part of the regional and national strategies to achieve universal access to electricity services.
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Focus of report is on SME business level; these have potential to generate significant demand and reach large customer base
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uoma.ug/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Promoting-Productive-Use-Technology.pdf…
The guide is the result of the GMG Facility Kenya’s extensive work to support mini-grid developers and the mini-grid industry at large to address sector level barriers to expanding off-grid electrification, with an emphasis on increasing market access and social inclusion for bottom of the pyramid (BoP) consumers and businesses.
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This report is a resource that entrepreneurs and developers can use to understand the technical and business model challenges related to PUE in smaller micro-grids. It examines best practices for promoting PUE and the business models used by developers. The report focuses on small agricultural processing, and small industrial and commercial loads.
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Utilities 2.0: Integrated Energy for Optimal Impact examines the opportunities, challenges and best practices of creating the utility of the future in Sub-Saharan Africa and developing economies in Asia.
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PwC viewpoint informed by insights from industry participants in Africa and Asia.A look at how standalone electricity and mini-grids can increase access to electricity.
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The workshop in Dar es Salaam targeted policy-makers, energy providers, energy practitioners, local entrepreneurs, and other key actors in the PUE ecosystem. Participants discussed and learned from each other’s work on how to successfully advance productive uses of energy in rural areas
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This report presents the findings from a multi-day technical conference on mini-grids and what is required to support rapid upscaling, with a focus on “operationalization”.
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This paper describes the works with two mini-grid developers to develop and test practical approaches for improving PUE uptake in Tanzanian rural villages through prototypes to build skills and sustainable supply chains.
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This report presents the findings from a multi-day technical conference on mini-grids and what is required to support rapid upscaling, with a focus on “operationalization”.
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This paper examines the experiences of two mini-hydro projects in Njombe region run by NGOs, and a solar-diesel mini-grid project in Tanzania’s lake zone run by a joint venture company. All three are exploring ways to combine energy with wider rural development processes.
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This report presents the findings from a multi-day technical conference on mini-grids and what is required to support rapid upscaling, with a focus on “operationalization”.
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This study was undertaken to identify current practices within the sector involving the use of surveys and their ability to accurately predict customer demand once connected to a micro-grid. Further, best practices are identified for survey use during micro-grid development and operation. Finally, a set of standard survey tools is proposed that can act as a core set of questions that micro-grid developers can use in creating their own surveys.
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This report provides an in-depth mapping and analysis of the five most important agricultural and fishing value chains in 15 African countries and an overview of other relevant value chains.
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This report outlines several actions that manufacturers, suppliers, donor, investors and policymakers can take to close the commercial viability gap for solar mills.
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Many communities in sub-Saharan Africa rely on diesel-powered milling equipment to process important staple crops. Solar-powered electric mills offer a reliable and sustainable alternative to expensive and polluting diesel-powered mills. This report uses data collected from field testing results of solar mills in East Africa to analyze the market requirements for solar mills and assess their commercial viability.
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Solar powered agro-processing units, such as grain mills, do not currently match diesel units in terms of performance at any scale. However, new grain mills developed through the Lab are shown to be four times more efficient than diesel mills on the market.
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This report examines six agricultural production and processing opportunities for rural areas: horticulture irrigation, grain milling, injera baking, milk cooling, bread baking, and coffee washing.
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“Feasibility Study on Productive Use of Electricity for Small Businesses Connected to Mwenga Hydro Power” is a study conducted by MicroEnergy International (MEI)on behalf of Energy4Impact, with the objective of supporting the business ecosystem in the Mufindi region to use electricity from the Mwenga grid.
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This guide aims to help practitioners assess whether milling is an appropriate, beneficial and financially viable productive application, both for a community and for a mini-grid developer. It also provides guidance for practitioners on how to operationalize a milling PU, recognizing the complexity of doing so.
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The use of off-grid refrigeration is not yet abundant in rural Uganda, so to get an indicative baseline and understand the context around use of refrigeration by low-income households and businesses, Energy 4 Impact carried out a study of 172 small scale, grid connected businesses that heavily rely on refrigeration. These businesses, primarily small retail shop based in rural Uganda, are the same types of enterprises that would be the target users of off grid refrigerators.
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The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. This edition contains information about off-grid refrigerators that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2019 Global LEAP Awards. The Buyer’s Guide serves as a procurement tool for off-grid solar companies and distributors, and provides general market intelligence to other interested stakeholders. It includes rated product specifications, performance metrics based on laboratory testing, and sales contact information.
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clasp.ngo/publications/2019-global-leap-awards-buyers-guide-for-outstanding-off-grid-refrigerators…
This document identifies a series of technology improvements that would enhance the efficiency and performance of off-grid refrigerators.
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The paper presents findings of a baseline product testing effort used to establish a foundational understanding of the field performance of commercially available off-grid refrigerators. It further explores the role of innovation cash prizes in catalyzing technology innovation and market expansion of off-grid refrigeration,
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Since 2017, IMC Worldwide, Energy 4 Impact, and CLASP have been testing off-grid refrigerators submitted by global manufacturers to determine efficiency, reliability and design appropriateness for off-grid users.
This paper summarises some of the challenges faced during the field testing phase of the Global LEAP Off-Grid Refrigerator Competition, and how the team worked around them, ensuring the competition remained fair and relevant.
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clasp.ngo/publications/learning-paper-the-challenges-of-testing-off-grid-refrigerators…
This research paper assesses the potential for off-grid productive use of energy in dairy. It explores the economics, business models, case study learnings, and next steps to capitalize on this opportunity.
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Productive use of off-grid energy: The business case in Uganda’s dairy value chain
This brief provides guidance on how the public sector can con- tribute to the goals of inclusive business models. This policy brief is based on the proceedings of the Re- gional workshop on the use of the cold chain in the development of agriculture and agro- industries in sub-Saharan Africa, organized in Yaoundé (Cameroon) in June 2012
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The report proposes models for new ‘clean cold-chains’ that will transport food produced from farm gate to end consumers sustainably and relay demand from consumers to farm gate efficiently, with minimal environmental impact.
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shaktifoundation.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Cold-Chains-in-India-Report-Final-Web.pdf…
Spotlight on the growing employment opportunity within the decentralized renewable energy (DRE) sector in Nigeria, and within the communities gaining access to electricity for the first time.
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Spotlline on the growing employment opportunity within the decentralized renewable energy (DRE) sector in Kenya, and within the communities gaining access to electricity for the first time.
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Globally, the off-grid renewable energy industry is expected to create at least 4.5 million direct jobs by 2030. Already—in just the solar lighting part of the industry—38 jobs are already being created for every 10,000 lights sold and the numbers have surpassed the 150,000 in fuel-based lighting. The potential is there for them to reach 2 million. This Power for All fact sheets provide the latest facts and statistics.
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This study examines the impact of a market transformation to off-grid lighting in terms of job loss and job creation. It focuses on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), where 178 million people lack access to the electricity grid.
The study provides statistics and introduces policy tools that governments can use to stimulate the production of new, energy efficient lighting technologies and the growth of associated jobs.
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This report finds the off-grid solar energy industry is generating thousands of jobs across East, West and Central Africa as well as South Asia. The research was realized with support from GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and vivideconomics.
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Power for All’s new technology spotlight provides the latest market insights for watering crops through decentralized renewable energy.
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This report offers insights on the solar water pump market in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Analysis underscores a growing business case for promotion and adoption—with an addressable market estimated at USD 15.6 billion—and identifies solutions to barriers preventing market scale.
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clasp.ngo/publications/solar-water-pump-outlook-2019-global-trends-and-market-opportunities…
The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. This edition contains information about solar water pumps that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2019 Global LEAP Awards. The Buyer’s Guide serves as a procurement tool for off-grid solar companies and distributors, and provides general market intelligence to other interested stakeholders. It includes rated product specifications, performance metrics based on laboratory testing, and sales contact information
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clasp.ngo/publications/2019-global-leap-awards-buyers-guide-for-solar-water-pumps…
This document identifies a series of technology improvements for remote monitoring systems and brushless DC motors that, if adopted, could improve pump efficiency and performance. It also outlines recommendations for future research, including: connectivity, the impact of water quality on durability, quality assurance, and specific in-country barriers.
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Between 2016 and 2018, Efficiency for Access partnered with 60 Decibels to survey 375 solar water pump customers in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania about their experiences. This analysis provides insights into customer purchasing decisions, use cases and preliminary evidence on the positive impacts of solar water pumps on farmer productivity and quality of life.
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clasp.ngo/publications/use-and-benefits-of-solar-water-pumps…
The off-grid solar sector is increasingly enabling the productive use of off-grid solar appliances. This briefing note examines the potential impact of off-grid solar products on customers’ economic productivity – and thus income and employment – with a focus on solar water pumps.
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The Shell Foundation and Value for Women embarked on a partnership in 2016 designed to pilot a holistic framework for gender inclusion in enterprise operations, using a “bottom-up”, business-first approach, aimed at testing the impact of gender inclusion on business performance. The approach first hones in on business challenges and then designs practical measurable solutions with a gender lens.
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Facts in how decentralized renewables help subsistence and low-income farmers to increase outputs, create savings and allow for increased income for spending on more nutritious food.
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The study tests the appetite of productive use appliances that serve the needs of larger family farmers and measure the impact on their livelihoods. Research was carried out with 5,000 farmers across Kenya, India and Mexico and data collected from Sistema.bio’s 7,000 existing customers. Appliances explored included: Chaff cutters, Grain mills, Water pumps, Water heaters and Tortilla/chapati stoves.
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Drawing on a suite of case studies, this study offers insights on what it will take to operationalize the opportunities and address the challenges for power-agriculture integration in Africa.
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Improvements in infrastructure, access to technology and markets are all key to increasing competitiveness of agriculture in West Africa. Sustainable energy solutions can contribute to these needs throughout the life of the crop: from irrigation to processing for final consumption. Electricity demand from agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to double between 2015 and 2030
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The studies reviewed in the paper identify the opportunities emerging from new and expandingmarkets for agricultural products and challenges to smallholder participation in these markets. It identifieskey attributes of successful value-chain interventions, emphasizing the importance of combining value-chainapproaches with other approaches, including those emerging from innovation systems and rural livelihoodsframeworks.
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This is a study conducted towards end of 2018 by Dalberg & Lighting Global who researched on the productive use space, with a focus on agriculture
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This study aims to measure impacts and enable investments in energy-smart agrifood chains by identifying the main barriers impeding the full deployment of clean energy technologies in four case study countries and recommending possible solutions to overcome them.
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This guide includes a cost analysis, an overview of import and export regulations, and a set of practical steps to prepare a product for shipment for three appliance categories: small household appliances (e.g. TVs and fans), refrigerators and solar water pumps.
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clasp.ngo/publications/practical-guidelines-for-shipping-off-grid-appliances…
Hybridising diesel mini-grids with photovoltaic generation can yield significant cost savings. This study compares the costs of diesel-only and hybridised mini-grids at seven sites – three in Africa, two in Asia and three in Latin America – and shows potential cost savings at all seven sites.
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It is widely accepted that electricity is an important element for improving levels of human development and wealth creation in rural areas. Yet, little research has explored the conditions under which electrification could lead to wealth creation post-electrification. Using Kenya as a case study, this paper uses natural capital (NC) and infrastructural capital (IC) data to compare the enabling environments under which electrification could lead to wealth creation (and persistent demand for electricity) post-electrification.
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This learning report offers recommendations for how to rethink serving the agricultural SME customer group, including the need for innovation in credit assessment, the potential of packaging projects rather than products, and the value proposition for customers; outstanding barriers of last mile distribution, communication between manufacturers and SMEs, and available data; and the potential to scale the pilot through two sector-wide initiatives.
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Testing a new approach to credit for productive use Ag assets
The 2018 Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report is the fourth report in a biennial series established over the past 8 years as the report of record for the off-grid solar industry. The publication takes stock of the industry across six axes: market fundamentals, sales, the competitive landscape, finance, the enabling environment, and impact.
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This report makes the case for a greatly increased focus on supporting demand, outlining the key barriers hampering increased use of electricity, and provides a succinct set of recommendations on actions that can be taken to complement the current focus on supply- side solutions.
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In a short report, M-KOPA Labs shares lessons learnt from developing its solar-powered PAYG Fridge and how its customers helped M-KOPA Labs to get the product “right”.
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This report explains the main barriers to scaling up green mini-grids in Sub Saharan Africa and how developers are overcoming these barriers. It also makes recommendations on how the African Development Bank can support the mini-grid sector.
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This Investment Prospectus (IP) aims to present the short-term priorities of the Kenyan Government for the operationalization of the country’s SE4AllAA. The(IP) has been developed for the Government of Kenya (GoK) in order to attract investment in the country’s energy sector, and in particular to address the country’s SE4Allgoals of ensuring universal access to modern energy services, doubling the globalrate of improvement in energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy (RE)in the global energy mix by 2030
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This comprehensive study will be valuable to the large and growing community that is banking on mini-grids to transform energy access in Africa: government officials and regulators; entrepreneurs and private investors; and multilateral, bilateral, and philanthropic funders.
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The workbook aims to assist developers of Solar PV based mini-grids (the “Mini Grid Developer”) and owners of the productive use enterprise such as aquaculture companies, CBOs, entrepreneurs or mini-grid developers (the “Ice Making Facility owner”) in determining the financial feasibility of ice-making for fish preservation as a productive use activity
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This report by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and Energy 4 Impact highlights the rapid acceleration in investment across the energy access sector. Nearly $1.7 billion in cumulative disclosed investment was deployed into energy access markets by the end of 2018, with over $1.2 billion deployed since the beginning of 2016. It provides an analysis of the trends driving off-grid energy markets, the current corporate-level investment landscape and the future role that strategic investors can play in further shaping these markets.
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The aim of the publication is to support and incentivise decision-makers to continue improving framework conditions for the implementation of business models based on renewable energy solutions, while enabling project developers and financiers to further boost the quality and quantity of rural electrification projects.
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The workbook aims to assist developers of Solar PV based mini-grids (the “Mini Grid Developer”) and owners of the productive use enterprise such as CBOs, rural entrepreneurs or mini-grid developers (the “Mill Owner”) in determining the financial feasibility of milling as a productive use activity
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Project Madaraka, a business unit at Amiran Kenya has the objective to develop a new approach to providing credit to farmers to purchase productive use agricultural assets in Kenya. This report details the key lessons that the Madaraka team have learned from approximately 50 credit sales, including both small growing farmers and SME agribusinesses.
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This study present results from an experiment that randomized the expansion of electric grid infrastructure in rural Kenya. Electricity distribution is a canonical example of a natural monopoly. Randomized price offers show that demand for electricity connections falls sharply with price.
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This new GOGLA report presents compelling data on the economic impact of off-grid solar systems: nearly 60% of households using small scale-solar power in East Africa report a rise in economic activity.
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This report explores how power demand will evolve in the region, along with the associated supply requirements; how much it will cost to supply the needed power, plus the options available to manage the expense; and what is required to ensure that the new capacity gets built
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This white paper is the first of several data-driven research pieces that will be produced by Vulcan and steama.co. It focuses on consumption and revenue growth and on building a knowledge base about rural consumers’ ability and willingness to pay.
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This report provides a conceptual framework for the development of a
private sector facility to pool and cross-collateralize diverse capital to support
international mini-grid portfolios.
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A new Rocky Mountain Institute report, Minigrids in the Money: Six Ways to Reduce Minigrid Costs by 60% for Rural Electrification, describes the barriers that minigrids currently face in reaching this potential and lays out a prospective pathway to address them and to bring minigrids to scale. The promise of minigrids is illustrated by looking at two typical and neighboring off-grid communities in central Nigeria.
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The paper reveals that offering appliances on credit to rural mini-grid customers is an effective way of unlocking demand for electricity.
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This report uses insights from over 30 interviews with market experts and research of public literature. The main objective of the report is to help inform discussions on the viability of auctions as a potential mechanism to support the sector scale up in Africa.
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This analysis confirms that electricity use is interconnected through complex causal relations with multiple dimensions of socio-economic development, viz. income generating activities, market production and revenues, household economy, local health and population, education, and habits and social networks
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This report is a compilation of technical, financial and economic advice. The materials contained in this report are presented as an overview of a study that was conducted in Kenya.
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NRECA International produced this publication to advance the basic understanding of rural electrification development for policymakers, donor organizations, and practitioners. The publication leads the reader through 10 self-contained modules covering the organizational, legal, technical, and financial aspects of rural electrification project design and implementation and electric cooperative development.
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www.nrecainternational.coop/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GuidesforDevelopment.pdf…
Lacking reliable access to electricity, one in four healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to provide quality care, resulting in poor outcomes like high infant and maternal mortality.
Discover how Afya Research Africa (ARA) is unlocking productive use of energy in healthcare by spearheading decentralised solar and information management systems in medical facilities across Kenya.
This policy brief explores how test methods, quality standards, and labeling might be used to promote energy efficiency and quality in off- and weak-grid appropriate appliances as the market evolves.
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This report presents outcomes from a series of interviews with organisations providing off grid energy solutions, on their storage technology choices, challenges and opportunities. These include insights on technology availability and supply chains, realised costs of storage solutions, performance of technologies and how these compare to manufacturers’ specifications, and the environmental impact of storage technologies.
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Customers pay little for power, but pay often.
Data from up to around 22,500 smart meters provides one of the most advanced analyses of rural microgrid use to date.
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The GOGLA Country Briefs are a series of briefing notes that provide a high-level overview of the status of different countries’ off-grid solar markets, as well as relevant policies and programs.
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The GOGLA Country Briefs are a series of briefing notes that provide a high-level overview of the status of different countries’ off-grid solar markets, as well as relevant policies and programs.
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This new report seeks to build on the political momentum that has been created over the past year to increase energy access in Africa.
Its main aim is to provide additional policy-relevant information and insights to support the implementation of ambitious new public and private initiatives now underway that aim to increase energy access swiftly across Africa, especially the New Deal on Energy for Africa, spearheaded by the African Development Bank.
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This paper addresses the need for reliable energy access for businesses to enable the productive use of clean energies. In addition, the paper presents case studies from nine African countries to show promising ways to successfully engage in rural developing areas for entrepreneurs, NGOs, investors and policymakers. ARE believes that these examples can also be used as showcase examples in other parts of the developing world.
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Power continues to be a focal point in SSA as demand for energy continues to grow and governments allocate material funds in order to drive Power Sector projects forward. As a result private sector interest tends to follow. The continuing focus and interest in the Power Sector leads to a need for thought leadership documents such as this, which allows decision makers, investors, existing and potential clients to gain insight into SSA’s Power Sector.
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This guide provides regulators with concrete guidance and practical tools for developing a clear, enabling regulatory framework for mini-grid development.
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The KeyMaker Model is an approach to enable rural manufacturing and to successfully trade goods from underprivileged, deep rural areas of developing countries in competitive national and international markets
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This knowledge guide highlights current local supply chains for clean, productive use of energy (PUE) equipment in sub-Saharan Africa and identifies key insights, gaps and learnings about the challenges, opportunities and successes from PREO funded projects.
Lacking reliable access to electricity, one in four healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to provide quality care, resulting in poor outcomes like high infant and maternal mortality.
Discover how Afya Research Africa (ARA) is unlocking productive use of energy in healthcare by spearheading decentralised solar and information management systems in medical facilities across Kenya.
This research focuses on the street food-processing sector since this is an important sector in which women are heavily involved.
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Strengthening gender equality in business is an important and valid entry point to achieve Sustainable Development Goals that leave no-one behind. Making progress on gender means tackling entrenched power inequalities in diverse societies. At the heart of gender inequality lie systems of patriarchy and related socio-cultural norms which must be challenged at multiple levels. In practice, social and religious taboos restrict entry points. But upscaling collective action to strengthen women’s role in business can be facilitated.
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This report explains the main barriers to scaling up green mini-grids in Sub Saharan Africa and how developers are overcoming these barriers. It also makes recommendations on how the African Development Bank can support the mini-grid sector.
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The document looks at the lessons learned, unsuccessful and productive strategies over a four-year journey on the field with five leading partners working in developing women’s enterprises in the renewable energy sector in hard to reach areas.
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Cartographie du secteur de l’énergie solaire au Sénégal. Vers la création d’un écosystème favorable
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This report by Power Africa provides insights into the opportunities and risks associated with Senegal’s
off-grid solar energy market and gives companies, investors, governments, and other stakeholders a deeper
understanding of the market.
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The paper reveals that offering appliances on credit to rural mini-grid customers is an effective way of unlocking demand for electricity.
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This guide aims to help practitioners assess whether milling is an appropriate, beneficial and financially viable productive application, both for a community and for a mini-grid developer. It also provides guidance for practitioners on how to operationalize a milling PU, recognizing the complexity of doing so.
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Many communities in sub-Saharan Africa rely on diesel-powered milling equipment to process important staple crops. Solar-powered electric mills offer a reliable and sustainable alternative to expensive and polluting diesel-powered mills. This report uses data collected from field testing results of solar mills in East Africa to analyze the market requirements for solar mills and assess their commercial viability.
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Ce rapport explore comment les kits solaires permettent aux foyers en Afrique de l’Ouest de développer leur activité économique, d’augmenter leurs revenus et d’améliorer leur qualité de vie.
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While the interest of policy makers in the nexus between electrification, productive electricity usage and development impacts has been increasing steadily over the last decade, the lack of robust evidence on causal effects of electrification is striking. This joint GIZ-ESMAP study: Productive Use of Energy (PRODUSE) – Measuring Impacts of Electrification on Small and Micro-Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa sets out to improve the understanding of this issue
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This paper describes the works with two mini-grid developers to develop and test practical approaches for improving PUE uptake in Tanzanian rural villages through prototypes to build skills and sustainable supply chains.
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This research presents new insights that involving women as entrepreneurs in the renewable energy sector can positively impact businesses and provide positive welfare impacts on their households.
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this paper takes a focused approach to understanding the key bottlenecks to women’s full participation in the most value-bearing places such as pits and fair markets, with the aim of informing highly sought interventions to address those challenges.
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This report is a resource that entrepreneurs and developers can use to understand the technical and business model challenges related to PUE in smaller micro-grids. It examines best practices for promoting PUE and the business models used by developers. The report focuses on small agricultural processing, and small industrial and commercial loads.
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The workbook aims to assist developers of Solar PV based mini-grids (the “Mini Grid Developer”) and owners of the productive use enterprise such as aquaculture companies, CBOs, entrepreneurs or mini-grid developers (the “Ice Making Facility owner”) in determining the financial feasibility of ice-making for fish preservation as a productive use activity
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This study was undertaken to identify current practices within the sector involving the use of surveys and their ability to accurately predict customer demand once connected to a micro-grid. Further, best practices are identified for survey use during micro-grid development and operation. Finally, a set of standard survey tools is proposed that can act as a core set of questions that micro-grid developers can use in creating their own surveys.
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