Impact of COVID-19 on Energy Access

Overview

The global pandemic COVID-19 has completely uprooted our lives and changed the way we  work. It also has a tremendous impact on the off-grid sector. According to a survey by GOOGLA, if this situation lasts for more than 3-4 months, many off-grid companies (almost 50%) will not survive. One of the biggest problems of off-grid companies is the liquidity. Due to the current situation, customer liquidity has gone down, new sales has decreased, access to capital is either slowed or reduced and thus it is difficult to maintain the infrastructures.

This page list all the resources from external websites and is not exhaustive. Please feel free to add new resources to this page by editing it. 

Resources

these different organizations list tools, funding and other resources:

• Clean cooking alliance: https://www.cleancookingalliance.org/feature/covid-19-resources.html
• GOGLA for off-grid companies: https://www.gogla.org/covid-19-resource-center-0
• Truvalue Labs Coronavirus ESG monitor to track surface trends and insights where COVID-19 intersects with env, social and corporate governance (ESG)issues: https://coronavirus.truvaluelabs.com/

Links to Corona related Energy Access Articles

• OP-Ed COVID-19 is a huge threat to Africa’s off-grid energy sector and its millions of customers – here’s what needs to be done, Mansoor Hamayun, CNBC, 9 April 2020
  
• COVID-19: Lessons learnt and outlooks for sustainable, low carbon transport, SLOCAT, 14 April 2020 
• How Will Last-Mile Distributors Adapt to and Survive the COVID-19 Crisis?, Emma Colenbrander, Practical Action, Global Distributors Collective (GDC), 14.4.2020
• Covid lockdown will impact rooftop solar more than grid-connected projects, says Care Ratings, Uma Gupta, PV Magazine, 14 April 2020
  
• OPINION: COVID-19, air pollution and cooking: a deadly connection,by Hajia Samira Bawumia & Dymphna van der Lans | @SBawumia | Clean Cooking Alliance, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 09:56 GMT
  "The ability for doctors to treat infected populations is based on the assumption that clinics and medical equipment are fully functioning with access to sufficient, uninterrupted, reliable electricity..."
• ARE - ARE COVID-19 Response - Call to Action - EN_0.pdf CALL TO ACTION: Roadmap for the decentralised renewables sector to survive and flourish in the wake of thecovid-19 crisis, 15.04.2020