Energy Planning Tools for Humanitarian Practitioners

Many partners have developed a variety of useful tools to assist practitioners in the initial process of designing sustainable energy solutions to decarbonize humanitarian operations and deliver energy access to displaced people. New tools emerge frequently and in some cases, partners are unaware of the effective tools which have already been developed, leading to a duplication of effort in the creation of new tools.

The Global Platform For Action (GPA) on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings has undertaken a research process to identify and assess the tools that are currently available and widely used by practitioners. The assessment is not a ranking. Instead, it aims to provide an overview of the key features of each tool, the types of solutions each can be used to provide, and what level of technical expertise is required for users.

Currently, the list encompasses the following:

• Energy Systems Planning Tools
• Energy Needs Assessment Questionnaires
• Carbon Calculators

This list of tools is a living document that will be continually updated as new tools are identified and partners provide feedback on those which are most useful in different contexts and for practitioners with varying levels of expertise. Partners interested in contributing to the research process can contact energy@unitar.org.

Energy Systems Planning Tools

Tool Name and Link	Developer	Uses	Type of Services Provided	Designs Provided	Customisable Parameters	Technical knowedge needed	Cost Estimate Included	Cost to Use	Other Comments
REact	Action Against Hunger and acciona.org, funded by EU	Community facilities and households	Energy assessment and design	Rooftop solar, mini-grids	No	Little / no technical knowledge needed	Yes	Yes	Can be used for emergency and post-emergency response.
HOMER Enable Tool	HOMER Energy, funded by ESMAP	Community facilities and households	Energy assessment and design	Rooftop solar, mini-grids, hybrid	Yes	Requires basic technical knowledge	Yes	Yes	Can be used for emergency and post-emergency response.
HOMER Powering Health Tool	HOMER Energy, funded by ESMAP and USAID	Health facilities	Energy assessment and design	Rooftop solar, mini-grids, hybrid	Yes	Requires basic technical knowledge	Yes	Yes	The tool is intended for project managers, engineers and financiers in the energy industry to simplify the system design process.
Solar Energy Advisory Tool (SEAT)	ETH University in Zurich, Global Shelter Cluster, and Design to Production Agency	Community facilities	Energy assessment only	Rooftop solar, mini-grids	Yes	Little / no technical knowledge needed	No	Yes	Clean cooking not included. The tool target group consists of Shelter Cluster coordinators and partners, including those with limited experience and knowledge on energy systems.