Energy Provision for Rural Areas

Introduction

Provision of energy in rural areas of many developing countries can be an issue with many edges especially in marginalized areas. Utilization of fossil fuels is not available for everyone at all times, great subsidized electricity coverage in Mexico and LPG in Bolivia, for instances, are available but still expensive for most of users. In Cambodia, dependency on systems that work at low efficiency levels are risky and expensive and often put health at risk; biomass based fuels such as animal dung, agriculture residues and wood fuel have a strong impact on human health, environment and restraint human ability to develop. There is a broad range of opportunities to change this situation, however the base of the pyramid is not precisely the first issue on the agenda of many local and regional governments in developing countries.

In urban settings strong reliance on fossil fuels and fossil fuels based energy, (very) high energy demand per capita and often strongly subsidized modern energy services are the mainstreaming situation, making the shifting towards a smarter and cleaner energy supply also a challenge.

Both setting are interlinked and present different complexities. The link between energy, water and food production are untapped. Many political, governmental, and institutional issues converge at this point.

As observed in Yucatan Peninsula and central Mexico indigenous communities it is feasible to reach bigger step towards impact achievement, as changing energy provision systems offer a life changing experience for users, helping them to leave behind suppressed energy demand levels and offering women empowerment solutions through the utilization of domestic biogas plants. In Veracruz and central Mexico medium scale dairy farms owners are pleased to implement a biogas plant (that offers calorific, mechanical and electrical power) when supported by the industry or government subsidies, however direct sales are still lagging behind a veil of unfamiliarity and investment risk fears, even though productivity is strongly improved. If one third of the solid waste available in Mexico City would be properly collected and used in waste to energy technologies the metro lines and public lighting systems of the whole city would be provided.

At urban and rural levels independency, safety and reliance are the features that efficient and cleaner systems offer, a starting point for other kind of benefits that offer an even brighter range of impacts worldwide for the human kind and the planet.

In Mexico many initiatives have been developed ranging from efficient building & efficient technologies to improved cookstoves and waste to energy systems such as gasification and biodigestion, wind, water and solar solutions, however the sector is still to evolve in order to be able to cope with a huge and urgent demand for cleaner and more efficient technologies. It is a big challenge to create the market conditions to implement such technologies. Lack of capacity translate into poorly developed supply chains with high transaction costs, lack of knowledge create little demand for such systems and often in developing countries there is little interaction between stakeholders within the sector resulting in a slowly energy sector development. On top of that financing options are limited and little support within policies and governments provided.

Policy advocacy, sustainable energy markets development, a transversal energy sector development and resources mobilization are some strategies that could help into creation of an enabling environment, which is clue in order to support and scale up implementation of sustainable energy technologies worldwide.

Further information

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