Rural Electrification in the Developing World Idea Lab
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Due to the inefficiency of energy markets in many developing countries--especially in rural areas--nearly a third of the world's population does not have electricity or access to modern fuels. This group's goal is to research methods to increase access to electricity for communities in the developing world. The Rural Electrification Idea Lab’s primary objective is to bring people together from different schools, departments and research groups at Berkeley to discuss ways to increase access to electricity for communities in the rural developing world. We will draw on the expertise of our diverse members to create a dynamic forum for sharing ideas on innovative technical, economic and social approaches to bringing reliable and affordable electricity to underserved rural communities in the developing world. The Idea Lab will meet on a biweekly basis. It will function on multiple parallel tracks: as a reading group (to inform ourselves of the latest developments and key issues from the available literature); as a forum for discussing ongoing research in different departments and labs; as a channel for communicating with organizations involved in on-the-ground rural electrification projects around the world to identify best practices and develop new strategies to build on prior successes and exploit new opportunities. We will engage in collective reading and discussion of three core areas: organizational models; technical issues relating to rural power systems; and cost recovery, questions of scale, and financing. An ongoing activity will be the collaborative design, drafting and ultimate dissemination of a series of guides relating to setting up rural electrification projects. This may include an overview of key issues for the layperson, and potentially more technical and customized guides for setting up different kinds of systems, in different contexts. Another potential outcome of our collaboration is the development of technical reviews of the literature to distill the most relevant and valuable information/lessons for small on-the-ground organizations for application to specific rural electrification programs. |
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