Energy & Fuel Users’ Journal July – September 2019

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ENFUSE Volume – LXIX Book 2 July - September 2019 EDITORIAL BOARD Editor: MadhavanNampoothiri Advisors: Dr. R Natarajan Mr. G Thangaraj (Past President) Dr. Jatin Nathwani, WISE (University of Waterloo) Members Ex-Officio: Mr. S Ramalingam, President Dr. K Mamallan, Secretary Mr. S Sakthivel, Treasurer Mr. S Jeyaraman, Joint Secretary Mr. S R Pradhish Kumaar, Joint Secretary Members: Dr. A Peer Fathima, Chairman Academic Interface Mr. Ramnath S Mani Vice President, Southern Region Mr. G L Srinivasan, Immediate Past President Publisher: Mr. S Ramalingam Honorary President Energy & Fuel Users’ Assn. of India Editorial-cum-Admn. Office: No.4 B1 J P Tower 7/2 Nungambakkam High Road Chennai 600 034, INDIA Phone: 091-44-48502133 Email: enfuse2001@yahoo.com enfuse2001@gmail.com

Dear Reader, This is that time of the year when a new leadership team for the next year gets formed. The ENFUSE General Body, on its annual meeting on 30 September 2019, re-elected Mr. S. Ramalingam as the President of ENFUSE. The details of the rest of the new team members can be found in this journal. On behalf of the entire ENFUSE community, I congratulate Mr. S Ramalingam and I am sure that he will take ENFUSE to greater heights this year. In this edition of the journal, we go back to basics. You will find a very detailed article on alternative energy, and one interesting aspect of the article is that it shows that what was alternate yesterday is mainstream today, and what is alternate today, will be mainstream tomorrow. Solar energy was alternate a decade back, but today it is mainstream. While it is mainstream, many of us may still benefit from the mechanics of how solar panels work. We have an article on the same in this journal. ENFUSE has been working together with the University of Waterloo on the topic of Energy Access. In this Journal, we are reproducing 2 articles on Universal Energy Access that appeared in the special edition of IEEE. Co-written by Dr. Jatin Nathwani of University of Waterloo, these articles summarise the current status of Universal Energy Access and the work being done towards achieving that goal. Two other interesting articles include an entrepreneur’s quest in making money out of harmful smoke, and how the digital circuit breaker can revolutionize the power sector. Apart from these informative articles, we also take stock of the accomplishments of ENFUSE during the last quarter, especially in terms of campus outreach and activities. As this year is drawing to a close, on behalf of the ENFUSE team, I wish you all a happy ending in 2019 and a great start in 2020. MADHAVAN NAMPOOTHIRI

EDITORIAL

[Cite your source here.]

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FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

The Sixty Ninth Annual General Body Meeting of

Energy & Fuel Users’ Association of India (Formerly

known as Steam & Fuel Users’ Association of India)

was conducted on 30th September 2019 at ENFUSE

OFFICE at 5.30 p.m. The General Body approved the

audited accounts and statements of Income and

Expenditure for the year 2018 – 2019, besides

electing the Executive Committee Members and

Office Bearers for 2019 – 20. The list of newly

elected Office Bearers with the portfolios and the

Executive Committee Members are appearing in the

other pages of the journal.

On behalf of the outgoing Executive Committee

Members, as Former President I wish to thank office

bearers and all the members for the excellent

cooperation extended for the successful and

satisfying conduct of activities throughout the year.

I take this page to thank the Annual General Body for electing me as the President for the year 2019-20 also thereby reposing confidence on me. I wish to convey that the newly elected Executive Committee Members and myself will rededicate ourselves to conduct affair is of the association to your satisfaction. The second quarter of 2019-20 witnessed a spurt in the activities of student chapters of ENFUSE. The activities for the student chapter at Velammal Engineering College at Surapet was inaugurated on 26th July 2019; SRM Institute of Science & Technology was inaugurated on 23rd August 2019; VIT Chennai Campus was inaugurated on 28th August 2019 for the year 2019-20 and the details of appearing in the other columns of this journal.

Members of ENFUSE are aware that we are working together with University of Waterloo, Canada in the mission to achieve “Affordable energy for humanity: A global movement to support universal clean energy access”. An interesting article is appearing in this issue highlighting the issues and challenges associated with delivering universal energy access and related improvements in quality of life to citizens from vastly diverse regions. Understandably these are lofty goals that have eluded policy makers and governments for over seven decades. The current proposals recommend a global network of Energy Access Innovation Centers (EAICs) dedicated to providing services to bolster the entire supply chain of talent and expertise, design and operational requirements of system deployment, and capacity to develop and deploy low-cost, high-performance technical solutions for energy impoverished communities. Also there is an interesting discussion in this issue on “Data standardization for smart infrastructure in first-access electricity systems” with the background standardization could play a significant role in the context of electricity access. The article focuses on data standardization for electricity-access and RE-based microgrids, , as there is very limited or no grid generation and consumption data is available in underdeveloped communities. Different data sources and how the data could be used, technological and capacity constraints for storage of data, political and governance implications, as well as data security and privacy issues are examined. I am confident that you will find the article interesting and relevant to different stakeholders such as investors and public. With the Festival holidays around the corner , I take this column to convey my best wishes to all the members and their families.

S. RAMALINGAM

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ENFUSE NEWS Student Chapter Inauration at Velammal

Engineering College:

Velammal Engineering College, Chennai- An autonomous Institution inaugurate students chapter for a Professional body Energy and Fuel Users Association (ENFUSE) on 26th July 2019. Mr. V.Sriram, Chairman - Sustainability Initiatives, ENFUSE, (Deputy General Manager, Chennai Petroleum Corporation) delivered the inaugural address. The session was very interactive and well received by the student members

Student Chapter Inauguration at SRM Institute of Science & Technology on 23rd August 2019:

SRMIST - ENFUSE has stepped into its 2nd year with the kind support and all around patronage with immense pleasure and excitement, having passed the one-year milestone. We were honoured to have Mr. S. Ramalingam, National President of ENFUSE ( Former Chairman & Managing Director - CPCL , Senior Executive Fellow - WISE, Waterloo University, Canada) to lead the inauguration ceremony . No need to mention that organizing a student chapter at a prestigious institution, SRM Institute of Science & Technology called for concentrated efforts by the entire group. All the members of the chapter came forward contributing their share to execute the work to make the inaugural function a memorable one. The event started with the enthusiastic

inauguration speech given by Jodhir Adhitya,

3rd year B. Tech EEE

Then Mr. Ramalingam, National president of ENFUSE, gave his Lecture on “Energy Management Emerging Challenges” by exciting

and encouraging speech , congratulating the team. He explained in detail and he mainly quoted about the international workshop to be held by our team - SRMIST ENFUSE. The vote of thanks was given by Raghav

Manikandan, the vice president of SRMIST

ENFUSE , with that the event came to an end.

Iauguration of VIT Chennai student

chapter 2019-20:

ENFUSE –VIT Student chapter Seventh batch inauguration was held on 28/08/19 at VIT University, Chennai campus. The welcome address was delivered by Dr. A. Peer Fathima, Professor& Dean, School of Electrical Engineering, VIT, Chennai campus and the faculty co-ordinator of ENFUSE-VIT student chapter. The newly elected office bearers were introduced .The chapter was inaugurated by ENFUSE President Mr. S Ramalingam, Chairman & Managing Director (Retd), CPCL and Er. S. Jeyaram, Environmental expert and Chief Executive, Six Elements Environmental Consulting, Chennai. They delivered a special lecture on “Energy Management -Emerging challenges and Environmental awareness” for the benefit of ENFUSE members. The guests were introduced by the student secretaries Ms. M. Abirami, III year EEE and Mr. S. Harish, II year Mech. One hundred and one students of VIT-Chennai were registered for the membership and took part in the discussion session with our guests. Prizes for the quiz program was given to the winners and membership cards were issued to all members. The program concluded with vote of thanks proposed by the student Secretary Ms. V. Jayasree, III year EEE.

MCCI 183rd Chambers Day on 28th Sep. 2019:

Under the invitation from Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) president ENFUSE participated with Mr. S R Pradhish Kumaar,

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Member, the 183rd Chamber Day on 28th September 2019 at Hotel ITC Grand Chola, Guidy, Chennai 600 032. Mr. M C Sampath, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, was the Chief Guest. Mr. N Muruganandam, IAS., Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Government of Tamil Nadu was the Special Guest & Mr. A V

Dharmakrishnan, CEO, The Ramco Cements Ltd., was the Guest of Honor.

Annual General Body Meeting on 30th Sep.2019

The Sixty Ninth Annual General Body Meeting of

Energy & Fuel Users’ Association of India

(Formerly known as Steam & Fuel Users’

Association of India) was conducted on 30th

September 2019 at ENFUSE Office at 5.30 p.m.

The General Body approved the audited

accounts and statements of Income and

Expenditure for the year 2018-19, besides

electing the Executive Committee Members and

Office Bearers. The list of newly elected Office

Bearers with the portfolios and the Executive

Committee Members are appearing in the other

pages of the journal.

The General Body appreciated the relationship established the University of Waterloo and urged to continue the activities with the University to established the Global Innovation Centre in India

The General Body welcome the proposal to conduct the International Workshop at SRM Institute of Science & Technology, Kattakulathur and the sponsorship from University of Waterloo, Canada on 5th, 6th & 7th December 2019.

A view of audience at Velammal Engineering College

A view of audience at SRM Instt of Science & Tech

A view of audience at VIT -Chennai

A view of audience at ENFUSE A G M

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CONTENTS

Page No.

1. Alternative Energy …………………………………………... 6

2. Toxic Smoke is Africa’s Quiet Killer. An Entrepreneur says His Fix Can make a fortune …. 17

3. How Solar Panels Work ………………………. …………. 23

4. How the world’s first digital circuit breaker could completely change our powered world …… 24

5. Electricity for all: Issues, challenges, and solutions

for energy – disadvantaged communities ……….. 26

6. Affordable Energy For Humanity: A Global Movement to Support Universal Clean Energy Access …………………………………………………..………. 33

7. Grid Scale Microgrids ……………………………………… 46

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Alternative energy is any energy source that is an alternative to fossil fuel. These alternatives are intended to address concerns about fossil fuels, such as its high carbon dioxide emissions, an important factor in global warming. Marine energy, hydroelectric, wind, geothermal and solar power are all alternative sources of energy.

The nature of what constitutes an alternative energy source has changed considerably over time, as have controversies regarding energy use. Because of the variety of energy choices and differing goals of their advocates, defining some energy types as "alternative" is considered very controversial.[1]

History:

Historians of economies have examined the key transitions to alternative energies and regard the transitions as pivotal in bringing about significant economic change. Prior to the shift to an alternative energy, supplies of the dominant energy type became erratic, accompanied by rapid increases in energy prices.

Coal as an Alternative to wood

In the late medieval period, coal was the new alternative fuel to save the society from overuse of the dominant fuel, wood. The deforestation had resulted in shortage of wood, at that time soft coal appeared as a savior. Historian Norman F. Cantordescribes how:

Europeans had lived in the midst of vast forests throughout the earlier medieval centuries. After 1250 they became so skilled at deforestation that by 1500 AD they were running short of wood for heating and cooking... By 1500 Europe was on the edge of a fuel and nutritional disaster, [from] which it was saved in the

sixteenth century only by the burning of soft

coal and the cultivation of potatoes and maize.

Petroleum as an alternative to whale oil Whale oil was the dominant form of lubrication and fuel for lamps in the early 19th century, but the depletion of the whale stocks by mid century caused whale oil prices to skyrocket setting the stage for the adoption of petroleum which was first commercialized in Pennsylvania in 1859.

Ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels:

In 1917, Alexander Graham Bell advocated ethanol from corn, wheat and other foods as an alternative to coal and oil, stating that the world was in measurable distance of depleting these fuels. For Bell, the problem requiring an alternative was lack of renewability of orthodox energy sources.[7] Since the 1970s, Brazil has had an ethanol fuel program which has allowed the country to become the world's second largest producer of ethanol (after the United States) and the world's largest exporter.[8] Brazil's ethanol fuel program uses modern equipment and cheap sugar cane as feedstock, and the residual cane-waste (bagasse) is used to process heat and power.[9] There are no longer light vehicles in Brazil running on pure gasoline. By the end of 2008 there were 35,000 filling stations throughout Brazil with at least one ethanol pump.

Cellulosic ethanol can be produced from a diverse array of feedstocks, and involves the use of the whole crop. This new approach should increase yields and reduce the carbon footprint because the amount of energy-intensive fertilizers and fungicides will remain the same, for a higher output of usable

material. As of 2008, there are nine commercial cellulosic ethanol plants which

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

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are either operating, or under construction, in the United States.

Second-generation biofuels technologies are able to manufacture biofuels from inedible biomass and could hence prevent conversion of food into fuel." As of July 2010, there is one commercial second-generation (2G) ethanol plant Inbicon Biomass Refinery, which is

operating in Denmark.

Coal Gasification as an alternative to Petroleum

In the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter's administration advocated coal gasification as an alternative to expensive imported oil. The program, including the Synthetic Fuels Corporation was scrapped when petroleum prices plummeted in the 1980s. The carbon footprint and environmental impact of coal gasification are both very high.

Existing types of alternative energy

• Hydro electricity captures energy from falling water.

• Nuclear energy uses nuclear fission to release energy stored in the atomic bonds of heavy elements.

• Wind energy is the generation of electricity from wind, commonly by using propeller-like turbines.

• Solar energy is the use of energy from the sun. Heat from the sun can be used for solar thermal applications or light can be converted into electricity via photovoltaic devices.

• Geothermal energy is the use of the earth's internal heat to boil water for heating buildings or generating electricity.

• Biofuel and ethanol are plant-derived gasoline substitutes for powering vehicles.

• Hydrogen can be used as a carrier of energy, produced by various technologies such as cracking of hydrocarbons or water electrolysis.

Enabling Technologies

Ice storage air conditioning and thermal storage heaters are methods of shifting consumption to use low cost off-peak electricity. When compared to resistance heating, heat pumps conserve electrical power (or in rare cases mechanical or thermal power) by collecting heat from a cool source such as a body of water, the ground or the air.

Thermal storage technologies allow heat or cold to be stored for periods of time ranging from diurnal to interseasonal, and can involve storage of sensible energy (i.e. by changing the temperature of a medium) or latent energy (e.g. through phase changes of a medium (i.e. changes from solid to liquid or vice versa), such as between water and slush or ice). Energy sources can be natural (via solar-thermal collectors, or dry cooling towers used to collect winter's cold), waste energy (such as from HVAC equipment, industrial processes or power plants), or surplus energy (such as seasonally from hydropower projects or intermittently from wind farms). The Drake Landing Solar Community (Alberta, Canada) is illustrative. Borehole thermal energy storage allows the community to get 97% of its year-round heat from solar collectors on the garage roofs. The storages can be insulated tanks, borehole clusters in substrates ranging from gravel to bedrock, deep aquifers, or shallow pits that are lined and insulated. Some applications require inclusion of a heat pump.

Renewable Energy VS Non-renewable Energy

Renewable energy is generated from natural

resources – such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished). When comparing the processes for producing energy, there remain several fundamental differences between renewable energy and fossil fuels. The process of producing oil, coal, or natural gas fuel is a difficult and demanding process that requires a

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great deal of complex equipment, physical and chemical processes. On the other hand, alternative energy can be widely produced with basic equipment and natural processes. Wood, the most renewable and available alternative fuel, emits the same amount of carbon when burned as would be emitted if it degraded naturally.[19] Nuclear power is an alternative to fossil fuels that is non-renewable, like fossil fuels, nuclear ones are a finite resource.

Ecologically friendly alternatives

A renewable energy source such as biomass is sometimes regarded as a good alternative to providing heat and electricity with fossil fuels. Biofuels are not inherently ecologically friendly for this purpose, while burning biomass is carbon-neutral, air pollution is still produced. For example, the Netherlands, once leader in use of palm oil as a biofuel, has suspended all subsidies for palm oil due to the scientific evidence that their use "may sometimes create more environmental harm than fossil fuels" The Netherlands government and environmental groups are trying to trace the origins of imported palm oil, to certify which operations produce the oil in a responsible manner. Regarding biofuels from foodstuffs, the realization that converting the entire grain harvest of the US would only produce 16% of its auto fuel needs, and the decimation of Brazil's CO2 absorbing tropical rain forests to make way for biofuel production has made it clear that placing energy markets in competition with food markets results in higher food prices and insignificant or negative impact on energy issues such as global warming or dependence on foreign energy. Recently, alternatives to such undesirable sustainable fuels are being sought, such as commercially viable sources of cellulosic ethanol.

Relatively new concepts for alternative energy

Carbon-neutral and negative fuels

Carbon-neutral fuels are synthetic fuels (including methane, gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel or ammonia[ produced

by hydrogenating waste carbon dioxide recycled from power plant flue-gas emissions, recovered from automotive exhaust gas, or derived from carbonic acid in seawater. Commercial fuel synthesis companies suggest they can produce synthetic fuels for less than petroleum fuels when oil costs more than $55 per barrel. Renewable methanol (RM) is a fuel produced from hydrogen and carbon dioxide by catalytic hydrogenation where the hydrogen has been obtained from water electrolysis. It can be blended into transportation fuel or processed as a chemical feedstock.

The George Olah carbon dioxide recycling plant operated by Carbon Recycling International in Grindavík, Iceland has been producing 2 million liters of methanol transportation fuel per year from flue exhaust of the Svartsengi Power Station since 2011[ It has the capacity to produce 5 million liters per year. A 250 kilowatt methane synthesis plant was constructed by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) at Baden-Württemberg and the Fraunhofer Society in Germany and began operating in 2010. It is being upgraded to 10 megawatts, scheduled for completion in autumn, 2012. Audi has constructed a carbon-neutral liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Werlte, Germany. The plant is intended to produce transportation fuel to offset LNG used in their A3 Sportback g-tron automobiles, and can keep 2,800 metric tons of CO2 out of the

environment per year at its initial capacity. Other commercial developments are taking place in Columbia, South Carolina, Camarillo, California, and Darlington, England.

Such fuels are considered carbon-neutral because they do not result in a net increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases.[ To the extent that synthetic fuels displace fossil fuels, or if they are produced from waste carbon or seawater carbonic acid, and their combustion is subject to carbon captureat the flue or exhaust pipe, they result in negative carbon dioxide emission and net carbon dioxide

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removal from the atmosphere, and thus constitute a form of greenhouse gas remediation.

Such renewable fuels alleviate the costs and dependency issues of imported fossil fuels without requiring either electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to hydrogen or other fuels, enabling continued compatible and affordable vehicles. Carbon-neutral fuels offer relatively low cost energy storage, alleviating the problems of wind and solar intermittency, and they enable distribution of wind, water, and solar power through existing natural gas pipelines.

Nighttime wind power is considered the most economical form of electrical power with which to synthesize fuel, because the load curve for electricity peaks sharply during the day, but wind tends to blow slightly more at night than during the day, so, the price of nighttime wind power is often much less expensive than any alternative. Germany has built a 250 kilowatt synthetic methane plant which they are scaling up to 10 megawatts.

Algae Fuel

Algae fuel is a biofuel which is derived from algae. During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. This is usually done by placing the algae between two panes of glass. The algae creates three forms of energy fuel: heat (from its growth cycle), biofuel (the natural "oil" derived from the algae), and biomass (from the algae itself, as it is harvested upon maturity).

The heat can be used to power building systems (such as heat process water) or to produce energy. Biofuel is oil extracted from the algae upon maturity, and used to create energy similar to the use of biodiesel. The biomass is the matter left over after extracting the oil and water, and can be harvested to produce combustible methane for energy production, similar to the warmth felt in a compost pile or the methane collected from biodegradable

materials in a landfill. Additionally, the benefits of algae biofuel are that it can be produced industrially, as well as vertically (i.e. as a building facade), thereby obviating the use of arable land and food crops (such as soy, palm, and canola).

Biomass Briquettes

Biomass briquettes are being developed in the developing world as an alternative to charcoal. The technique involves the conversion of almost any plant matter into compressed briquettes that typically have about 70% the calorific value of charcoal. There are relatively few examples of large scale briquette production. One exception is in North Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where forest clearance for charcoal production is considered to be the biggest threat to Mountain Gorilla habitat. The staff of Virunga National Park have successfully trained and equipped over 3500 people to produce biomass briquettes, thereby replacing charcoal produced illegally inside the national park, and creating significant employment for people living in extreme poverty in conflict affected areas.

Biogas Digestion

Biogas digestion harnesses the methane gas that is released when organic waste breaks down in an anaerobic environment. This gas can be retrieved from landfill sites or sewage systems. The gas can be used as a fuel for heat or, more commonly, electricity generation. [42] The methane gas that is collected and refined can be used as an energy source for various products.

Biological Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen gas is a completely clean burning fuel; its only by-product is water. It also contains relatively high amount of energy compared with other fuels due to its chemical structure.

2H2 + O2 → 2H2O + High Energy

High Energy + 2H2O → 2H2 + O2

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This requires a high-energy input, making commercial hydrogen very inefficient. Use of a biological vector as a means to split water, and therefore produce hydrogen gas, would allow for the only energy input to be solar radiation. Biological vectors can include bacteria or more commonly algae. This process is known as biological hydrogen production. It requires the use of single celled organisms to create hydrogen gas through fermentation. Without the presence of oxygen, also known as an anaerobic environment, regular cellular respiration cannot take place and a process known as fermentation takes over. A major by-product of this process is hydrogen gas. If this could be implemented on a large scale, then sunlight, nutrients and water could create hydrogen gas to be used as a dense source of energy. Large-scale production has proven difficult. Not until 1999, was it even possible to induce these anaerobic conditions by sulfur deprivation. Since the fermentation process is an evolutionary back up, turned on during stress, the cells would die after a few days. In 2000, a two-stage process was developed to take the cells in and out of anaerobic conditions and therefore keep them alive. For the last ten years, finding a way to do this on a large-scale has been the main goal of research. Careful work is being done to ensure an efficient process before large-scale production, however once a mechanism is developed, this type of production could solve our energy needs.

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity provided 75% of the worlds renewable electricity in 2013. Much of the electricity used today is a result of the heyday of conventional hydroelectric development between 1960 and 1980, which has virtually ceased in Europe and North America due to environmental concerns. Globally there is a trend towards more hydroelectricity. From 2004 to 2014 the installed capacity rose from 715 to 1,055 GW. A popular alternative to the large dams of the past is run-of-the-riverwhere there is no water stored behind a dam and generation usually varies with seasonal rainfall.

Using run-of-the-river in wet seasons and solar in dry seasons can balance seasonal variations for both. Another move away from large dams is small hydro, these tend to be situated high up on tributaries, rather than on main rivers in valley bottoms.

Offshore Wind

Offshore wind farms are similar to land-based wind farms, but are located on the ocean. Offshore wind farms can be placed in water up to 40 metres (130 ft) deep, whereas floating wind turbines can float in water up to 700 metres (2,300 ft) deep The advantage of having a floating wind farm is to be able to harness the winds from the open ocean. Without any obstructions such as hills, trees and buildings, winds from the open ocean can reach up to speeds twice as fast as coastal areas.[

Significant generation of offshore wind energy already contributes to electricity needs in Europe and Asia and now the first offshore wind farms are under development in U.S. waters. While the offshore wind industry has grown dramatically over the last several decades, especially in Europe, there is still uncertainty associated with how the construction and operation of these wind farms affect marine animals and the marine environment.

Traditional offshore wind turbines are attached to the seabed in shallower waters within the near shore marine environment. As offshore wind technologies become more advanced, floating structures have begun to be used in deeper waters where more wind resources exist.

Marine and hydrokinetic energy

Marine and Hydrokinetic (MHK) or marine energy development includes projects using the following devices:

• Wave power is the transport of energy by wind waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work – for example, electricity

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generation or pumping water into reservoirs. A machine able to exploit significant waves in open coastal areas is generally known as a wave energy converter.

• Tidal power turbines are placed in coastal and estuarine areas and daily flows are quite predictable.

• In-stream turbines in fast-moving rivers

• Ocean current turbines in areas of strong marine currents

• Ocean thermal energy converters in deep tropical waters.

Nuclear power

In the year 2015 ten new reactors came online and 67 more were under construction including the first eight new Generation III+ AP1000 reactors in the US and China and the first four new Generation III EPR reactors in Finland, France and China.[57] Reactors are also under construction in Belarus, Brazil, India, Iran, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates.

Thorium Nuclear Power

Further information on power production

see: Thorium-based nuclear power

Thorium is a fissionable material for possible future use in a thorium-based reactor. Proponents of thorium reactors claims several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle, such as thorium's greater abundance, better resistance to nuclear weapons proliferation, and reduced plutonium and actinide production. Thorium reactors can be modified to produce Uranium-233, which can then be processed into highly enriched uranium, which has been tested in low yield weapons, and is unproven on a commercial scale.

Investing in alternative energy

As an economic sector, there are limited stock market investment opportunities in alternative energy available to the general public. The

public can buy shares of alternative energy companies from various stock markets with wildly volatile returns. The IPO of Solar City demonstrates the nascent nature of this sector- within a few weeks, it already had achieved the second highest market cap within the alternative energy sector.

Publicly traded alternative energy companies have been very volatile, with some 2007 returns in excess of 100%, some 2008 returns down 90% or more, and peak-to-trough returns in 2009 again over 100%. In general there are three sub-segments of alternative energy investment: solar energy, wind energy and hybrid electric vehicles. Each of these four segments involve very different technologies and investment concerns.]

Investors can also invest in ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and mutual funds that track an alternative energy index. In 2010, Mosaic Inc. launched an online platform allowing residents of California and New York to invest directly in solar farms.

Photovoltaic solar energy is based on semiconductor processing and benefits from cost reductions similar to those in the microprocessor industry. The economics of solar Photovoltaic electricity are highly dependent on silicon pricing. Because some companies sell completed solar cells on the open market, this can create an irrational pricing environment.]

Wind power has been harnessed for over 100 years and its underlying technology is stable. Its economics are largely determined by demand, steel prices, and the composite material used for the blades. Because current wind turbines are often in excess of 100 meters high, logistics and a global manufacturing platform are major sources of competitive advantage.

Alternative energy in transportation

Due to rising gas prices in 2008, with the US national average price per gallon of regular unleaded gas rising above $4.00 a gallon,[ there has been a steady investment in developing

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higher fuel efficiency vehicles and more alternative fuel vehicles for consumers. In response, many smaller companies have rapidly increased research and development into radically different ways of powering consumer vehicles. Hybrid and battery electric vehicles are commercially available and are gaining wider industry and consumer acceptance worldwide. In 2010, Nissan USA introduced the world's first mass-production electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf. A plug-in hybrid car, the Chevrolet Volt also has been produced, using an electric motor to drive the wheels, and a small four-cylinder engine to generate additional electricity.

Making alternative energy main stream

Before alternative energy becomes mainstream there are a few crucial obstacles that it must overcome. First there must be increased understanding of how alternative energies are beneficial; secondly the availability components for these systems must increase; and lastly the pay-back period must be decreased.

For example, electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are on the rise. The continue adoption of these vehicles depend on investment in public charging infrastructure, as well as implementing much more alternative energy for future transportation.[

Research

There are numerous organizations within the academic, federal, and commercial sectors conducting large scale advanced research in the field of alternative energy. This research spans several areas of focus across the alternative energy spectrum. Most of the research is targeted at improving efficiency and increasing overall energy yields.

In the US, multiple federally supported research organizations have focused on alternative energy in recent years. Two of the most prominent of these labs are Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), both of which are

funded by the United States Department of Energy and supported by various corporate partners. Sandia has a total budget of $2.4 billion[75] while NREL has a budget of $375 million.

With the increasing consumption levels of energy, it is projected that the levels would increase by 21% in 2030. The cost of the renewables was relatively cheaper at $2.5m/MW as compared to the non-renewables & 2.7m/MW[ Evidently, the use of renewable energy is a cost effective method of obtaining energy. Additionally, their use also dispenses with the trade-off that has existed between environmental conservation and economic growth.

Mechanical Energy

Mechanical energy associated with human activities such as blood circulation, respiration, walking, typing and running, is ubiquitous but usually wasted. It has attracted tremendous attention from researchers around the globe to find methods to scavenge such mechanical energies. The best solution currently is to use piezoelectric materials, which can generate flow of electrons when deformed. Various devices using piezoelectric materials have been built to scavenge mechanical energy. Considering that the piezoelectric constant of the material plays a critical role in the overall performance of a piezoelectric device, one critical research direction to improve device efficiency is to find new material of large piezoelectric response. Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate (PMN-PT) is a next-generation piezoelectric material with super high piezoelectric constant when ideal composition and orientation are obtained. In 2012, PMN-PT Nanowires with a very high piezoelectric constant were fabricated by a hydro-thermal approach and then assembled into an energy-harvesting device. The record-high piezoelectric constant was further improved by the fabrication of a single-crystal PMN-PT nanobelt, which was then used as the essential building block for a piezoelectric nanogenerator

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Solar

Solar energy can be used for heating, cooling or electrical power generation using the sun.

Solar heat has long been employed in passively and actively heated buildings, as well as district heating systems. Examples of the latter are the Drake Landing Solar Community is Alberta, Canada, and numerous district systems in Denmark and Germany. In Europe, there are two programs for the application of solar heat: the Solar District Heating (SDH) and the International Energy Agency's Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) program.

The obstacles preventing the large-scale implementation of solar powered energy generation is the inefficiency of current solar technology and the cost. Currently, photovoltaic (PV) panels only have the ability to convert around 16% of the sunlight that hits them into electricity.

Both Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), have heavily funded solar research programs. The NREL solar program has a budget of around $75 million and develops research projects in the areas of photovoltaic (PV) technology, solar thermal energy, and solar radiation. The budget for Sandia's solar division is unknown, however it accounts for a significant percentage of the laboratory's $2.4 billion budget

Several academic programs have focused on solar research in recent years. The Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) at University of North Carolina (UNC) has the sole purpose of developing a cost-effective solar technology. In 2008, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a method to store solar energy by using it to produce hydrogen fuel from water Such research is targeted at addressing the obstacle that solar development faces of storing energy for use during nighttime hours when the sun is not shining. The Zhangebei National Wind and Solar Energy Storage and Transmission Demonstration

Project northwest of Beijing, uses batteries to store 71 MWh, integrating wind and solar energy on the grid with frequency and voltage regulation.

In February 2012, North Carolina-based Semprius Inc., a solar development company backed by German corporation Siemens, announced that they had developed the world's most efficient solar panel. The company claims that the prototype converts 33.9% of the sunlight that hits it to electricity, more than double the previous high-end conversion rate.

Wind

In the 1970s NASA developed an analytical model to predict wind turbine power generation during high winds. Today, both Sandia National Laboratories and National Renewable Energy Laboratory have programs dedicated to wind research. Sandia's laboratory focuses on the advancement of materials, aerodynamics, and sensors. The NREL wind projects are centered on improving wind plant power production, reducing their capital costs, and making wind energy more cost effective overall.

The Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy (FLOWE) at Caltech was established to research alternative approaches to wind energy farming technology practices that have the potential to reduce the cost, size, and environmental impact of wind energy production.

Renewable energies such as wind, solar, biomass and geothermal combined, supplied 1.3% of global final energy consumption in 2013[

Biomass

A CHP power station using wood to supplies

30,000 households in France

Biomass can be regarded as "biological material" derived from living, or recently living organisms. It most often refers to plants or plant-derived materials which are specifically called lignocellulosic biomass. As an energy

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source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or indirectly after converting it to various forms of biofuel. Conversion of biomass to biofuel can be achieved by different methods which are broadly classified into: thermal, chemical, and biochemical methods. Wood remains the largest biomass energy source today; examples include forest residues (such as dead trees, branches and tree stumps), yard clippings, wood chips and even municipal solid waste. In the second sense, biomass includes plant or animal matter that can be converted into fibers or other industrial chemicals, including biofuels. Industrial biomass can be grown from numerous types of plants, including miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, sorghum, sugarcane, bamboo,[ and a variety of tree species, ranging from eucalyptus to oil palm (palm oil).

Biomass, biogas and biofuels are burned to produce heat/power and in doing so harm the environment. Pollutants such as sulphurous oxides (SOx), nitrous oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM) are produced from this combustion. The World Health Organisation estimates that 7 million premature deaths are caused each year by air pollution, and biomass combustion is a major contributor of it. The use of biomas is carbon neutral over time, but is otherwise similar to burning fossil fuels.

Ethanol Biofuels

As the primary source of biofuels in North America, many organizations are conducting research in the area of ethanolproduction. On the Federal level, the USDA conducts a large amount of research regarding ethanol production in the United States. Much of this research is targeted toward the effect of ethanol production on domestic food markets.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has conducted various ethanol research projects, mainly in the area of cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol has many benefits over traditional corn based-ethanol. It does not take away or directly conflict with the food supply

because it is produced from wood, grasses, or non-edible parts of plants. Moreover, some studies have shown cellulosic ethanol to be more cost effective and economically sustainable than corn-based ethanol Sandia National Laboratories conducts in-house cellulosic ethanol research and is also a member of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a research institute founded by the United States Department of Energy with the goal of developing cellulosic biofuels.

Other Biofuels

From 1978 to 1996, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory experimented with using algae as a biofuels source in the "Aquatic Species Program. A self-published article by Michael Briggs, at the University of New Hampshire Biofuels Group, offers estimates for the realistic replacement of all motor vehicle fuel with biofuels by utilizing algae that have a natural oil content greater than 50%, which Briggs suggests can be grown on algae ponds at wastewater treatment plants. This oil-rich algae can then be extracted from the system and processed into biofuels, with the dried remainder further reprocessed to create ethanol.

The production of algae to harvest oil for biofuels has not yet been undertaken on a commercial scale, but feasibility studies have been conducted to arrive at the above yield estimate. In addition to its projected high yield, algaculture— unlike food crop-based biofuels — does not entail a decrease in food production, since it requires neither farmland nor fresh water. Many companies are pursuing algae bio-reactors for various purposes, including scaling up biofuels production to commercial levels.

Several groups in various sectors are conducting research on Jatropha curcas, a poisonous shrub-like tree that produces seeds considered by many to be a viable source of biofuels feedstock oil. Much of this research focuses on improving the overall per acre oil yield of Jatropha through advancements in genetics, soil science, and horticultural practices. SG Biofuels, a San Diego-

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based Jatropha developer, has used molecular breeding and biotechnology to produce elite hybrid seeds of Jatropha that show significant yield improvements over first generation varieties. The Center for Sustainable Energy Farming (CfSEF) is a Los Angeles-based non-profit research organization dedicated to Jatropha research in the areas of plant science, agronomy, and horticulture. Successful exploration of these disciplines is projected to increase Jatropha farm production yields by 200-300% in the next ten years.

Geothermal

Geothermal energy is produced by tapping into the heat within the earths crust. It is considered sustainable because that thermal energy is constantly replenished. However, the science of geothermal energy generation is still young and developing economic viability. Several entities, such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories are conducting research toward the goal of establishing a proven science around geothermal energy. The International Centre for Geothermal Research (IGC), a German geosciences research organization, is largely focused on geothermal energy development research.

Hydrogen

Over $1 billion has been spent on the research and development of hydrogen fuel in the United States. Both the National Renewable Energy Laboratory[120] and Sandia National Laboratories have departments dedicated to hydrogen research. Much of this work centers on hydrogen storage and fuel cell technologies

Advantages

Further information: Renewable energy

debate, Disadvantages of hydroelectricity, Tidal

power § Tidal power issues, and Issues relating

to biofuels

The generation of alternative energy on the scale needed to replace fossil energy, in an effort to reverse global climate change, is likely

to have significant negative environmental impacts. For example, biomass energy generation would have to increase 7-fold to supply current primary energy demand, and up to 40-fold by 2100 given economic and energy growth projections. Humans already appropriate 30 to 40% of all photosynthetically fixed carbon worldwide, indicating that expansion of additional biomass harvesting is likely to stress ecosystems, in some cases precipitating collapse and extinction of animal species that have been deprived of vital food sources. The total amount of energy capture by vegetation in the United States each year is around 58 quads (61.5 EJ), about half of which is already harvested as agricultural crops and forest products. The remaining biomass is needed to maintain ecosystem functions and diversity. Since annual energy use in the United States is ca. 100 quads, biomass energy could supply only a very small fraction. To supply the current worldwide energy demand solely with biomass would require more than 10% of the Earth's land surface, which is comparable to the area use for all of world agriculture (i.e., ca. 1500 million hectares), indicating that further expansion of biomass energy generation will be difficult without precipitating an ethical conflict, given current world hunger statistics, over growing plants for biofuel versus food.

Given environmental concerns (e.g., fish migration, destruction of sensitive aquatic ecosystems, etc.) about building new dams to capture hydroelectric energy, further expansion of conventional hydropower in the United States is unlikely. Windpower, if deployed on the large scale necessary to substitute fossil energy, is likely to face public resistance. If 100% of U.S. energy demand were to be supplied by wind power, about 80 million hectares (i.e., more than 40% of all available farmland in the United States) would have to be covered with wind turbines (50m hub height and 250 to 500 m apart) It is therefore not surprising that the major environmental impact of wind power is related to land use and less to wildlife (birds, bats, etc.) mortality. Unless only

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a relatively small fraction of electricity is generated by wind turbines in remote locations, it is unlikely that the public will tolerate large windfarms given concerns about blade noise and aesthetics.[

Biofuels are different from fossil fuels in regard to net greenhouse gases but are similar to fossil fuels in that biofuels contribute to air pollution. Burning produces airborne carbon particulates, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides

Disadvantages

Renewable alternative forms of energy have faced opposition from multiple groups, including conservatives and liberals. Around twelve states have passed proposals written to inhibit the alternative energy movement. Kansas lawmakers struck down a bill to phase out renewable energy mandates but face the possibility of the bill reappearing.

The opposition cites the potentially high cost of branching out to these alternatives in order to support the continuation and reliance on fossil fuels. Ohio's mandate to phase in alternative energy faces opposition who believe higher electricity prices will result, while supporters fear the loss of economic development and jobs that alternative energy could bring.

With nuclear meltdowns in Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power presents a constant danger and is more unlikely to be a popular alternative source. The costs of maintaining nuclear facilities, the potential risk of meltdowns, and the cost of cleaning up meltdowns are cited as reasons behind the

movement away from the use of nuclear energy. In some countries nuclear power plants cannot compete with fossil fuels currently due to the latter's lower price and availability. Nuclear power plants also face competition from the increasing renewable energy subsidies.

Solar panels are an icon of the 'green power' movement, however the process of manufacturing the quartz based panels can be detrimental to the environment. Raw quartz (silica) used to create solar cells must be mined using harsh chemicals that harm the surrounding environment, as well as those working in the mines. Silicosis is a form of lung disease that is caused by the inhalation of crystalline silica dust resulting in nodule lesions in the lungs. The silica must be cultivated into metallurgical-grade silicon, the process requiring a massive amount of energy as the quartz is placed into electric arc furnaces. The metallurgical grade silica must be processed into polysilicon. This process also produces tetrachloride, a toxic substance that, if not disposed of correctly, can be harmful to the surrounding environment. Hydrochloric acid is formed when tetrachloride interacts with water, lowering water and soil pH. Incidents of tetrachloride spills are common in China, as the production of solar panels has shifted from Europe and the United States to Asian countries within the early 2000s. Because of such, the villagers of Gaolong are unable to leave their homes due to air and soil becoming toxic. This was due to Luoyang Zhongui High-Technology Co. repeatedly dumped tetrachloride in a nearby field for almost a year.

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Eric Reynolds will tell you that he is on the verge of freeing much of humanity from the deadly scourge of the cooking fire. He can halt the toxic smoke wafting through African homes, protect what is left of the continent’s forest cover and help rescue the planet from the wrath of climate change.

He is happy to explain, at considerable length, how he will systematically achieve all this while constructing a business that can amass billions in profit from an unlikely group of customers: the poorest people on earth.

He will confess that some people doubt his hold on reality.

“A lot of people think it’s too good to be true,” says Mr. Reynolds, a California-born entrepreneur living in Rwanda. “Most people think I am pretty out there.”

The company he is building across Rwanda, Inyenyeri, aims to replace Africa’s overwhelming dependence on charcoal and firewood with clean-burning stoves powered by wood pellets. The business has just a tad more than 5,000 customers and needs perhaps 100,000 to break even. Even its chief operating officer, Claude Mansell, a veteran of the global consulting company Capgemini, wonders how the story will end.

“Do we know that it’s going to work?” he asks. “I don’t know. It’s never been done before.”

Inyenyeri presents a real-world test of an idea gaining traction among those focused on economic development — that profit-making businesses may be best positioned to deliver critically needed services to the world’s poorest communities.

Governments in impoverished countries lack the finance to attack threats to public health, and many are riddled with corruption (though, by reputation, not Rwanda’s). Philanthropists and international aid organizations play key roles in areas such as immunizing children. But turning plans for basic services into mass-market realities may require the potent incentives of capitalism. It is a notion that has provoked the creation of many businesses, most of them failures.

“Profit feeds impact at scale,” says Mr. Reynolds, now in the midst of a global tour as he courts investment on top of the roughly $12 million he has already raised. “Unless somebody gets rich, it can’t grow”.

More than four decades have passed since Mr. Reynolds embarked on what he portrays as an accidental life as an entrepreneur, an outgrowth of his fascination with mountaineering. He dropped out of college to start Marmot, the outdoor gear company named for the burrowing rodent. There, he profited by protecting Volvo-driving, chardonnay-sipping weekend warriors against the menacing elements of Aspen. Now, he is trying to build a business centered on customers for whom turning on a light switch is a radical act of upward mobility.

Inyenyeri is betting that it can give away stoves and make money by charging people for fuel. If it succeeds, it vows to deliver virtues that go well beyond the bottom line.

The forests would be spared, because making wood pellets requires far fewer trees than wood fires and charcoal. Customers would gain a reprieve from ailments related to smoke from cooking, including cataracts, heart disease and respiratory ailments that, in many countries, kill more people than malaria, H.I.V. and tuberculosis combined. Worldwide, close to 4

Toxic Smoke Is Africa’s Quiet Killer. An Entrepreneur

Says His Fix Can Make a Fortune

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million people die prematurely each year from ailments linked to air pollution from cooking, according to the World Health Organization. Rwandans in rural areas — and, eventually, across Africa and South Asia — would be freed from the time-sucking drudgery of having to look for wood. People in cities, who rely on charcoal, could switch to cheaper wood pellets, using the savings to buy health care, food and school uniforms. In much of the developing world, initiatives aimed at sparing the environment tend to pit the livelihoods of poor people against the protection of natural resources. Peasants in the Amazon are supposed to stop hacking away at forests to clear land for crops so the rest of the planet can benefit from a reduction in carbon emissions. Yet in Inyenyeri’s designs, the everyday concerns of poor households are aligned with environmental imperatives, because people prefer to cook with the stoves.

At 66, with sunburned cheeks and intense blue eyes, Mr. Reynolds can at times sound like the latest white man come to save Africa. “It’s just outrageous that we have three billion people still cooking in the Stone Age,” he says. “It’s entirely solvable.”

He touts his ability to connect with customers, the women who do the cooking in Rwanda, though even after a decade living in the country he does not speak the local language, Kinyarwanda. He sits on the dirt floors of villagers’ homes and speaks English slowly and loudly, exaggerating each syllable. Rwandan women trust him, he says, because he married one. He hands them his phone and displays the proof — pictures of his wife, Mariam Uwizeyimana Reynolds, 32, and their two fresh-faced boys, Terry Toulumne Reynolds, 6, and Marc Booth Reynolds, 3. On a recent evening, he visits Buzuta village, a scattering of mudwall huts on a rutted dirt road

in western Rwanda, not far from the shore of Lake Kivu. He sits opposite Mukamurenzi Anasthasie, who is rearing two grandchildren and two orphans in a house with neither plumbing nor electricity.

For most of her 60 years, Ms. Anasthasie watched the daylight seep away with a sense of dread, anxious that darkness might fall before she could find enough wood to cook a meal. The forests that once surrounded her village had been dismantled and hacked into firewood. She and her neighbors wandered for hours into the surrounding mountains looking for sticks.

“Sometimes, we’d just collect dry grasses and try to cook with those,” she says. “Sometimes — especially if it rained — we just didn’t eat. It was painful. We were constantly worrying about where we could find wood.”

Two years ago, Ms. Anasthasie traded her cooking fire for an Inyenyeri stove, a red cylinder holding a chamber to burn pellets that sits on her dirt floor. She no longer spends her day worrying about wood. She and the children have been relieved of their constant coughing. She can put beans on to simmer and walk away and do something else.

“I don’t have to waste time waiting for food,” she says.

Defusing the Time Bomb

In Mr. Reynolds’s telling, his career in business was born of a simple desire to sleep comfortably.

It was the early 1970s, and he was 21 years old, officially studying climatology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, yet spending most of his time scaling the granite walls of the Yosemite Valley. He and his climbing partner were unhappy with their bulky sleeping bags. They began sewing their own. As word spread that their bags were lightweight and warm,

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demand soared. Mr. Reynolds left school to pursue Marmot full time.

Revenues multiplied, but Mr. Reynolds was restless. As a kid in Davis, where his father taught microbiology at the University of California campus, he had been reared on the works of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. He carried a sense that he was supposed to be addressing injustice.

“At the end of the day,” he says, “all we really did was keep yuppies warm and dry.”

He left Marmot in 1987, passing the years scaling peaks from the Andes to the Himalayas while based in Boulder, Colo. He took over a start-up that sold water-purifying pumps for backpackers. He worked as a consultant.

Then, in the summer of 2003, he conceived what was supposed to be his ultimate creation, a business engineered to achieve social-minded goals. The company, Nau, designed and sold outdoor gear made from environmentally sustainable fabric. It sent 5 percent of its revenue to activist organizations. It raised $35 million in less than two years.

Barely a year in, Mr. Reynolds was pushed out in a power struggle. He descended into depression.

An old friend was helping design a memorial to victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She invited Mr. Reynolds to help.

He flew into the capital, Kigali, in March 2007, and drove seven hours over horrendous dirt roads to the village that held the memorial. The country he traversed was raw and broken. Thirteen years had passed since the wave of murder that had killed perhaps 800,000 people in 100 days, yet Rwanda was still seething with grief and distrust.

The infant mortality rate was one of the highest on earth. Life expectancy was less than 60 years. The typical Rwandan had an income of $206 per year.

As Mr. Reynolds visited villagers, he was struck by the impossibility of their daily existence. Clean drinking water was nonexistent. So were electricity and toilets. People spent hours fetching water and looking for wood.

“Every time I went inside, I became more and more intrigued,” he says. “How are these people surviving?”

Signs of the charcoal industry were inescapable. Fires wafted up from supposedly protected national forests. Steep, verdant hills once covered in rain forest were denuded and exposed to the elements. Rivers were choked with brown silt, the soil and nutrients stripped off the land by pounding rains.

All this, to produce fuel that was quietly killing hundreds of thousands of people across Africa.

“There is nothing in the house that causes as much suffering as cooking,” Mr. Reynolds says. “It’s dirty. It’s smoky. Momma is there with the baby on her back, and both are coughing. It’s ruinously expensive. I could see the trees disappearing and the mudslides forming. I could see that this was a time bomb.”

After three weeks in Rwanda, he returned to Boulder and tore into books and academic reports on cooking practices and stove technology.

Philanthropic efforts were focused on distributing cleaner-burning stoves. For-profit ventures were developing models for sale. But all of these undertakings were bedeviled by the same problem. The high-tech stoves that limited toxic smoke were as much as $150 each — preposterously expensive for African

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villagers, many of whom lived on less than 50 cents a day. The cheaper models were useless.

Most manufacturers were obsessed with keeping costs low, given that customers were poor. But the stoves still produced smoke, or took too long to cook, or required that the wood be chopped into little pieces — an extra burden. The women doing the cooking (and it was overwhelmingly women) were not inclined to use them. As Mr. Reynolds returned to Rwanda for research, he saw many of these models stuck behind houses or propped up by

the cooking fire as stools.

To succeed, a stove had to be so convenient and clean burning that women preferred it over their existing cooking method.

Mr. Reynolds began testing stoves made in Italy, India, the United States and China. He tried making his own.

He came to realize that the magic was in the combination of stove and fuel. He experimented with making charcoal out of corncobs. (“A stupid idea,” he says.) He tried burning banana leaves. Then he discovered wood pellets, which involve compressing wood and eliminating water, the element that produces much of the smoke.

He settled on a Dutch-made stove that reduces wood down to clean-burning gases. Using pellets reduced the need for wood by 90 percent compared with charcoal. But those stoves cost more than $75.

Then came the epiphany: Inyenyeri could supply the stoves for free while collecting revenue from subscriptions for pellets. Rwanda was urbanizing rapidly, and city dwellers rely on charcoal. They would be eager to switch to pellets, which were 30 to 50 percent cheaper.

“If you sell fuel every day rather than selling a stove every two years,” Mr. Reynolds says, “that’s a business.”

Customers in rural areas could not afford to buy pellets, but Inyenyeri could serve them with a barter system. People could gather sticks, though less than they needed for cooking, and exchange them for pellets. Inyenyeri would use the sticks to make more pellets.

In this way, Inyenyeri would effectively become a utility providing clean cooking fuel. It would construct a network of factories to produce pellets. The bigger the business grew, the cheaper the cost of making them. As charcoal rose in price — a trend propelled by growing numbers of people flocking to cities and needing the product — the more appealing pellets would look.

That development was getting a push from African governments intent on reducing the use of charcoal. Across the continent, charcoal is a $40 billion-a-year industry, one dominated by criminal gangs that pilfer public forests and employ child labor. Rwanda’s government has vowed to phase out its use.

“To be able to sell something that is essential to life, and where the government is actively trying to kill your competition,” Mr. Reynolds says, “is the kind of investment that venture capitalists hunger for.”

Inyenyeri would start in Rwanda, where the government has gained credibility with international aid organizations for its success in reducing poverty. It could use success there as a springboard for expansion across Africa.

The business model would get more attractive as the cost of charcoal climbed, and as innovation inevitably made stoves more

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efficient. Inyenyeri would also stand to collect revenue from an arrangement it later entered into with the World Bank to sell credits for reducing emissions.

In 2010, Mr. Reynolds sold his house in Boulder and went all in on Inyenyeri. He unloaded his wine cellar, liquidated his retirement accounts and moved to Rwanda with no plan to leave.

Life Transformed

Today, Inyenyeri has distribution offices in cities and villages in Rwanda, including one inside a camp for refugees from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. It runs a small-scale pellet plant in Gisenyi, a city on Lake Kivu, and is developing a bigger factory.

Company representatives go home with new customers to help them cook their first meal using their new stoves. Inyenyeri delivers pellets for free using bicycle messengers, and is close to rolling out a system that will allow customers to place orders using a smartphone.

The company has engineered its own customer management software to track purchases of pellets, customer cooking habits and a host of other data, updated in real time by people in the field using a mobile app. The data has attracted research institutions including the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins University and the University of North Carolina. They have undertaken studies probing how clean cooking technology affects public health, and how families freed from gathering wood use their extra time.

But one crucial element is still missing — scale.

In every company projection, a steep increase in customer numbers is required for the business to become profitable. Inyenyeri now needs to persuade investors to deliver the cash to buy hundreds of thousands of stoves and erect new pellet plants.

For Mr. Reynolds, the all-or-nothing uncertainties are familiar. Back in his climbing days, he habitually opted for less-traveled routes. On an ascent of Everest that featured a rarely employed bypass around a treacherous ice field, he spent 58 days camped in the thin air between 20,000 and 28,000 feet above sea level.

But Mr. Reynolds nurses fears. Once Inyenyeri demonstrates the potential in the clean cooking fuel industry, he says, greedy competitors are likely to emerge. They could pick off the wealthiest urban customers while abandoning the rural poor. They could buy wood from unsavory sources.

“I worry we could create a monster,” he says. “You’re going to see us make a lot of money, and others are going to flock to this to make even more money by not being scrupulous.”

But if the virtues of the business model have yet to be demonstrated, the demand for Inyenyeri’s product appears overwhelming. Everywhere the company expands, word-of-mouth swiftly exhausts the supply of stoves. Customers speak of emancipation from smoke, and of less need to haul jerrycans of water to their homes from taps 20 or 30 minutes away by foot, because their pots are no longer covered in soot and need less washing.

In Buzuta village, Dorcas Nyiransabimana, a mother of two, simmers beans and leaves them untended while she prepares to feed the pigs she keeps in a pen next to her house.

Twice a year, she sells piglets, fetching 15,000 Rwandan francs (about $17), an enormous sum in rural Rwanda. With her cooking fuel secured, she can spend more time scavenging for food for the pigs — milk past its sell date from a nearby dairy and discarded grains from a brewery.

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Nearby, the walls of Ms. Anasthasie’s house are bare, save for a torn poster of pop stars — Rihanna, Beyoncé, Tupac. A low wooden table and three stools are the only furniture in her home. The red Inyenyeri stove glows like a totem of modernity.

She used to be trapped by her wood fire. Now, she leaves her pot to cook and gathers banana leaves to feed to the goat she keeps tethered to a tree.

“Before, I’d find leaves for the goat and come back and not have time to cook for me and the family,” she says. “Or I’d cook for us and the goat would not get to eat. Now, we all get to eat — us, and the goat.”

Mr. Reynolds hears this story as darkness falls. As he walks up the dirt road through the village toward his car, cook fires are glowing inside houses, smoke wafting skyward.

“This business model will happen,” he says. “If it’s not Inyenyeri that’s the first mover, then it will be someone else who learns from our mistakes and does it better. It’s too big of an opportunity.” Correction: Dec. 6, 2018

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of global consulting company. It is Capgemini, not Capgemi

NEW COLLABORATION HUB AT WATERLOO TO ADVANCE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, CYBERSECURITY, AND INTERNET OF THINGS

An innovation hub focused on advancing intelligent logistics research will be located at the University of Waterloo in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).

The NRC Waterloo Collaboration for Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Cybersecurity was announced today.

Internationally recognized researchers from the Faculty of Engineering and the Cheriton School of Computer Science within the Faculty of Mathematics will partner with NRC researchers to advance discoveries in these three key areas. The NRC and University of Waterloo have been collaborating on computer science research and development for over 10 years.

Some of the research projects currently underway include:

• Automated material synthesis using deep reinforcement learning led by Professor Mark Crowley, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and NRC researcher Isaac Tamblyn.

• Neuromorphics for Vision-based Movement Planning and Control led by Professor Chris Eliasmith, Systems Design Engineering, and NRC researcher Terry Stewart.

• A Secure Scalable Quantum-Safe Blockchain for Critical Infrastructure led by Professor Srinivasan Keshav, Cheriton School of Computer Science, with Professor Mike Mosca, Physics and Astronomy, and NRC researcher Eric Paquet.

• Reliable Gesture Recognition in Virtual Reality Environment led by Professor Ed Lank, Cheriton School of Computer Science, and NRC researcher Keiko Katsuragawa.

• Battery-free Touch Sensors for Internet of Things led by Professor Omid Abari, Cheriton School of Computer Science, and NRC researcher Keiko Katsuragawa.

The Collaboration for Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Cybersecurity will develop expertise to further research in these areas nationally.

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A look at how one of the most important inventions in human history actually works.

Solar energy is crucial to many futures. On the micro level, there's a booming solar industry in America and across the globe. Since Congress passed a tax credit in 2006, the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) says that the industry has been averaging an annual growth rate of 50 percent in the last decade. In most fields, that would be macro news. But solar energy has a mission beyond making money—it's supposed to save the planet.

There's no plan to prevent man-made global warming from permanently warping the Earth's climate without solar panels and the energy they can convert. "The role of renewable energy solutions in mitigating climate change is proven," says the United Nations Development Program. Some in the industry think that solar will grow 6,500 percent as an industry by 2050 in order to mitigate that need.

But for all their importance, solar panels still feel mysterious. Stiff and slightly menacing black rectangles, they have neither the look or the feel of a savior. Majestic waterfalls and dams look heroic, but solar panels do not. So...how do they work anyway?

A Brief History

Work in solar energy started in 1839, when a young French physicist named Edmond Becquerel discovered what is now known as the photovoltaic effect. Becquerel was working in

the family business—his father, Antoine Becquerel, was a well-known French scientist who was increasingly interested in electricity.

Edmond was interested in how light functioned, and when he was just 19 their two interests met—he discovered that electricity could be produced through sunlight.

The years went on and the technology made small but steady steps. During the 1940s, scientists like Maria Telkes experimented with using sodium sulphates to store energy from the sun to create the Dover Sun House. When investigating semiconductors, the engineer Russell Shoemaker Ochs examined a cracked silicon sample and noticed that it was conducting electricity despite the crack.

But the biggest leap came on April 25, 1954, when chemist Calvin Fuller, physicist Gerald Pearson, and engineer Daryl Chapin revealed that they had built the first practical silicon solar cell.

Like Ochs, the trio worked for Bell Labs and had taken on the challenge of creating that balance before. Chapin had been trying to create power sources for remote telephones in deserts, were regular batteries would dry up. Pearson and Fuller were working on controlling the properties of semiconductors, which would later be used to power computers. Aware of each others work, the three decided to collaborate. And that lead to the creation of solar panels!

How Solar Panels Work

(And Why They're Taking Over the World)

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3,000 times faster than the fastest mechanical breaker, this innovation could radically alter how we manage power.

This week the world’s first and only digital circuit breaker was certified for commercial use. The technology, invented by Atom Power, has been listed by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the global standard for consumer safety. This new breaker makes power easier to manage and 3000 times faster than the fastest mechanical breaker, marking one of the most radical advancements in power distribution since Thomas Edison, next to Nikola Tesla.

Picture the fuse box in your basement, each switch assigned to different electrical components of your home. These switches are designed to break a circuit to prevent the overloaded wires in your wall from overheating and causing a fire. When this happens, you plod down to your mechanical room and flick the switches on again.

Now multiply that simple system in your home to city high rises and industrial buildings, which might have 250 circuit breakers on any given floor, each one ranging from 15 to 4000 amps at higher voltages. At this scale, the limitations and dangers of a manually controlled power system become much more evident—and costly.

Ryan Kennedy, CEO of Atom Power, has been working to build a better electrical system since he began his career 25 years ago, first as an electrician and then as an engineer and project manager on large, high profile commercial electrical projects. His experienced based inquiry has revolved around a central assertion

that analog infrastructure doesn’t allow us to control our power the way we should be able to. That idea has led to some pretty critical questions: “What would it take to make power systems controllable?” and “Why shouldn’t that control be built in to the circuit breaker itself?”

In 2014, Kennedy and Atom Power CTO Denis Kouroussis set out to answer these questions. They designed an infrastructure of digital circuit breakers that use solid-state semiconductors and software to manage the flow of power from numerous disaggregated sources, known to industry insiders as Distributed Energy Resources, or DER. The state-of-the-art digital platform consolidates the incoming streams into one hyperintelligent device, dynamically adjusting amps based on demand and application.

“Instead of using mechanics to switch the power, we apply digital inputs," Kennedy told Popular Mechanics. “Now I have no moving parts. Now I have the ability to connect things like iPhones and iPads for remote power management, which increases safety and improves efficiency. I can set the distribution panel to a schedule so the flow of power is seamless, unlimited, and shifts between sources automatically. You literally wouldn’t notice. The lights wouldn’t even flicker.”

The Growing World of Renewable Energy

When you consider the mechanical complications of switching between renewables and grid-centralized sources of power, the idea becomes even more powerful. Sometimes it’s flat-out impossible. Kennedy believes the static nature of existing power distribution systems is

HOW THE WORLD'S FIRST DIGITAL CIRCUIT BREAKER COULD COMPLETELY CHANGE OUR POWERED

WORLD

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of the reasons we haven’t seen widespread adoption of renewables at the residential level.

For a grid-connected solar home, for example, residents sometimes have to disconnect their solar input because traditional power systems (including the circuit breakers) aren’t advanced enough to properly manage multiple power sources that change.

In short, “the modern world has outgrown the risks and constraints of traditional circuit breakers”—a company claim, but also a compelling fact when you consider these inefficiencies and the dangers of a system that requires manual remediation of power surges and failures.

“Old school breakers simply can’t operate as fast as the flow of power,” says Kennedy. “When things go wrong in larger buildings, they go really wrong because you typically have a much bigger source feeding that demand.”

Atom Power’s digital circuit breakers are 3000

times faster and 100 percent safer than

mechanical circuit breakers.

Poor energy management results in 30,000

electrical hazard accidents per year. Arc flash

events can take out an entire building for

weeks. Due to their ability to interrupt 100,000

amps with unprecedented speed, digital

breakers effectively eliminate these risks,

resulting in “the safest, fastest, most intelligent

system to date.”

Surprisingly, this idea is not new. Manufacturers have tried and have been unsuccessful in finding a comparable solution, primarily because semiconductor technology was not advanced enough until recently. Additionally, many viewed the problem as a circuit-breaker function issue rather than a holistic, systems design issue.

Having cleared that 140-year hurdle, which involved adhering to UL’s rigorous construction and endurance requirements, Atom Power’s next challenge is to reduce the thermal losses sustained by their digital circuit breakers to make them as efficient as their mechanical counterparts.

Thanks to invests from three of the four largest circuit breaker manufacturers, Siemens, ABB, and Eaton, Atom Power hopes to meet the challenge and continue their path breaking work shaping the future of Networked power

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Millions of people have limited or no access to electrical energy. A diverse group of scholars and activists, from individual researchers to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations, UN, and increasingly to engineering and financial private sector firms, have been working on initiatives to address this issue, which is considered by many a human rights problem. Energy access is not only a challenge for developing economies but is also equally important for service to remote areas such as the Arctic, islands, and communities distant from the grid. Several governments and private institutions, as well as nongovernment organizations around the world, are now funding projects and a variety of initiatives to help impoverished communities, especially across Africa and remote regions, develop clean and sustainable energy systems. The IEEE is actively involved in addressing energy access issues through several initiatives, such as the Smart Village program, focusing on “integrating sustainable electricity, education, and entrepreneurial solutions to empower off-grid communities” (http://ieee-smart-village.org/). In this special issue, we concentrate on highlighting the current state of knowledge associated with strategies for bringing clean, affordable, and sustainable electricity service forces as well as inclusionary and exclusionary culture or practices that often define the

technical approaches and solutions offer opportunities for progress on this important problem. I. ELECTRICITY FOR ALL

Affordable energy is fundamentally connected to achieving development goals. Access to affordable energy is essential because of its direct role in water, food, and health security, as well as to social justice and equity. Increasing affordable energy access is also a transformative resource for those who live in extreme poverty (less than $1.25/day) and for the “proverbially” poor who survive on less than $2/day. Thus, we believe that it is not only a moral obligation but also a matter of global conscience that we expose the IEEE community, through this issue, to technical, economic, policy, and social work and initiatives focused on addressing the plight of some 2.5 billion people in the world without reliable access to electricity or basic thermal energy services for cooking. The vicious cycle of poverty begins with a lack of access to affordable energy. Once trapped in this vortex of deprivation, lack of modern energy services translates into low economic productivity, time consumed by drudgery, and limited opportunities for income generation.

ELECTRICITY FOR ALL: ISSUES, CHALLENGES, AND SOLUTIONS FOR ENERGY-DISADVANTAGED

COMMUNITIES

By CLAUDIO CAÑIZARES , Fellow IEEE Guest Editor

JATIN NATHWANI, Member IEEE Guest Editor

DANIEL KAMMEN , Member IEEE Guest Editor

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This is a major failing of the existing global energy system, vast in scope but persistent in its indifference to the needs of a third of humanity. Through an interconnected system of pipes and pipelines, power plants, and processing plants, the global energy system extracts a massive amount of primary energy annually (upward of 550 EJ) and yet leaves millions to scour slums, agricultural fields, and forests for twigs and branches for basic needs. If the energy poor are to be drawn into the mainstream of global economic well-being, then access to reliable, cheap, and sustainable energy is a fundamental requirement. Energy poverty remains a barrier to economic well-being for such a large proportion of humanity that the rationale for action now is compelling. It is clear that universal energy access cannot be achieved without a major scientific and technical push to lower costs by a very large margin, to improve reliability also by large margins, and find robust solutions that are scalable at the global level. Our primary focus in this special issue is to describe some of the state-of-theart technologies and policies that will yield large economic and sustainable improvements in the overall performance of existing energy systems for poor and remote communities. Therefore, in this issue, we have brought together a wide range of leading experts from North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, working on key domains that support a multilayered approach to the development of a comprehensive set of solutions to energy poverty. We draw on insights from several disciplines from basic sciences to engineering and research in political and social sciences that will be integral to the development of innovative solutions to this important problem. We believe this issue will inform the IEEE members of and help broadening the efforts to address the important challenge of universal energy access that is in full harmony with the goals of a low-carbon future.

II. ARTICLES IN THE SPECIAL ISSUE The articles focus on various relevant technical, policy, economic, and social aspects of supplying clean, sustainable, and affordable electricity to energy-impoverished communities around the globe. All articles are authored by recognized experts in the field of energy access, and the topics discussed are of significant interest to the IEEE, covering new areas of interest for the Institute that are gaining attention and relevance among its membership, like the aforementioned Smart Village initiative or the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY. This special issue will be of particular interest to IEEE members as it brings to the forefront current and relevant technical, economic, political, and social issues that frame the solutions to the energy-access problem. The scope of the presented articles covers a wide range of interrelated challenges associated with energy access in remote and often impoverished areas of the world. We have loosely grouped the articles to reflect regional clusters, starting with articles discussing topics and approaches that are relevant and applicable to all regions, followed by articles discussing issues and methodologies that are globally relevant but applied to specific energy poor areas of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Thus, the first three articles describe policy and data issues and approaches relevant and applicable to all regions. The next three articles focus on topics and methodologies for remote communities in North and South America. Finally, the bulk of articles in this issue discuss various energy-access concerns and solution approaches demonstrated with specific cases and interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, where energy access issues are most critical and affect large areas and populations.

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A. Global “Affordable energy for humanity: A global movement to support universal clean energy access” first highlights the issues and challenges associated with delivering universal energy access and related improvements in quality of life to citizens from vastly diverse regions and local contexts, which are lofty goals that have eluded policy makers and governments for over seven decades. The authors discuss and recommend a global network of Energy Access Innovation Centers (EAICs) dedicated to providing services to bolster the entire supply chain of talent and expertise, design and operational requirements of system deployment, and capacity to develop and deploy low-cost, high-performance technical solutions for energy impoverished communities. “Data standardization for smart infrastructure in first-access electricity systems” focuses on data standardization for electricity-access and RE-based microgrids, since standardization could play a significant role in the context of electricity access, as there is very limited or no grid generation and consumption data in underdeveloped communities. Different data sources and how the data could be used, technological and capacity constraints for storage of data, political and governance implications, as well as data security and privacy issues are examined. The work presented is relevant to different stakeholders such as investors, public utilities, NGOs, and communities Based on the proposed data standardization approach, it would be possible to create a much-needed first-access electricity system database to provide important information for project developers and energy companies to assess the potential of grid sites, estimating its demand growth and establishing universal control systems. “Review and perspectives on data sharing and privacy in expanding electricity access”

describes existing efforts regarding the gathering and use of grid and end-user data, characterizes current data management practices, and examines how expanding access to data and data-sharing are likely to provide value and pose risks to key energy-access stakeholders. Relevant opportunities and issues are identified with recommendations for the design and implementation of new data-sharing practices and platforms. It is argued that although a common and open platform for sharing technical data may mitigate risks and enable efficiencies, benefits from financial data are more limited, recommending as well code signing practices with each stakeholder group, increasing legal protections for end users, and using deep qualitative data besides quantitative metrics. B. The Americas “Renewable energy integration in Alaska’s remote islanded microgrids: Economic drivers, technical strategies, technological niche development, and policy implications” explores technical challenges and mitigation strategies for RE integration, including lessons learned from the implementation of over 70 renewablediesel hybrid microgrids in Alaska utilizing a wide range of resource and technology solutions. It is a comprehensive review of the underlying sociopolitical and economic landscape that has allowed Alaska to emerge as an early adopter of microgrid-enabling technologies and includes a discussion of Alaska’s energy programs and policies and how they impact project development. It shows that the primary technical hurdles for RE integration include the management of distributed energy resources (DERs) and design for reliable and resilient operation with intermittent high-penetration renewable generation. The economic drivers include extremely high energy costs, a highly deregulated utility market with dozens of utilities, state investment in infrastructure, and modest subsidies that create a technological

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niche where RE projects at remote communities are cost-competitive at current market prices. “Renewable energy integration in diesel-based microgrids at the Canadian Arctic” presents specific studies including new variable speed generation (VSG) technologies that demonstrate the feasibility, impact, and benefits of introducing RE together with VSGs in remote microgrids in the Canadian Arctic. A two-step procedure is described to select remote communities for detailed feasibility studies of deployment of RE sources, including a generation expansion planning framework and optimization model for RE and new VSG integration applied to the selected communities, to minimize diesel dependency of isolated microgrids and maximize the penetration of environmentally friendly generation technologies. The proposed approach is applied to communities in Nunavut and the North West Territories in the Canadian Arctic, based on actual data, to study the techno economic feasibility of RE integration and develop business cases for diesel generation replacement with RE and VSG generation in these communities. The presented optimal plans contain diesel–RE hybrid combinations that would yield substantial economic savings and reductions on green house gases emissions, which are being used as the base for actual deployments in some of the studied communities. “Lowering electricity access barriers by means of participative processes applied to microgrid solutions: The Chilean case” discusses a co-construction methodology for the development of sustainable energy supply solutions. The approach exploits local RE sources in energy-limited communities, which considers a flexible and participatory design with continuous communication between the technical team of the project and the community to ensure informed decision-making around the project design. The proposed methodology allows the identification of local requirements, less often

considered for design procedures based on a traditional approach, in conjunction with the communities so that the technological solution is tailored for it. Different technical solutions have been proposed and developed under this framework, such as energy management systems, demand response strategies, microgrid applications for Mapuche communities, microformers, a monitoring system that includes social aspects, and vehicle-to-grid for microgrids. The article summarizes the experience of several microgrid projects in Chile, identifies risks, impacts, control actions, and discusses their replicability in the Latin American and Caribbean region. C. Africa and Asia “Optimal electrification planning incorporating on- and off-grid technologies: The reference electrification model (REM)” describes a novel optimization model and program for automatic electrification planning, identifying the lowest cost system designs to most effectively provide desired levels of electricity access to populations of any given size. REM determines the most suitable modes of electrification for each individual consumer by specifying whether customers should be electrified via grid extension, off-grid minigrids, or standalone systems. For each system, the program supplies detailed technical designs at the individual customer level. The application of the proposed mathematical model for energy-access planning in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia is discussed, describing REM’s capabilities with case examples. REM electrification planning models have high granularity and can provide concrete plans for a wide range of geographical scales, having the potential to help rationalize electrification planning and expedite progress toward universal electricity access worldwide. “Distributed resources shift paradigms on power system design, planning, and operation: An application of the GAP model” describes the grid and access planning (GAP) capacity

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expansion model, which is a novel approach to assess the sequencing and pacing of centralized, distributed, and off-grid electrification strategies, jointly assessing operation and investment in utility-scale generation, transmission, distribution, and demand-side resources. It is shown that, contrary to the current practice, hybrid systems that pair grid connections with DER are the preferred mode of electricity supply for green field expansion under conservative reductions in photo voltaic (PV) and energy storage prices, resulting in savings of 15%–20% mostly in capital deferment and reduced diesel use. The article argues that enhanced financing mechanisms for DER PV and storage could enable 50%–60% of additional deployment and save 15 $/MWh in system costs, which have important implications to reform current utility business models in developed power systems and to guide the development of electrification strategies in underdeveloped grids. “Least-cost electrification modeling and planning—A case study for five Nigerian Federal States” presents a modeling process to derive a least cost electrification plan for five states in Nigeria, combining energy system simulations with geospatial information system tools. It is shown that investments of approximately $1600 million for medium- and low-voltage distribution infrastructure, minigrids, and small-scale systems would be required to achieve a 100% electrification rate. The simulated electricity system of the five states is characterized by an overall load of 1804 MW. It is shown that 1772 MW of the load requirement should be supplied by central power generation through 11 579 km of new grid lines, whereas the rest should be served by minigrids comprised of a total of 225-MW PV, 504-MWh batteries, and 198-MW diesel generators, of which only three are isolated microgrids adding up to 3 MW, plus a total of 29-MW solar homes.

“The service value method for design of energy access systems in the Global South” introduces a novel method to gather and interpret enduser needs, aspirations, and contextual factors to improve engineering design practices for energy access in impoverished communities, based on a service-oriented approach and field exercises to gather qualitative and quantitative data from end users in focus groups. The data are interpreted as service maps that capture end-user preferences to inform tradeoffs of different design criteria, guiding the preliminary design of the energy system and ensuring that end-user needs and contexts are integrated into the design process early on. The proposed method and results of its application for the design of solar nanogrids in Kenya and Bangladesh are presented. “Electrical minigrids for development: Lessons from the field” describes four identical capacity rural minigrid interventions undertaken in communities in Kenya and Uganda with differing socioeconomic characteristics and demographics. The article discusses the preparation stages of the interventions including community surveys that informed the technical design, deployment phases, and setup of the community cooperatives to manage the minigrid projects. The main focus is on lessons learned, including system design and minigrid performance under various load profiles. It is shown that there is clear and increasing uptake of power by the communities depending on the electricity tariff used, with the proposed approach of community-centered cooperatives running the delivered minigrids being now embedded within the rural electrification authorities/agencies in both countries, with additional similar projects being planned in 2019/2020. The application, ramifications, and replication of the presented minigrid concept as compared to other approaches are also discussed.

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“Electrification processes in developing countries: Grid expansion, microgrids, and regulatory framework” presents a comprehensive review of the approaches commonly adopted for microgrid electrification, in the context of more economic and improved telecommunications and renewable generation technologies that have paved the way for new electric infrastructures, especially for emerging economies. Microgrids are considered since they are an affordable option for a rapid response to the electrification challenge, as well as allowing sharing resources with the bulk grid, which is technically and economically advantageous. A “real-life” study case is presented to highlight the operational challenges of a standalone microgrid versus a grid-connected system. Based on this experience, the need for an improved regulatory framework for effective integration of microgrids in the national grid is argued. “Microhybrid electricity system for energy access, livelihoods, and empowerment” reports a technoeconomic feasibility and sustainability analysis for a hybrid microgrid in India, based on solar PV and biomass generation, which are widely available resources in impoverished, underserviced rural communities in the country. Energy demand and resource availability are estimated with inputs from extensive stakeholder discussions and field surveys, accounting for daily and seasonal variations in both supply and demand that consider household, community, irrigation, and commercial needs. Opportunities for the development of productive uses and their expansion through a sustainable business model are also explored. ABOUT THE GUEST EDITORS

Claudio Cañizares (Fellow, IEEE) received the Electrical Engineer Degree from Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN), Quito, Ecuador, in

1984, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. From 1983 to 1993, he held different teaching and administrative positions with EPN. He is currently a Full Professor and the Hydro One Endowed Chair with the Electrical and Computer Engineering (E&CE) Department, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, where he has held various academic and administrative positions since 1993. He has authored or coauthored many highly cited journal and conference articles, as well as several technical reports, book chapters, disclosures, and patents, and has been invited to make multiple keynote speeches, seminars, and presentations at numerous institutions and conferences worldwide. His current research interests include the study of stability, control, optimization, modeling, simulation, and computational issues in large as well as small grids and energy systems in the context of competitive energy markets and smart grids. In these areas, he has led or been an integral part of many grants and contracts from government agencies and private companies and has collaborated with various industry and university researchers in Canada and abroad, supervising/cosupervising a large number of research fellows and graduate students. Dr. Cañizares is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, where he is currently the Director of the Applied Science and Engineering Division of the Academy of Science, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He was a recipient of the 2017 IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, the 2016 IEEE Canada Electric Power Medal, and various IEEE PES Technical Council and Committee awards and recognitions, holding leadership positions in several IEEE-PES Technical Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces.

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Jatin Nathwani (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in engineering from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1979. He was involved in a leadership capacity in the Canadian energy sector over a 30-year period. He brings a unique combination of academic perspectives with extensive experience in the business sector that includes corporate planning and strategy, energy sector policy reform, power system planning, environmental and regulatory affairs, and research program management. In 2007, he joined the University of Waterloo (UW), Waterloo, ON, Canada, where he is currently the Founding Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), holding the prestigious Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy. As a Leader of WISE, he focuses on bringing together the expertise of UW faculty members to develop and implement large-scale multidisciplinary research projects in collaboration with business, industry, governments, and civil society groups, to meet the Institute’s vision of clean energy, accessible, and affordable for all. He is also the Co-Director, with Prof. J. Knebel at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany, of the consortium Affordable Energy for Humanity (AE4H): A Global Change Initiative, which comprises more than 150 leading energy access researchers and practitioners from 50 institutions and 25 countries, focusing on the eradication of energy poverty. He serves on several boards at the provincial and national levels and has appeared frequently in the media (print, TV, and radio), having more than 100 publications related to energy and risk management, including seven books. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.

Daniel Kammen (Member, IEEE) served as the first Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA, from 2010 to 2011 and was an Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) Fellow with the U.S. State Department from 2010 to 2016. From 2016 to 2017, he served as the Science Envoy for the U.S. State Department, Washington, D.C. He is currently a Professor of energy with appointments in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA, where he is the Chair of ERG and directs the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL). He is a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He is a Co-Developer of the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing Model, an energy efficiency and solar energy financing plan that permits installation of clean energy systems on residences with no upfront costs. PACE was named by Scientific American as the No. 1 World Changing Idea of 2009 (co-developed with Cisco DeVries). Recently, his work on urban minigrids and the EcoBlock concept was rated as a World-Changing Idea of 2017 by Scientific American. He has authored more than 400 publications and 12 books and has testified over 40 times at state and U.S. congressional hearings.

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ABSTRACT | Bold actions are necessary to unlock the potential for economic empowerment by eradicating energy poverty (UN Sustainable Development Goal 7) by 2030. This will require a sustained commitment to significant levels of new investments. Delivering on the promise of universal energy access and improved life quality has eluded policy-makers and governments over the past seven decades. Affordability of energy services for every global citizen, spanning vastly diverse regions and local contexts, requires the development and assive diffusion of technologies that offer “point-of-use” options combined with new business models. Social innovations and flexible governance approaches will also need to be integrated with technological advances. The scope and scale of developmental change span large-scale grid systems to decentralized distributed resources at community levels to the households. We recommend a global network of “energy access innovation centers” dedicated to providing a dynamic “extension service” that bolsters the entire supply chain of talent and expertise, design and operational requirements of system deployment and capacity to embed low-cost, high-performance next-generation technological solutions in the field. To meet the needs of those at the base of the economic and social pyramid, the dual challenges of economic development and transition to a low-carbon energy future make clean energy access the quintessential challenge of the 21st century.

KEYWORDS | Affordable electricity; clean technology innovation; energy poverty; life quality; social value creation; universal energy access I. CONTEXT

The estimated investment required globally to achieve universal energy access is in the order of $0.5–$1 trillion or an annual investment of $50 billion [1]–[3]. For one billion people at the base of the economic pyramid with no access at all, or highly deficient services, this translates into an investment commitment of $50 per person annually until 2030. Investment on this scale can be meaningfully conceived, but its deployment can only be made possible through an intense focus on governance, business model innovations, and assurance that the specific solutions proposed are informed by the best scientific and technical knowledge available in the support decision quality that meets the highest standards of transparency and efficiency. In this paper, we will explore the diverse pathways to universal access. Given the scale of change required and the need for urgent action [4]–[6], we focus on the need for coordination and direction of collective efforts through a network of “energy access innovation centers” (EAICs) to address this global challenge. We describe the vision, objectives and outputs, program design and scale, key functions, and operational requirements for these EAICs. Notionally, the EAICs are similar to the regional

AFFORDABLE ENERGY FOR HUMANITY: A GLOBAL MOVEMENT TO SUPPORT UNIVERSAL CLEAN

ENERGY ACCESS

This article discusses and recommends a global network of Energy Access Innovation Centers (EAICs) dedicated to providing services that bolster solutions for energy-

impoverished communities.

By JATIN NATHWANI AND DANIEL M. KAMMEN

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research and outreach nodes of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the enterprise development models of the World Bank’s Climate Innovation Center (CIC). Core to this effort is the support for a coordinated yet distributed network focused on research, capacity building, and nurturing a new generation of entrepreneurs. The EAICs exemplify the need for and the value of “use-inspired basic research” to accelerate the development of energy access solutions on a global scale, with capacity building to create the next generation of leaders and change agents required for massive and rapid scale-up of successful pilots and local entrepreneurship as the fundamental delivery method of innovative solutions. Ironically, the poor of the world—those who need access to energy the most—pay the most per unit of the energy service [4] based on fossil fuel resources. The premise of this paper—rooted in a desire to deliver affordable energy for humanity—responds to the urgent need for massive deployment of clean energy solutions that are scalable, available at low cost, and based on a sustainable supply of low-carbon energy sources. We believe that eradication of energy poverty with clean technology by 2030 (UN Sustainable Development Goal 7) will require accelerated access to existing energy systems with improved utilization of scarce assets. In addition, emergent innovations that can be characterized as “breakthrough solutions” will play an important role if designed as “fit-forpurpose” solutions for a diverse range of local and cultural contexts. The technological innovations when combined with new business models delivered by a new generation of entrepreneurs, small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), and local change agents have the potential to yield maximum benefit to communities. The exploitation of synergies will remain a critical ingredient for success. If we are

to take maximum advantage of the capacity for innovation that exists within university and industry research labs, there is a need to build stronger bridges between local implementers of solutions and global knowledge networks.

Energy poverty is a human development trap. Reliance on traditional fuels, such as firewood and kerosene, robs the energy poor of their greatest resource—time. Hours of time are spent every day collecting fuels, often by women and children. Reliance on fuels, such as kerosene, requires the ongoing purchase of fuel that becomes significantly costly over time while providing poor service. These fuels also cause significant adverse health effects from respiratory illness. Indoor air pollution related to indoor cooking using these fuels is a silent killer that claims approximately four million deaths annually, exceeding the toll of malaria and AIDS combined

Our strategy for effective global change is to establish EAICs that bring into a sharp operational focus the creation and transfer of knowledge effectively and with urgency. The concept marks the transition from academic systems knowledge to practical implementation knowledge, based on robust and evidence-based empirical studies, direct feedback from end users, and deep engagement with communities to ensure adoption of solutions that meet the test of social and cultural acceptability.

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II. CHALLENGE A. Why Does Energy Access Matter?

As depicted in Fig. 1, energy access is a powerful multiplier of virtually all of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Energy services are intricately linked to the provision of adequate health and educational services that depend on a reliable infrastructure. Delivery of clean water and irrigation for agriculture, the capacity to transport produce to markets without spoilage, cooking with cleaner energy sources, reducing drudgery and burden on women for critical household tasks, and economic empowerment of individuals through labor-saving devices all rely on affordable energy services. Universal energy access is now within reach but requires rapid diffusion of clean energy options. Energy access is defined by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as “a household having reliable and affordable access to both clean cooking facilities, and to electricity, which is enough to supply a bundle of energy services initially, and then an increasing level of electricity over time to reach the regional average”. The “bundle of energy services” comprises a level of minimal energy requirements necessary for lighting and communication. Households without access to clean cooking facilities or the defined minimal level of energy services are living in energy poverty. Energy access is one key pathway for the reduction of endemic global inequality, but it will require radical progress in the development of scientific and technological solutions that can deliver aggressive cost reductions without compromising quality and significant improvements in performance. Low-cost energy becomes the driver of high-value impacts on life quality.

Fig. 2. Relationship between access to electricity and HDI for 2000–2010 [8].

The value of energy can be observed through many lenses (see Fig. 2), but certainly a simple and dramatic summary is how strongly and clearly across regions it correlates with the quality of life indicators, such as the human development index (HDI) .

Globally, approximately 1–1.3 billion people are living without electricity. Lack of energy access is felt most acutely in the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where 62.5% of the population are without electricity, and Southeast Asia, where 20% of the population are without electricity. Globally, a stark energy divide also exists between urban and rural areas, with urban electrification at 97% compared to rural electrification at 76%. Despite recent progress, mainly in developing Asia, population growth continues to outpace the electrification rates and future projections, as suggested by the IEA that by 2030, an estimated 670 million will still be without electricity

In the poorest regions, notably in SSA, population growth is forecasted to outpace the current rate of the provision of new energy access, leading to a dramatically worsening situation over the upcoming decade. The current pace of electrification via existing large-scale grid systems certainly has a role to play in expanding energy access, but the costs of new grid connections for many of the poor are too

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high and the reliability of the service is often the lowest.

.An equally compelling rationale for low-cost clean energy solutions is the powerful role that the energy access plays, as an enabler of economic productivity, to help bring the disenfranchised into the mainstream economy reducing migration pressures and conflict. Arguably, this is particularly significant in a world of climate risks: keeping people on their own lands will require higher energy inputs from clean energy sources. Whether it is life in a refugee camp or village frequented by unreliable patterns of rainfall, lack of affordable energy access becomes an impediment to agricultural productivity and income generating opportunities. With no clear pathway out of poverty, migration pressures increase.

Gender inequity is another face of energy poverty. It manifests itself in the lives of young girls and women through hardship and difficult work. When precious time is stolen collecting fuelwood and water, options for education become vanishingly distant. The human dimension to the problem of energy access is as clear as it is disturbing—to condemn a vast proportion of humanity to a quality of life that is almost at par with living in the Stone Age. This is as much a stain on our collective conscience, as it is on our ability to marshal resources to solve this problem. Fig. 4 shows the relationships of per capita electricity and selected human development indicators. Each data point is from a different country, with some nations represented multiple times, at different points in time. In fact, extensive evidence exists that there are both the economic and social benefits of scaling up energy access. In a series of studies that have been repeated over time and as more data became available, a robust relationship between the electricity consumptions per capita emerged for a whole range of metrics of development has been explored (see Fig. 3).

From literacy [see Fig. 3(a)], to educational attainment [Fig. 3(b)], to metrics of poverty alleviation, to gender equity, and to many others, we observe a clear correlation with increasing energy consumption.

Fig. 3. Relationship between energy access and key metrics of

development. Source: [8].

Fig. 4. Two centuries of historical trends. Source: [8].

.

These patterns show no causation but many clear correlations. In fact, the hyperbolic shape seen in each of the graphs tells a fascinating story. First, there is a characteristic linear phase, where improvements in the quality of life increase rapidly. This could be described as the “takeoff” phase, where increasing the

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resource availability correlates with improving services. Each of these linear phases, however, gives way to a flattening of the curve, where we observe little or no continued improvement. Far from highlighting a plateau, this flat phase highlights the fact that a wide range of different energy resource inputs can be seen to correlate with comparable levels of service. These are complex relationships, to be sure, with a myriad of ways to provide similar levels of service. Overall, however, the lesson is that an investment in energy services enables a range of economic and social improvements that ripple across the economy. In our proposal, the EAICs will partner leading energy access research labs around the world with practitioners focused on these applications in a network that will make the investment all the more valuable and compelling for both the international community and, increasingly, the private sector. If the energy poor are to be drawn into the mainstream of global economic well-being, then access to low cost energy is a fundamental requirement. Energy poverty remains a barrier to economic well-being for such a large proportion of humanity that the rationale for action now is compelling. The importance of energy access has been recognized by several organizations, including the United Nation’s Sustainable Energy 4 ALL (SE4ALL) Program, the World Energy Council, the World Bank, NGOs, and many charitable foundations. It is also comprehensively documented in the Global Energy Assessment. Although progress, at the global level, has been tangible, it has been slow and not large enough, in scale and scope, to address the basic human needs of a large swathe of humanity. Massive diffusion of new technologies that can provide energy services at a much lower cost is the necessary building block to help make a difference in the lives of many that have a few needs.

To effect meaningful change, we need to marshal the vast intellectual capacity of humanity in order to address two of the most important challenges of the century—and to do so in concert. We must achieve a low-carbon energy system that also meets the requirement of affordable energy for all of humanity. It is clear that universal energy access cannot be achieved without a major scientific and technical push to lower the costs by a very large margin, to improve reliability, again, by a large margin, and to find robust solutions that are scalable at the global level. Our primary focus is the scientific research and development of next generation technologies that will yield large improvements in the overall performance of the existing energy systems III. POWERFUL SOLUTION : A MOVEMENT TO CREATE AN “ENERGY ACCESS EXTENSION SERVICE FOR THE PLANET” The urgency and transformative economic, social, and environmental benefits of making energy access a top tier global priority means that we must focus coequally on knowledge creation, social and behavioral change, and both evolutionary and radical systems redesign. The need for solutions that are not only economically but also environmentally sustainable makes the goal of affordable universal access to clean energy consistent with climate change goals but together poses a formidable challenge. Our goal is to make energy poverty a footnote of history; we believe that if this problem receives the scientific, technical, financial, and social attention it deserves, energy poverty can be eradicated by 2030.

A. What Is Different About Our Solution?

Our solution mobilizes existing networks and resources in a novel way to address a complex

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challenge. Current global investments in meeting energy access goals are minimal, often summarized as “two light bulbs and a fan.” Our aim is to develop long-term strategies that will lead, over time, to full access to modern energy services for improved life quality and economic self-sufficiency. Current approaches focus narrowly on delivering “predetermined” technology solutions that focus on energy access in isolation to wider efforts to enable economic growth and gender equality. Our approach is based on both the recognition of the scale of the problem and the benefits of addressing it through an intensive, comprehensive, and coordinated global focus. The emphasis is on scientific, technological, and socially appropriate innovations that offer large and aggressive reductions in cost. We outline a number of the means to leverage social and business innovations to learn from and address “failures-in-the-field” and substitute them with ‘best-practices’ and solutions in a dynamic interaction between ‘use-inspired’ research and practice. As we look at a full range of energy access options, it is clear that, however, one prioritizes on-grid, minigrids, or decentralized off-grid solutions, all will be part of a successful transition to universal access. Here, we lay this out in terms of both the gap between total people and those with access [see Fig. 4, top panel], and a rough estimate of the role that these different modalities will play (see Fig. 4). Our challenge is to enable users of energy technologies for productive applications in ways that create tangible value for individuals, households, and communities. Thus, we emphasize the need for multiple social and organizational capacities to be built in conjunction with technology. Our goal is to attend carefully to the design of ownership and reinvestment strategies with a focus on maximizing opportunities for local

economic development and poverty eradication. Evidence suggests grid extension, solely, is an inadequate answer to solve energy access problems for many rural and urban communities [14]–[16], and there is a need for a creative approach to the deployment of new, distributed energy technologies to enhance cost-effectiveness, reliability, and resilience of the energy system. We focus on a meaningful integration of knowledge across several domains and design projects in an integrated manner from the outset to address multiple human and environmental outcomes. B. What Will It Take? For example, the World Bank’s Access Investment Model provides the detailed bottom-up estimates of the cost of reaching universal access in countries with large electricity access deficits. These countries reflect differences in population and geography as well as local unit costs, and they can be used to give a global estimate of access investment needs [3]. The model, based on the multitier framework, allows users to choose the tier of access, which would be used to meet the universal access target, and illustrates how dramatically this affects the costs of electrification. To reach universal access at Tier 5 (full 24 × 7 grid power) would require investments of $50 billion annually or $500 billion over ten years [1]. This is a high level estimate that translates to a commitment at a level of $50 per person per year. Investments on this scale provides an anchor to a consideration of the level of funding appropriate to bring to fruition an operational concept of a global extension service linked to a network of EAICs.

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IV. ENERGY ACCESS INNOVATION CENTERS Our recommendation for the establishment of a linked network of EAICs as “global extension service” is similar to the CGIAR and the newer enterprise development models of the World Bank’s CIC and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Knowledge Innovation Communities (KICs). To establish a network, for example, each EAIC with a notional budget of $5 million per year over ten years would require a commitment in the order of $50 million per center or $250 million for five regional EAICs. A “University Movement” dedicated to the creation of new knowledge and solutions specific to the eradication of energy poverty is one part of the puzzle. There is a growing need to fill the gap in the entire supply chain that supports knowledge creation, development and deployment of targeted solutions, and rapid feedback of corrective actions from lessons learned from failures. We have seen a number of globally effective programs that have had a significant impact on addressing global challenges. The food crises and famines of the 1950s and 1960s led to the scale-up—with a modest initial investment—of a global food research and extension effort. The EAIC model embodies energy services that essentially reproduce the best lessons from the global agricultural extension services of the CGIAR effort with the current energy and clean technology efforts that the CICs focus on supporting. The current CIC network provides an important operational network today that brings together technical, market, and social innovations with prospective entrepreneurs and community groups. EAICs are places where change agents—aspiring entrepreneurs and leaders in the energy access

sector—receive day-to-day support to assist them in developing solutions that will serve the regional market of their EAIC. The EAIC functions like a traditional incubator, in which it provides mentorship, financial, technical, and other advisory services and conducts regional market research for the benefit of the change agents that it hosts A. Program Design We describe, in the following, the key support functions of the EAIC’s program design and highlight a few exemplars that provide the motivation to support a global movement in support of universal energy access. We highlight the role of research, capacity building, and entrepreneurship. As a preliminary step, the most appropriate locations of EAICs—in light of compelling needs—would be three in Africa (South, East, and West Africa), one in Latin America, and one in Asia. Once operational, the renewal mandates of the EAICs and the establishment of the additional new EAICs can be evaluated on the basis of the experience and a successful assessment of the value of contributions to the advancement of the universal energy access. Over time and building on successful outcomes, our goal is to make (EAICs) the hubs for infusing research contributions into programs that recruit and support promising entrepreneurs. This effort brings research directly to the needs of energy service goals and places the entrepreneurs in direct contact within partner institutions all over the world. This team-based approach will enable both the research and deployment/extension agents to develop projects that are codesigned with partners for radical improvements in the affordability of clean energy solutions in underdeveloped markets. The key contribution of the EAICs is to deepen and support a supply chain of expert knowledge

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and research with outreach into a virtuous feedback loop that channels innovations and tailors them to local needs via locally supported community groups and entrepreneurs. This will augment and accelerate the existing efforts by state- and individual-owned utilities. The EAICs are intricately linked to the local entrepreneurs who can access a global network of leading university research labs pursuing breakthrough innovations in clean energy technologies. B. Research The basic objective is to nurture and accelerate the “use-inspired basic research” for energy access on a global scale. To bridge the gap between leading research labs and impact-oriented organizations that work in the field, the research focus is to develop and test reliable and cost-effective strategies for reaching the goal of providing affordable, equitable, and clean access to energy supplies. Enhancing affordability through technological innovation is particularly important in meeting the needs of the most impoverished markets. For new technologies to be successful, they must be designed with a deep understanding of their use. C. Capacity Building Create the next generation of leaders and change agents to build the energy access sector for massive and rapid “scale-up” of solutions. Experiential learning opportunities—through fellowships—within a global network of partner institutions can provide a dedicated pipeline of professionals empowered to inform and shape global and local knowledge networks. EAICs become a hub for catalyzing solutions proposed by engineers, natural scientists, social science experts, economists, sociologists and anthropologists, innovators, and practitioners working in teams. With effective facilitation, the EAICs act as a clearinghouse for strategies that foster technological change, improve

organizational capabilities, enable institutional support, and provide behavioral advice and training. D. Entrepreneurship The objective is to seed financially viable social enterprises through the EAICs, and the recruitment of talent becomes the pathway to support individuals who bring innovative solutions to the markets with deep local knowledge. In terms of tangible outputs, we view new businesses and entrepreneurial ventures emerging out of the EAICs as a critical pathway for advancement out of energy poverty. EAICs can adapt and use the incubator model, based largely on the World Bank’s Climate Innovation Centers. They provide working space, mentorship, and start-up support for those recruited into the program. The next generation of change agents—who have benefitted from the EAICs—will have direct access to the leading-edge scientific knowledge emerging from university-based research labs and local knowledge networks of implementers at the regional level. The change agents are at the “work face” on specific projects to develop new solutions for energy poverty in their region. They become the entrepreneurs, policy influencers, innovators, and leaders desperately needed to grow the energy access sector at the pace and scale required to meet SDG 7. An “extension service” for the benefit of implementers comprises the cutting-edge insights and innovations from the lab and communicate their relevance to field-based implementers. Innovation reports, crafted for regional relevance by the EAIC, with wider dissemination would shape the “state-of-the-art” scientific findings relevant for use and informed best practices. “Use-inspired research” initiatives at leading universities globally can draw from the

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experience of the EAICs and disseminations of its outputs. The goal is to provide a tighter link between emerging research directions and key themes identified by EAICs. Through mechanisms, such as “Global Innovation Summits,” the focus is on fostering knowledge-sharing opportunities between those working in the field and those working in the research labs. Summits will be the major global events, where leading innovations and entrepreneurial projects gain the attention of investors and decision-makers. E. Scale The funding for the EAICs will primarily support a strong fellowship program, infrastructure for the extension service, global summits, and

research and implementation activities managed by the EAICs. The goal is to accelerate upstream research and downstream deployment of locally appropriate solutions. With a notional annual budget for each EAIC at $5 million per year, the EAICs can recruit and host up to 30 talented individuals per year through the fellowship program. With five EAICs operating at this level, the program can be envisaged at a level of capacity to produce 1500 change agents worldwide over a ten-year period—300 in each EAIC region.

Table 1 Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Purpose and Relevance Activities and Impact Funding

Global scale extension service linking top research centers with a global network of implements Conducts breakthrough discovery research, field data collection and delivery of solutions. Utilizes use-inspired basic research at research centers to deliver positive outcomes across relevant SDGs Commitment to innovation and local entrepreneurship as divers of systems-level change in impoverished regions

15 CGIAR Research Centers implement collaborative large-scale CGIAR Research Programs(CRPs) conducted in more than 60 countries with the support of over 10,000 scientists and other staff Hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organization, academia, development organizations and the private sector For every $1 provided to CGIAR over its lifetime, the return on investments is evaluated at $17

$1B per year Long-term funding primarily from national governments Administered through a trust managed by the World Bank

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F. Knowledge Creation–Knowledge Transfer–Knowledge Use The schematic shown in Fig. 5 highlights the need for the effective knowledge transfer from the global knowledge pool, the need for knowledge translation, and linkages to local knowledge through local implementation networks. In our view, there is a compelling need to learn rapidly from the failures in the field to shape future research directions and exploit the capacity of advanced research labs to create new solutions.

The EAIC, at its core, supports the transfer of knowledge between local and global knowledge networks in the program. The EAIC provides an extension service, benefitting local implementers, by working with university research labs to crystallize the latest science and innovations and help identify specific steps improve the operations of local implementers in their regional network. The EAIC develops and disseminates actionable knowledge that benefits change agents, as well as university researchers and the broader energy access sector. The ultimate goal of the EAICs is to create a dynamic, information-rich environment with excellent support services that foster the development of new business models, social enterprises, and innovative market-serving solutions in the region, in which they operate. EAICs are largely modeled on incubation hubs, such as the World Bank’s Climate Innovation Centers that host local entrepreneurs in a number of countries across the developing world, enabling them to create climate-friendly businesses through recruiting local entrepreneurs and providing them with mentorship and a range of support services (see CIC business plans).

G. Exemplars

We draw upon three existing networks that provide an We draw upon three existing networks that provide an approach for meeting the challenges of bringing research, entrepreneurs, government agencies, civil society institutions, and diverse stakeholders to address the needs of the poor and under-served populations. A brief summary of several key attributes that provide high-level guidance for the establishment of EAICs is provided in Tables 1–3. This is neither an exhaustive or complete list nor does it describe fully the limitations of each of the networks and its past experience. However, they provide a basis for the next steps in the development of a detailed program design for an EAIC.

H. University Research Labs

Leading university research labs around the world are engaged in the research on the topic of energy access— from technology to data analysis and modeling to policy, finance, community engagement, and so on. These research groups span the natural and social sciences’ spectrum. They house a wealth of knowledge, resources,

Fig. 5. From global knowledge to knowledge translation to the use of local knowledge

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Table 2 World Bank/InfoDev CICs

Table 3 European Institute of Innovation and

Technology—KICs

Purpose and Relevance Activities and Impact Funding Partnership and leading research, private and public sector organizations in Europe to spur innovation and develop new enterprises for a sustainable economy. Knowledge Innovation Communities (KICs) created across a range of topics including climate and energy support entrepreneurs to develop new ventures Partners and entrepreneurs given access to International knowledge network Each KIC has offers across Europe which develop local implementation networks (Climate KIC, for example has 13 national centers)

A variety of programs integrate education, research, technology transfer and business creation A number student education initiatives on KIC themes (including 7 Masters programs in renewable energy fun by InnoEnergy KIC) A range of business development services are offered for aspiring entrepreneurs and existing SMEs through each KIC Climate KIC conducts ‘Pathfinder’ research projects to identify markets for climate technologies, followed by investment in market serving solutions from existing businesses, new joint ventures and spin -off companies.

$2.7B Horizon 2020 funding to establish Eropean Institute for Innovation and Technology (2014-2010) $81.2M for climate –KIC $77.5M for InnoEnergy - KIC

Purpose and Relevance Activities and Impact Funding Incubators provide start-up to support climate relevant local entrepreneurship and innovation in a number of developing world countries (Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa, India, Vietnam and the Caribbean. Co-located at partner institutes including universities with existing business support infrastructure and access to talent. Climate technology agribusiness and digital entrepreneurs that participate in the CIC programs are regionally-focused change-agents.

Each CIC has its own holistic and tailored approach to innovation developed through a local stakeholder engagement and business plan development process CICs offer services including:

▪ Proof of concept funding ▪ Access to early stage capital ▪ Access to technical facilities

and technology information ▪ Mentorship and networking ▪ Business training and skill-

building ▪ Policy advocacy ▪ Promoting

internationalization opportunities

Program is in start-up phase with business plans having been developed by each CIC

Each CIC has a budget of approx. $15-20M spread over 5 years Provided by The World Bank / InfoDev in partnership with a number of national governments

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and capacity to develop new solutions, including those that can significantly reduce the costs of energy systems through breakthrough innovations. The scope and scale of research encompass the following areas of inquiry:

1. Energy steam modeling (on- and off-grid systems and integration);

2. Iisland microgrid design; 3. Frugal innovation and design in a

developing world context 4. Renewable energy basic science; 5. Renewable energy systems’ design and

storage technologies; 6. Social entrepreneurship/business model

development; 7. Energy policy, integrated system planning,

and analysis relevant to the African, Asian, and Latin American contexts;

8. Smart energy systems; 9. Energy storage, power electronics, and

devices; 10. Big data analysis and the Internet of Things

(IoT); 11. Energy efficiency and role of

“superefficient” appliances; 12. Integrated water-energy cycle

management; 13. ICT for energy systems; 14. Microgrid/power systems design and

modeling; 15. Energy access and conflict in the developing

world.

Fig. 6. Knowledge creation, integration, and dissemination across multiple disciplines.

key barrier often faced by these research centers is their remoteness from regions facing

energy poverty. The EAICs program would, therefore, aim to provide a bridge between the field and the lab that enables use inspired basic research on energy access through quick feedback loops between projects in the field and lab-based researchers. Our objective in proposing the Global University Movement working with EAICs in support of universal energy access is to expand the scope and scale of activities for university-based researchers to collaborate actively in developing pathways and deliverables of projects worldwide but with an urgency to help eradicate energy poverty. We acknowledge the efforts of several institutions involved in this paper, including the UN SE4ALL, USAID, GIZ, Power 4 All, U.K. DFID and GCRF, IEA, and IRENA, among several others. Our goal is to bring university research labs working at the leading edge of new scientific discoveries and knowledge to bring to fruition innovative solutions relevant to the context of the energy poor and also help expand core areas of competencies and expertise to support field practices. Our aspirational goal is the full alignment of the global scientific knowledge base with an improvement of life quality through energy access. Here, we have identified four domain areas of inquiry and focus for research shown in Fig. 6. Participating university research labs, as a part of an extensive EAIC network across all regions of the world, can compile annual innovation briefs that outline the R&D advances and recent innovations on the horizon. These reports when integrated into a set of innovation reports tailored to the local contexts in each of the five regions can help spur rapid diffusion and deployment of new technologies to meet the challenges of affordable clean energy.

I. Extension Services

Agricultural extension—the transfer of knowledge from the front lines of scientific

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research and technological development to farmers and growers—has been a critical enabler of increased crop yields globally since the Second World War. The CGIAR agricultural extension services concept—with its limitations—still provides inspiration to find an approach quick feedback loop between advanced research labs and the farmer’s field (lab-to-farm). The EAIC program envisions creating a global extension service for energy access, where the focus is jointly on the science, the technology, and the practice of energy extension, with strong attention on feedback throughout the network for rapid diffusion of new knowledge to useful solutions as the face of work. It will deliver insights from university research labs and EAICs to local implementers, including SMEs, NGOs, policy-makers, and others on the front lines of energy poverty. Extension service is a multilayered set of activities that inform and shape the outcomes for a large number of actors and groups across the entire supply chain of energy access delivery. V. CONCLUSION We conclude that the challenge to meet the twin goals of meeting reduction targets for climate change and provision of universal energy access, affordable and accessible to a very large proportion of the global population, will require a massive investment, roughly estimated in the order of $50 billion per annum. To ensure that investment on such a scale remains effective—in light of the rapid expansion of emerging knowledge—it requires a unique emphasis on matching new solutions with an in-depth understanding of the local context. The quintessential challenge is to create sustainable improvements to the quality of life without undermining the basis for investments. We propose “A Global Movement to Support Universal Clean Energy Access” to be

implemented through the establishment of five EAICs globally. For clean distributed energy solutions to become a reality for those at the bottom of the pyramid, “Use-Inspired Basic Research” must inspire the development of the next generation of technologies and business models for adoption at the local level. The primary goal is to deliver on the promise of affordable access to energy services the affordability of off-grid solutions, where they are needed most and where they have the greatest potential for improving life quality. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Jatin Nathwani holds the prestigious Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy and is currently a Professor cross-appointed to the Faculty of Engineering and Environment. He is also the Founding Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) and a Fellow with the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. He has had 30 years of experience in the Canadian power sector as a Professional Engineer Daniel M. Kammen holds a dual appointment in the Energy and Resources Group, where he serves as the Chair of the Goldman School of Public Policy and directs the Center for Environmental Policy and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. He was the Director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center, Richmond, CA, USA, from 2007 to 2015. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Energy at the University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA, and a former Science Envoy for the State Department. He is also the Founding Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL).

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National Grid yesterday unveiled what it says is one of the largest battery energy storage resources in the Northeast United States. Built on the island of Nantucket, in Massachusetts, the 6 megawatt (MW)/48 megawatt-hour (MWh) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) built and installed by Tesla will help ensure electric reliability for customers during peak summer months and defer the need for construction of an additional underwater supply cable to the island.

In addition, a new 15 MW generator and power control house was installed. The project cost approximately $81 million.

Summer peak demand

The demand for electricity on historic Nantucket – particularly during the busy summer tourist season — has grown significantly in just the last 10 years, from 37 MW in 2008 to nearly 49 MW in 2018. Nantucket has approximately 11,000 year-round residents, and the population swells to more than 50,000 during peak summer months. The energy demand growth is projected to grow for the foreseeable future. Nantucket receives its power from two undersea transmission supply cables roughly 30 miles in length connected to the mainland, which were installed in 1989 and 2005.

In an effort to control for a potential outage from one of the underground cables, National

Grid developed an integrated plan, IslandReady, to upgrade the island’s electricity Infrastructure. “Both energy storage and a back-up generator are vital components to ensuring resilience and reliability on Nantucket during the busiest summer months,” said Rudy Wynter, President and COO of National Grid’s Wholesale Networks and US Capital Delivery group.

“Battery storage is key to unlocking the state’s and the island’s clean energy future. We are pleased to now operate the largest battery facility in New England to ensure that Nantucket has safe, reliable power.”

The BESS, combined with the a new, upgraded 15 MW diesel generator, has the capacity to supply the island with energy during peak summer months if one of the two underwater cables currently serving Nantucket experienced an outage. The BESS has a 48 MWh capacity, meaning it can provide 6 MW of capacity for up to eight hours.

“This is an example of cost-effective deployment of energy storage, as it will help reduce emissions and ratepayer costs, while adding resilience to the Nantucket grid,” said U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Massachusetts. “Energy storage has the potential to be a game changer for Massachusetts and across the country, with significant ratepayer and system benefits,” he added”

By Renewable Energy World Editors | 10.10.19

GRID SCALE MICROGRIDS

6-MW/48-MWh battery storage system unveiled on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts

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21. Mr. A RAJENTHRAN Block No.C1, Pranavam Apartments, Plot No.3, Kamadhenu 2nd St. Mogappair East, CHENNAI 600 037 Email: arajenthran@yahoo.in

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22. CAPT M SINGARAJA Ratnabala Designs & Consultants, New No.90 Rama Naicken St., Nungambakkam, CHENNAI 600 034. Email: singaraja@gmail.com

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23. Mr. J SIVA, Managing Director, Jegan Research Associates Pvt Ltd, No.1 Valluvarkottam High Road, Rashmi Towers, 3rd Floor, Nungambakkam, Chennai 600 034 Email:jsiva68@yahoo.com

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24. Mrs. S SUJATHA MUKUNDAN, Director, Servals Automation (P) Ltd 51/1 Justice Ramaswamy Street ,Venkatarathinam Nagar Adyar, CHENNAI 600 020 sujatha@servals.in

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25. Mr. S SENTHILMURUGAN, Asst. Professor/EEE, SRM Institute of Science & Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203 Email: senthilmurugan.s@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in

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