Practical Action’s work on decentralized energy access 40 years experience working on energy access

Direct work on over 500 mini-grids & catalysed thousands more

Trained thousands of operators, micro-entrepreneurs, suppliers

Advising governments, private sector, academia and civil society around theworld

Key knowledge producer and discourse shaper through our Poor People’s Energy Outlook series

Necessary but not sufficient

Our Unique Selling Point

- Energy systems, not energy projects

- People centred approach and community engagement, particularly ofmarginalized & vulnerable groups

- Convening CSOs, facilitating effective multi-stakeholder engagementwhile reaching high level profile stakeholders & audiences

- Raising awareness and changingbehaviour to mainstreamdistributed renewable energy andknowledge management

- Market-building, productive usesof energy and women’sempowerment.

What are Productive Uses

of Energy (PUE)?

PUE: activities which use electricity that enhance

income and employment

Examples: carpentry, food/milk cooling, ice-making, irrigation and

water pumping, metalwork, food drying, poultry hatcheries, feed

production, milling…

Why PUE matters? 1 – enables rural

development …

Mechanism to improve incomes and livelihoods and create jobs

Can support existing businesses and enable new businesses

… and 2- Supports financial sustainability

PUE best way to increase demand, therefore improving

commercial viability of energy projects

But PUE doesn’t happen organically – access alone

is not enough!

– Energy providers need to play an active role

– PUE can’t be an afterthought

Success Story –

Sustainable Energy 4 Rural

Communities (SE4RC)

Gwanda district (Zimbabwe) and Chikwawa and Nsanje

districts of Malawi

5 mini-grid systems -174 kW – energy provision to 30.000

users

Funded by the EU

(2015-2019)

Stimulation of Productive

Uses of Energy

Management

Registered 5 CESCOs

Tariff scheme and norms

PUE

16 Energy Kiosks

established (ICT, recharging,

retail,…)

˃ 60 ha irrigation schemes

Success Story – SE4RC

Main messages and lessons

Access to Energy alone is not enough. Productive Uses of

Energy (PUE) is key to ensure mini-grid financial viability.

More inter-agency work needed (agriculture/water/energy)

Mini-grid early design stages shall include

participatory/market analysis mechanisms in order to

reduce the risk of failure.

Community Engagement and electricity demand analysis

are crucial for driving successful business models.