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By Andy Bilich
An audible crunch and a real (ok, maybe imagined) hiss are not what you expect when plugging in your phone, but that’s exactly what greeted me a few weeks ago when I accidentally squished a beetle inside my electrical outlet.
Bugs are not exactly top of mind when you think of the business of solar microgrids, but over the past few months about 5% of customers have lost plugs due to the presence of ants and other insects. While the cost to replace an outlet is nominal, plug problems nonetheless interrupt service for customers and take technician time away from other work.
Beyond bugs, lightning looms as another significant risk for microgrid operations, particularly customer meters. In the last few months 24 meters have been damaged by lightning strikes and surges. The meters range in price based on the level of electricity service they support, but even the most modest meters cost around $35 USD. Larger meters used for grid management cost upwards of $150 each.
To account for these operational risks, EarthSpark stocks backup inventory, but more importantly the team must integrate technology, systems, and processes that proactively manage these risks. This includes surge protection devices, efficient protocol for responding to lighting strikes on our electricity poles and customer outreach and training on plug maintenance and protection.
An audible crunch and a real (ok, maybe imagined) hiss are not what you expect when plugging in your phone, but that’s exactly what greeted me a few weeks ago when I accidentally squished a beetle inside my electrical outlet.
Bugs are not exactly top of mind when you think of the business of solar microgrids, but over the past few months about 5% of customers have lost plugs due to the presence of ants and other insects. While the cost to replace an outlet is nominal, plug problems nonetheless interrupt service for customers and take technician time away from other work.
Beyond bugs, lightning looms as another significant risk for microgrid operations, particularly customer meters. In the last few months 24 meters have been damaged by lightning strikes and surges. The meters range in price based on the level of electricity service they support, but even the most modest meters cost around $35 USD. Larger meters used for grid management cost upwards of $150 each.
To account for these operational risks, EarthSpark stocks backup inventory, but more importantly the team must integrate technology, systems, and processes that proactively manage these risks. This includes surge protection devices, efficient protocol for responding to lighting strikes on our electricity poles and customer outreach and training on plug maintenance and protection.
Customer Meters and Plugs Damaged by Lightning Strikes
Microcosm of a challenging business environment for microgrids
Of course, lightning and insects are a microcosm of a larger, more challenging business and operating environment for energy access in Haiti. Haiti is ranked 182 out of 190 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Rankings which systematically measures how difficult it is to conduct business in a given country across a variety of metrics. For Haiti, this difficulty is particularly reflected in commercial banking, the regulatory environment, and the cost of procurement of materials and land. Navigating these challenging yet essential business processes are all further complicated by the remote locations of EarthSpark’s microgrids, with limited infrastructure and high costs associated with transportation. When we hire a delivery truck, for example, we need to be sure it can navigate crossing the Les Anglais riverbed, and we work to time things so that the river is not too high to cross when the shipment makes the journey.
The World Bank’s Scaling Renewable Energy Program (SREP) Investment Plan for Haiti highlights that renewable energy projects, and microgrids in particular, face additional operational challenges including but not limited to:
- Lack of regulatory and policy framework in the energy sector – The current regulatory environment is not well-defined, which creates high risks and uncertainty for planning and operations.
- Insufficient policy support for renewables – Current policy disadvantages both grid and off-grid renewables against their fossil fuel alternatives. Renewable energy equipment is subject to import duties and VAT tax, which can amount to over 30% of the product value, while fossil fuels enjoy subsidies.
- Devaluation of currency and related cost-recovery – Devaluation and fluctuation of local currency creates an operational risk for cost-recovery due to the high costs of imports for microgrid components and local tariffs. The Haitian Gourde is now worth less than half of what it was worth when the Les Anglais grid expansion launched in 2015.
- Low-levels of awareness and energy literacy for rural households – Households presently have a distinct need for improved energy literacy and awareness, particularly as it relates to energy efficiency, productive uses of electricity, and available technology.
Derisking by doing
Well aware of these challenges, EarthSpark is nevertheless moving microgrids forward in Haiti. We describe our approach as ‘de-risking by doing’. While good planning and critical thinking are essential elements of building a sector, only by building actual grids in real towns and having real-world conversations with policy makers and funders will we uncover the full set of challenges and their remedies. EarthSpark’s push for pioneering infrastructure is helping to determine how infrastructure is defined and regulated in Haiti and beyond:
- Ground truthing real business costs. Through our experiences in Les Anglais and Tiburon, EarthSpark is able to ground-truth the real business cost of microgrid development and operations in Haiti and document critical pathways for improving the business environment. By sharing our work and challenges directly with regulators in Haiti as well as international stakeholders like the World Bank, we can support initiatives and efforts in the sector. As an example of this the World Bank SREP Investment Plan cites EarthSpark’s model and work 13 times as evidence of good practices, opportunities, and challenges for rural electrification in Haiti.
- Clearly communicating vulnerabilities. As the microgrid and energy access sector continues to grow and importantly develop more formalized regulations and frameworks, we continue to inform that process by practically demonstrating bottom-up legal and business vulnerabilities and advising of what capacity building actions are needed to shore up those vulnerabilities.
- Ensuring clean energy is an opportunity for all. Beyond building grids, EarthSpark also works extensively to increase demand sustainably and facilitate a just energy transition through customer education and outreach, cradle to cradle considerations for design, and driving best practices and opportunities for gender mainstreaming through the Feminist Electrification Platform.
- Leveraging public private partnerships. EarthSpark works directly with local mayors and communities to facilitate public and private co-operation to build an ecosystem for enterprise in emerging markets. This creates ownership and buy-in which not only empowers local stakeholders to take part in their own energy governance, but also improves the long-term sustainability of the systems.
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It was mid-day when Wendy got the call from the neighboring town. “Do you have any diesel?” the caller asked. It’s a common question in Haiti right now. Fuel shortages have been creeping along for weeks. Most major gas stations in Port-au-Prince are intermittently closed and rationing and very little fuel is getting beyond the capital.
Since the majority of electricity in the country comes from burning imported fossil fuels, fuel crises – more frequent now – directly lead to grid electricity shutting off for hours, days, or weeks – even more than usual. Les Anglais, where 100% of the electricity supply is coming from solar energy these days, is an exception. “We might be the only grid in the country providing 24/7 power” speculated Wendy Sanassee, Director of Haiti Operations for EarthSpark.
A shining example of 24/7 clean, reliable power in Haiti
In a shining example of the value and effectiveness of solar microgrids in delivering reliable electricity to communities in rural Haiti, the Les Anglais system leverages a solar+battery system (100 kw of solar + 208 kWh of storage) coupled with smart meters and a focused effort on community energy literacy and the development of local enterprises – known as “Productive Use of Energy” – to provide reliable, affordable, and clean power to a significant and growing number of households and businesses (over 450 existing customers with over 100 new customers signed up for an upcoming grid expansion).
While the Les Anglais system has a diesel generator backup, it is now rarely used for day-to-day operations. In fact, during the month of August and the first week and a half of September, the generator in Les Anglais ran a total of about 2 hours – mostly for scheduled maintenance and a momentary system fault during recent lightning storms. Indeed, EarthSpark is planning to phase out diesel completely in favor of 100% renewable energy for its future grids.
Climate change and the impending need for expanded resiliency
With high reliance on imports, limited budgets, constrained transportation and logistics, as well as other acute stressors like political instability and natural disasters, supply disruptions and system shocks like the current diesel shortage are unfortunately common in developing economies – especially in island nations with complex business environments[1] like Haiti.
To compound issues, these disruptions and their underlying socioeconomic, political, and environmental contexts are likely to be exacerbated by the expanding climate crisis.
Haiti is ranked as the most vulnerable country in the Americas to climate change (and is frequently among the most vulnerable in the world.) Of the expected climate change impacts[2] [3] [4] [5], the higher frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as hurricanes and their consequential flooding, is particularly concerning for Haiti as more than 93% of the country and more than 96% of the population are exposed to these natural disasters with the poorest Haitians, including low-income women, children, and elderly people, particularly vulnerable.
To proactively respond to existing disruptions and the future threats presented by climate change, communities in Haiti and beyond need energy solutions that are both reliable and resilience-boosting.
Solar microgrids enable long-term community resiliency
Establishing a foundation of clean, reliable, and affordable electricity through solar microgrids not only directly addresses the issue of energy poverty by providing energy access to off-grid communities, but it can also fundamentally change how these communities are able to effectively plan for and cope with shocks – like a diesel shortage, hurricane, or climate change – by enabling new technology, approaches, and indeed resources for long-term adaptation and resiliency.
By boosting businesses and livelihood opportunities and also simply reducing energy expenditures from the baseline (~80% savings for households and 50% savings for businesses compared to the status quo fuels), microgrids provide for both income availability and income stability for households which improves their ability to adapt and respond to crisis.
By enabling use of agricultural processing equipment (mills, threshers, grinders, dryers, etc.), storage and handling technology (refrigeration, crop drying, packaging, etc.) as well as cold chain for transportation, solar microgrids can help to improve food security (particularly for rural communities that are more logistically isolated from central food supply networks) by reducing post-harvest food loss, improving food quality, increasing access to nutritious foods, and controlling timing of sales.[6] [7] Microgrids can also support the deployment of other new technologies (i.e. water pumping, refrigeration, medical equipment etc.), which can potentially unlock greater opportunity for and stability of other basic services most notably health, communications, and water availability. [8]
Microgrids can also enable a higher level of connectivity to outside financial and informational resources and systems, particularly by encouraging the adoption of mobile money applications and enhancing the stability of communication services.[9]
Microgrids can further provide a measure of resilience for communities by islanding electric service and critical operations like health clinics, food distribution, etc. and reducing recovery time following disruptions. This is in addition to the intrinsic resilience that microgrids provide due to the nature of their distributed, modular construction that does not rely on long, vulnerable power distribution systems to deliver electricity. [10] [11]
Expanding microgrid opportunities for Haitian communities
Especially amidst the backdrop of ongoing and future uncertainty, the Les Anglais (and Tiburon[12]) microgrids provide a critical blueprint for energy resiliency and highlight that there is no shortage of opportunity for solar microgrids to provide clean, reliable energy access to communities across Haiti. In fact, with its 2015 national microgrid market study, EarthSpark and its Haitian partner Enèji Pwòp made the case that over 80 towns across Haiti would be strong candidates for solar microgrids. As EarthSpark works towards turning on grid #2, it is also working toward the scale-up plan for the next 22 towns. With the right kind of financing and a streamlined regulatory environment to better support microgrid deployment, and operations, many more towns across Haiti could soon see their critical services delivered in spite of national fuel shortages, future natural disasters, or whatever else awaits. With more secure access to energy and related resilience, those living in rural Haiti can unlock the true potential of their communities.
Footnotes
[1] Haiti is ranked 182 out of 190 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Rankings which systematically measure how difficult it is to conduct business in a given country across a variety of metrics.
[2] Oxfam, Climate Change Resilience: The Case of Haiti (2014), Available at: https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/s3fs-public/file_attachments/rr-climate-change-resilience-haiti-260314-en_2.pdf
[3] UNDP, Estimation des couts des impacts du changement climatique en Haiti (2015; Available at: https://www.undp.org/content/dam/haiti/docs/Protection%20de%20l%20environnement/UNDP-HT-ProEnv-EtuEconoCC.pdf
[4] USAID, Climate Risk Profile – Haiti (2017; Available at: https://www.climatelinks.org/sites/default/files/asset/document/2017_Cadmus_Climate-Risk-Profile_Haiti.pdf
[5] Haiti Second National Communication on Climate Change (2002), Available at: https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/htinc2.pdf
[6] World Food Programme, “Energy for Food Security” (2019); Available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP-0000106572.pdf
[7] SEAR, Energy Access for Food and Agriculture; Available at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/417941494928698197/pdf/115062-BRI-P148200-PUBLIC-FINALSEARSFFoodandAgrigcultureweb.pdf
[8] World Food Programme, “Energy for Food Security” (2019); Available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP-0000106572.pdf
[9] IRENA, Off-grid renewable energy solutions to expand electricity access: An opportunity not to be missed (2019); Available at: https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2019/Jan/IRENA_Off-grid_RE_Access_2019.pdf
[10] Siemens, “Resilient by Design: Enhanced Reliability and Resiliency for Puerto Rico’s Electric Grid” (2018), Available at: https://microgridknowledge.com/white-paper/mini-grids/
[11] NREL, Distributed Generation to Support Development-Focused Climate Action (2016); Available at: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/66597.pdf
[12] It is important to highlight that this one town example could easily be two towns as Enèji Pwòp has another microgrid ready to be turned on in the nearby town of Tiburon – but it is awaiting regulatory sign off.
Since the majority of electricity in the country comes from burning imported fossil fuels, fuel crises – more frequent now – directly lead to grid electricity shutting off for hours, days, or weeks – even more than usual. Les Anglais, where 100% of the electricity supply is coming from solar energy these days, is an exception. “We might be the only grid in the country providing 24/7 power” speculated Wendy Sanassee, Director of Haiti Operations for EarthSpark.
A shining example of 24/7 clean, reliable power in Haiti
In a shining example of the value and effectiveness of solar microgrids in delivering reliable electricity to communities in rural Haiti, the Les Anglais system leverages a solar+battery system (100 kw of solar + 208 kWh of storage) coupled with smart meters and a focused effort on community energy literacy and the development of local enterprises – known as “Productive Use of Energy” – to provide reliable, affordable, and clean power to a significant and growing number of households and businesses (over 450 existing customers with over 100 new customers signed up for an upcoming grid expansion).
While the Les Anglais system has a diesel generator backup, it is now rarely used for day-to-day operations. In fact, during the month of August and the first week and a half of September, the generator in Les Anglais ran a total of about 2 hours – mostly for scheduled maintenance and a momentary system fault during recent lightning storms. Indeed, EarthSpark is planning to phase out diesel completely in favor of 100% renewable energy for its future grids.
Climate change and the impending need for expanded resiliency
With high reliance on imports, limited budgets, constrained transportation and logistics, as well as other acute stressors like political instability and natural disasters, supply disruptions and system shocks like the current diesel shortage are unfortunately common in developing economies – especially in island nations with complex business environments[1] like Haiti.
To compound issues, these disruptions and their underlying socioeconomic, political, and environmental contexts are likely to be exacerbated by the expanding climate crisis.
Haiti is ranked as the most vulnerable country in the Americas to climate change (and is frequently among the most vulnerable in the world.) Of the expected climate change impacts[2] [3] [4] [5], the higher frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as hurricanes and their consequential flooding, is particularly concerning for Haiti as more than 93% of the country and more than 96% of the population are exposed to these natural disasters with the poorest Haitians, including low-income women, children, and elderly people, particularly vulnerable.
To proactively respond to existing disruptions and the future threats presented by climate change, communities in Haiti and beyond need energy solutions that are both reliable and resilience-boosting.
Solar microgrids enable long-term community resiliency
Establishing a foundation of clean, reliable, and affordable electricity through solar microgrids not only directly addresses the issue of energy poverty by providing energy access to off-grid communities, but it can also fundamentally change how these communities are able to effectively plan for and cope with shocks – like a diesel shortage, hurricane, or climate change – by enabling new technology, approaches, and indeed resources for long-term adaptation and resiliency.
By boosting businesses and livelihood opportunities and also simply reducing energy expenditures from the baseline (~80% savings for households and 50% savings for businesses compared to the status quo fuels), microgrids provide for both income availability and income stability for households which improves their ability to adapt and respond to crisis.
By enabling use of agricultural processing equipment (mills, threshers, grinders, dryers, etc.), storage and handling technology (refrigeration, crop drying, packaging, etc.) as well as cold chain for transportation, solar microgrids can help to improve food security (particularly for rural communities that are more logistically isolated from central food supply networks) by reducing post-harvest food loss, improving food quality, increasing access to nutritious foods, and controlling timing of sales.[6] [7] Microgrids can also support the deployment of other new technologies (i.e. water pumping, refrigeration, medical equipment etc.), which can potentially unlock greater opportunity for and stability of other basic services most notably health, communications, and water availability. [8]
Microgrids can also enable a higher level of connectivity to outside financial and informational resources and systems, particularly by encouraging the adoption of mobile money applications and enhancing the stability of communication services.[9]
Microgrids can further provide a measure of resilience for communities by islanding electric service and critical operations like health clinics, food distribution, etc. and reducing recovery time following disruptions. This is in addition to the intrinsic resilience that microgrids provide due to the nature of their distributed, modular construction that does not rely on long, vulnerable power distribution systems to deliver electricity. [10] [11]
Expanding microgrid opportunities for Haitian communities
Especially amidst the backdrop of ongoing and future uncertainty, the Les Anglais (and Tiburon[12]) microgrids provide a critical blueprint for energy resiliency and highlight that there is no shortage of opportunity for solar microgrids to provide clean, reliable energy access to communities across Haiti. In fact, with its 2015 national microgrid market study, EarthSpark and its Haitian partner Enèji Pwòp made the case that over 80 towns across Haiti would be strong candidates for solar microgrids. As EarthSpark works towards turning on grid #2, it is also working toward the scale-up plan for the next 22 towns. With the right kind of financing and a streamlined regulatory environment to better support microgrid deployment, and operations, many more towns across Haiti could soon see their critical services delivered in spite of national fuel shortages, future natural disasters, or whatever else awaits. With more secure access to energy and related resilience, those living in rural Haiti can unlock the true potential of their communities.
Footnotes
[1] Haiti is ranked 182 out of 190 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Rankings which systematically measure how difficult it is to conduct business in a given country across a variety of metrics.
[2] Oxfam, Climate Change Resilience: The Case of Haiti (2014), Available at: https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/s3fs-public/file_attachments/rr-climate-change-resilience-haiti-260314-en_2.pdf
[3] UNDP, Estimation des couts des impacts du changement climatique en Haiti (2015; Available at: https://www.undp.org/content/dam/haiti/docs/Protection%20de%20l%20environnement/UNDP-HT-ProEnv-EtuEconoCC.pdf
[4] USAID, Climate Risk Profile – Haiti (2017; Available at: https://www.climatelinks.org/sites/default/files/asset/document/2017_Cadmus_Climate-Risk-Profile_Haiti.pdf
[5] Haiti Second National Communication on Climate Change (2002), Available at: https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/htinc2.pdf
[6] World Food Programme, “Energy for Food Security” (2019); Available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP-0000106572.pdf
[7] SEAR, Energy Access for Food and Agriculture; Available at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/417941494928698197/pdf/115062-BRI-P148200-PUBLIC-FINALSEARSFFoodandAgrigcultureweb.pdf
[8] World Food Programme, “Energy for Food Security” (2019); Available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP-0000106572.pdf
[9] IRENA, Off-grid renewable energy solutions to expand electricity access: An opportunity not to be missed (2019); Available at: https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2019/Jan/IRENA_Off-grid_RE_Access_2019.pdf
[10] Siemens, “Resilient by Design: Enhanced Reliability and Resiliency for Puerto Rico’s Electric Grid” (2018), Available at: https://microgridknowledge.com/white-paper/mini-grids/
[11] NREL, Distributed Generation to Support Development-Focused Climate Action (2016); Available at: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/66597.pdf
[12] It is important to highlight that this one town example could easily be two towns as Enèji Pwòp has another microgrid ready to be turned on in the nearby town of Tiburon – but it is awaiting regulatory sign off.
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By Adam Eberwein & Madie Sturgess
How many times did you interact with electricity before you left the house this morning? There are countless thoughtless touch points from when we turn off the alarm to when we flick the last switch on our way out of the house. Consider for a moment how your routine would change if, due to unexpected soaring costs of electricity, you had to budget for and ration your energy use. Chances are it would change how often you used your phone or laptop, what kinds of food you’d prepare, and when you’d go to sleep.
When an under-electrified nation seeks to solve its energy crisis, determining what electricity should cost becomes more than a business plan or household accounting. The accessibility of electricity impacts culture, prosperity, and opportunity, and the costs – borne ultimately by customers, governments, or donors -- depend on policy, technology, and delivery structure. The question, “what should electricity cost”, is critical to EarthSpark as we work with communities to build a model for decentralized, cleantech-enabled, energy infrastructure across Haiti.
EarthSpark’s growing field operations are generating some real-world data necessary to help answer that question. Some of the latest figures from microgrid operations in Haiti are beginning to reveal the social and economic impacts EarthSpark’s microgrid energy is having on household and business.
Phone Use
Like in the US, Haiti’s rural communities depend on phones in daily life even though in Haiti charging a phone can be an expensive prospect involving a hike to the nearest phone charging business. Consequently, diesel generators (personal and small businesses) offer the primary source for phone charging, becoming a necessary and costly expense to the average household’s already tight budget.
In Les Anglais, our grid-connected customers have reported savings of 90% compared to their pre-grid phone charging expenses. More reliable and affordable access to phones gives customers greater access to information and opens opportunity for a mobile money economy to flourish. A change in affordability like this opens access to and participation in local, regional, and global markets in addition to news and information.
Access to Freezers
Households and businesses with grid-connected freezers are spending 45% less on electricity to reliably power their appliance. This makes freezers powered by a personal generator, nearly two times more expensive than its clean-powered alternative. Being able to afford to reliably power a freezer improves food security, nutrition, and economic opportunity. Local agricultural producers can nominally reduce post-harvest losses, households can store a diversity of foods for longer, and greater opportunities for small businesses arise. With inaccessibly high electricity tariffs these opportunities disappear, and with well-intentioned cheap tariffs these opportunities arise for a time but inevitably disappear as the operational model of the grid is unable to sustain operations and maintenance costs. In our team’s experience in Haiti, microgrid users’ adoption of freezers or fridges is an important step towards their adopting other income-generating equipment. The freezer holds the necessary combination of both a well-established and understood tool and a source of aspiration for many small businesses, with the ability to unlock new sources of income that were never before sustainable in this context. Our team has seen successful freezer utilization lead to adoption of tools requiring greater investment and savvy.
Lighting
In off-grid communities, kerosene lamps and candles are frequently used for lighting, releasing hazardous air pollutants, while delivering only poor lighting quality. When EarthSpark customers connect to the grid, they put away their candles and kerosene lamps and instead flip the switch on for LED lighting that is cleaner, more affordable, and shines as much as 250 times brighter than pre-grid lighting (on a lumens per watt basis). Households with quality lighting are often associated with better conditions for education and home-based work and displace air pollutants responsible for 8000 premature deaths a year across Haiti.
Household Economics: Comparing pre-grid energy, microgrid energy, US grid energy expenses
How many times did you interact with electricity before you left the house this morning? There are countless thoughtless touch points from when we turn off the alarm to when we flick the last switch on our way out of the house. Consider for a moment how your routine would change if, due to unexpected soaring costs of electricity, you had to budget for and ration your energy use. Chances are it would change how often you used your phone or laptop, what kinds of food you’d prepare, and when you’d go to sleep.
When an under-electrified nation seeks to solve its energy crisis, determining what electricity should cost becomes more than a business plan or household accounting. The accessibility of electricity impacts culture, prosperity, and opportunity, and the costs – borne ultimately by customers, governments, or donors -- depend on policy, technology, and delivery structure. The question, “what should electricity cost”, is critical to EarthSpark as we work with communities to build a model for decentralized, cleantech-enabled, energy infrastructure across Haiti.
EarthSpark’s growing field operations are generating some real-world data necessary to help answer that question. Some of the latest figures from microgrid operations in Haiti are beginning to reveal the social and economic impacts EarthSpark’s microgrid energy is having on household and business.
Phone Use
Like in the US, Haiti’s rural communities depend on phones in daily life even though in Haiti charging a phone can be an expensive prospect involving a hike to the nearest phone charging business. Consequently, diesel generators (personal and small businesses) offer the primary source for phone charging, becoming a necessary and costly expense to the average household’s already tight budget.
In Les Anglais, our grid-connected customers have reported savings of 90% compared to their pre-grid phone charging expenses. More reliable and affordable access to phones gives customers greater access to information and opens opportunity for a mobile money economy to flourish. A change in affordability like this opens access to and participation in local, regional, and global markets in addition to news and information.
Access to Freezers
Households and businesses with grid-connected freezers are spending 45% less on electricity to reliably power their appliance. This makes freezers powered by a personal generator, nearly two times more expensive than its clean-powered alternative. Being able to afford to reliably power a freezer improves food security, nutrition, and economic opportunity. Local agricultural producers can nominally reduce post-harvest losses, households can store a diversity of foods for longer, and greater opportunities for small businesses arise. With inaccessibly high electricity tariffs these opportunities disappear, and with well-intentioned cheap tariffs these opportunities arise for a time but inevitably disappear as the operational model of the grid is unable to sustain operations and maintenance costs. In our team’s experience in Haiti, microgrid users’ adoption of freezers or fridges is an important step towards their adopting other income-generating equipment. The freezer holds the necessary combination of both a well-established and understood tool and a source of aspiration for many small businesses, with the ability to unlock new sources of income that were never before sustainable in this context. Our team has seen successful freezer utilization lead to adoption of tools requiring greater investment and savvy.
Lighting
In off-grid communities, kerosene lamps and candles are frequently used for lighting, releasing hazardous air pollutants, while delivering only poor lighting quality. When EarthSpark customers connect to the grid, they put away their candles and kerosene lamps and instead flip the switch on for LED lighting that is cleaner, more affordable, and shines as much as 250 times brighter than pre-grid lighting (on a lumens per watt basis). Households with quality lighting are often associated with better conditions for education and home-based work and displace air pollutants responsible for 8000 premature deaths a year across Haiti.
Household Economics: Comparing pre-grid energy, microgrid energy, US grid energy expenses
The Challenge of Electric Cooking
Like EarthSpark, many microgrid developers have found some success in quantifying the cost to electrify household and community activities. Cooking, however, remains a rarely-touched area for microgrid operators. Transitioning communities from charcoal to electric cooking requires a model offering an affordable service that also meets the energy demands of local cooking habits. There is currently insufficient data to confidently determine the average household spend on charcoal powered cooking activities. Below is a table of a recent 9 customer sample recently taken in Tiburon which demonstrates this dearth of meaningful data. EarthSpark is currently pursuing technical and anthropological studies of the electrification of cooking to generate much needed data. By identifying the energy, time, and cost associated with local cooking habits and recipes, we aim to determine a pathway to electric cooking tariffs with competitive price points. Solving the cost of electric cooking makes a more robust case for the adoption of microgrid infrastructure in emerging markets.
Like EarthSpark, many microgrid developers have found some success in quantifying the cost to electrify household and community activities. Cooking, however, remains a rarely-touched area for microgrid operators. Transitioning communities from charcoal to electric cooking requires a model offering an affordable service that also meets the energy demands of local cooking habits. There is currently insufficient data to confidently determine the average household spend on charcoal powered cooking activities. Below is a table of a recent 9 customer sample recently taken in Tiburon which demonstrates this dearth of meaningful data. EarthSpark is currently pursuing technical and anthropological studies of the electrification of cooking to generate much needed data. By identifying the energy, time, and cost associated with local cooking habits and recipes, we aim to determine a pathway to electric cooking tariffs with competitive price points. Solving the cost of electric cooking makes a more robust case for the adoption of microgrid infrastructure in emerging markets.
Fundamentally, moving a microgrid model towards market must affordably meet the end user’s need. A genuinely sustainable model must also be capable of meeting operations and maintenance costs, and electricity access will only ever scale if the operations model includes sufficient revenues to pay (even subsidized) costs of capital. Striving to balance these competing needs, opens the conversation about the government’s role, be it by providing an enabling regulatory environment, offering subsidies, managing exchange rate fluctuations, or setting tariffs.
There is often a false expectation that renewable energy infrastructure must be solely rooted in the private sector to be considered a compelling fossil fuels alternative. And yet, globally oil, coal, and gas continue to receive $5.2 trillion a year in subsidies. These are exceptional heights of public investments for an industry that’s more than a century old and that carries such high social, economic, and environmental costs.
Determining asset ownership only further highlights the need to define the role of public and private participation in energy access. “What should electricity cost”, is a complex question that reveals how scaling an electrification model requires more than possessing a promising, technical innovation. Social, regulatory, and cultural challenges persist. These same challenges are relevant not just in other emerging markets but underly the global energy transition.
There is often a false expectation that renewable energy infrastructure must be solely rooted in the private sector to be considered a compelling fossil fuels alternative. And yet, globally oil, coal, and gas continue to receive $5.2 trillion a year in subsidies. These are exceptional heights of public investments for an industry that’s more than a century old and that carries such high social, economic, and environmental costs.
Determining asset ownership only further highlights the need to define the role of public and private participation in energy access. “What should electricity cost”, is a complex question that reveals how scaling an electrification model requires more than possessing a promising, technical innovation. Social, regulatory, and cultural challenges persist. These same challenges are relevant not just in other emerging markets but underly the global energy transition.
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Drum roll please. The Tiburon grid is…ready to go, but still not on!
We’re thrilled to share that the EarthSpark’s long-anticipated second grid in the town of Tiburon is ready for the switch to be thrown. Technical testing saw streetlights blazing across the town and customers are now signing up and getting their homes and businesses wired up for power.
The catch? In an evolving legal and regulatory environment, we’re dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s and defining what constitutes operational approval from local and the relatively new national authorities. It’s hard to say whether the people of Tiburon or the EarthSpark team is more anxious to see the grid turned on, but we want to do it well and in collaboration with all of the relevant authorities. June 24 is a big holiday in Tiburon, so we’re hoping that we’ll all be able to find clarity before then to be able to power up the party (and the town!)
While the evolving regulatory challenges are a frustrating delay, they are a part of a broader shift for Haitian microgrids, and that is excellent news. When EarthSpark launched our first microgrid in 2012, our work was considered extremely fringe and essentially irrelevant to the national energy policy framework. When we expanded that grid in 2015 to be a ‘town-sized solar-powered smart grid’, policymakers took notice. Our 2015 National Microgrid Market Study furthered the discussion and became a benchmark document referenced by national and international authorities on rural electrification for Haiti.
Our steady work of “Proving what is possible” and “De-risking by doing” has not been fast, but it has been constant. We are now (finally!) seeing the shift that recognizes clean energy community microgrids as essential elements of solving energy access in Haiti. There are growing pains associated with that shift: new regulators, new rules, but we are working with the stakeholders to try to make sure that the outcomes enable EarthSpark’s broader goal of mainstreaming microgrids and specifically “moving microgrids towards market” in Haiti. For broad deployment of microgrids, smart regulation and clear policies are essential.
We’ll let you know as soon as we are able to flip that switch on in Tiburon, and we’ll keep you posted, as always, as we work to continue pushing and proving what is possible for community-centered rural electrification in Haiti.
Warm summer regards,
Allison and the rest of the EarthSpark team
We’re thrilled to share that the EarthSpark’s long-anticipated second grid in the town of Tiburon is ready for the switch to be thrown. Technical testing saw streetlights blazing across the town and customers are now signing up and getting their homes and businesses wired up for power.
The catch? In an evolving legal and regulatory environment, we’re dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s and defining what constitutes operational approval from local and the relatively new national authorities. It’s hard to say whether the people of Tiburon or the EarthSpark team is more anxious to see the grid turned on, but we want to do it well and in collaboration with all of the relevant authorities. June 24 is a big holiday in Tiburon, so we’re hoping that we’ll all be able to find clarity before then to be able to power up the party (and the town!)
While the evolving regulatory challenges are a frustrating delay, they are a part of a broader shift for Haitian microgrids, and that is excellent news. When EarthSpark launched our first microgrid in 2012, our work was considered extremely fringe and essentially irrelevant to the national energy policy framework. When we expanded that grid in 2015 to be a ‘town-sized solar-powered smart grid’, policymakers took notice. Our 2015 National Microgrid Market Study furthered the discussion and became a benchmark document referenced by national and international authorities on rural electrification for Haiti.
Our steady work of “Proving what is possible” and “De-risking by doing” has not been fast, but it has been constant. We are now (finally!) seeing the shift that recognizes clean energy community microgrids as essential elements of solving energy access in Haiti. There are growing pains associated with that shift: new regulators, new rules, but we are working with the stakeholders to try to make sure that the outcomes enable EarthSpark’s broader goal of mainstreaming microgrids and specifically “moving microgrids towards market” in Haiti. For broad deployment of microgrids, smart regulation and clear policies are essential.
We’ll let you know as soon as we are able to flip that switch on in Tiburon, and we’ll keep you posted, as always, as we work to continue pushing and proving what is possible for community-centered rural electrification in Haiti.
Warm summer regards,
Allison and the rest of the EarthSpark team
- Published on
Happy Earth Day!
Not only is the trend to 100% clean electricity necessary, it’s happening. Homes, businesses, cities, states, and countries worldwide are committing to a greener future.
More than 100 US cities have committed to achieving 100% renewable energy. In the past months alone, New Mexico, Maryland, Washington State, Puerto Rico, and Nevada have each set impressive carbon reducing targets.
This infographic captures a snapshot of the momentum building - and the long path we still have to go.
Not only is the trend to 100% clean electricity necessary, it’s happening. Homes, businesses, cities, states, and countries worldwide are committing to a greener future.
More than 100 US cities have committed to achieving 100% renewable energy. In the past months alone, New Mexico, Maryland, Washington State, Puerto Rico, and Nevada have each set impressive carbon reducing targets.
This infographic captures a snapshot of the momentum building - and the long path we still have to go.
Just like EarthSpark’s microgrids in Haiti, local solutions for clean energy are here and promise local jobs, lower bills, and a chance for our environment to flourish again.
As we work with communities in Haiti to leapfrog from charcoal and candles to clean electric infrastructure, its clearer than ever that a global issue like climate change has local solutions that are within reach.
We’re excited to see what incredible innovations and progress is made during our next trip around the sun.
As we work with communities in Haiti to leapfrog from charcoal and candles to clean electric infrastructure, its clearer than ever that a global issue like climate change has local solutions that are within reach.
We’re excited to see what incredible innovations and progress is made during our next trip around the sun.
To celebrate Earth Day 2019, GlobalGiving has over $50,000 in matching donations and prizes available for all donations made TODAY.
Make a small contribution today to have your donation doubled! Your support helps continue EarthSpark’s clean energy revolution in Haiti.
Make a small contribution today to have your donation doubled! Your support helps continue EarthSpark’s clean energy revolution in Haiti.
Pictured: Transformers are being installed to connect the Tiburon town network to the generation site.
The work to rebuild Tiburon’s distribution system is on the final stretch! With poles and wires popping up across the town, our new Grid Ambassador Omilia has begun signing up new customers, and technicians have begun installing meters in customer’s homes.
This is an incredibly exciting time not just for us, but for the Tiburon community. Stay tuned for an update on Tiburon’s grid inauguration!
- Published on
Love is finding the energy to help others.
On this Valentines Day, many across Haiti are blocked in their homes and isolated in small towns as protestors continue "Operation Lock" which is effectively blocking transit and commerce throughout the country. There is growing tension as fuel, food, and clean water supplies run low.
Protestors have reason to feel exasperated. Inflation has surged, making basic staples - many of which are imported - unaffordable for much of the population. Fuel shortages, and a growing outrage around development funds missing from the government coffers are driving louder and louder calls for the president's resignation.
Love takes many forms. Sometimes it demands protest. Sometimes it requires patience.
Though some are facing challenging circumstances in Port-au-Prince, most of the EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp team members are safe (though stuck) in Les Anglais where the solar-powered microgrid is steadily providing energy to the town, undeterred by the national crisis.
We're happy today to share a new team photo of our growing team as well as a reflection from an independent consultant who recently came to assess our work. In the face of challenges and uncertainty, Love persists. If Love is finding the energy to help others, we will continue building it.
Happy Valentines Day from the EarthSpark team.
On this Valentines Day, many across Haiti are blocked in their homes and isolated in small towns as protestors continue "Operation Lock" which is effectively blocking transit and commerce throughout the country. There is growing tension as fuel, food, and clean water supplies run low.
Protestors have reason to feel exasperated. Inflation has surged, making basic staples - many of which are imported - unaffordable for much of the population. Fuel shortages, and a growing outrage around development funds missing from the government coffers are driving louder and louder calls for the president's resignation.
Love takes many forms. Sometimes it demands protest. Sometimes it requires patience.
Though some are facing challenging circumstances in Port-au-Prince, most of the EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp team members are safe (though stuck) in Les Anglais where the solar-powered microgrid is steadily providing energy to the town, undeterred by the national crisis.
We're happy today to share a new team photo of our growing team as well as a reflection from an independent consultant who recently came to assess our work. In the face of challenges and uncertainty, Love persists. If Love is finding the energy to help others, we will continue building it.
Happy Valentines Day from the EarthSpark team.
Beyond clichés - The Case for Feminist Electrification in Haiti
By Ash Sharma. Published Feb 1, 2019 on LinkedIn here.
Tiburon 100kW Solar Array, Haiti (Photo : Ash Sharma)
The much vaunted phrase “win-win” doesn’t begin to capture the Haitian rural electrification project I have recently been evaluating. The Earth Spark mini-grid project implemented through local affiliate Enèji Pwòp (Clean Energy in the Haitian Creole language) combines energy access with energy transition, promotes the concept of Feminist Electrification http://www.earthsparkinternational.org/blog/feminist-electrification, builds rural livelihoods and addresses energy poverty reduction. You can add to the mix a dash of avoided deforestation, reduction of indoor air pollution and an increase food security through the electrification of on-site post-harvest processing.
The natural beauty of Haiti and the warmth of its people masks an underlying lack of economic opportunity, a worsening environment (evidenced by lack of waste and sanitation provision in the southern peninsula), poorly developed transport infrastructure, climatic vulnerability and the ever present risk of weather related disaster.
It is against this backdrop, that Enèji Pwòp has implemented an UNFCCC award winning solar minigrid system. I visited two towns where solar arrays had been deployed, met local consumers, institutions and microbusinesses, and witnessed at first hand the development of local enterprise and realisation of potential. Through retailing small, clean energy products and developing micro-grids, the social enterprise has mainstreamed gender considerations into its business practice. In Les Anglais, it has prioritized reaching out to women for training as clean energy and micro-grid entrepreneurs, as customers, and employees, with women as promoters of the grid (“ambassadors”) who play a key role in reaching out to other women and energy vendors.
Haiti’s critically low level of access to electricity (around 10% of rural areas) seriously hampers growth and poverty reduction endeavours. By aiming to build an additional 20 mini-grids in off-grid communities in 3 years, Enèji Pwòp expects to directly serve approximately 35,000 additional people through approximately 6000 new grid connections. The project is learning by doing in a difficult environment successfully experimenting with smart meters, cloud based customer management and billing systems, and innovative cost reduction strategies. Truly impressive work from a talented and committed team.
Keep up the great work!
(This post is included here with permission from the author. Additional comments and Mr. Sharma's other posts are on LinkedIn here.)
Enèji Pwop Les Anglais, Enèji Pwòp Tiburon, and EarthSpark teams meeting for the first time in Les Anglais last month.
While our projects expand so must the EarthSpark family. A couple of weeks ago Enèji Pwòp’s Les Anglais team and brand new Tiburon team met with two-thirds of the EarthSpark team to kick off 2019 with soaring spirits.
Despite the unrest gridlocking the country, we are grateful to work together and share our love for the communities we work with.
Despite the unrest gridlocking the country, we are grateful to work together and share our love for the communities we work with.
- Published on
A happy new year to you all! We’re thrilled to start our year with an exciting headline: EarthSpark won a UN Climate Change award! Last month, we were honored to receive a 'Lighthouse Award for Climate Action' at the COP24 Climate Summit in Poland.
The awards ceremony — where Wendy and Allison received the award for EarthSpark’s “Feminist Electrification” — was billed as ‘one of the most inspiring and hopeful moments of the COP.’ The Secretary General of the UNFCCC opened our event and praised the 15 winners for ‘real world examples of what scalable climate action looks like’.
To have our work recognized by the United Nations is a BIG deal for us, and we want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way. This award is for you!
The climate conference concluded with hard-won progress in the world of international treaties. This is great, important news and also totally insufficient. Being at the conference reminded us that all actors – individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments – need to push for progress on solving climate change. When we do, we enable others to also make progress.
One theme that was very strong in Poland was “Just Transition”, the notion that the best climate solutions build not only a cleaner economy but a more fair and inclusive world. From coal miners to communities that have never before had electricity, a Just Transition means that prosperity is possible as we collectively transition away from fossil fuels.
One other note from the conference: Unlike some who were claiming that fossil fuels are necessary to solve energy poverty, EarthSpark was there to share our evidence to the contrary. The first year of EarthSpark’s Les Anglais microgrid was over 98% powered by solar energy, directly from the solar panels and from the solar energy stored in the system’s batteries. The remaining ~1.5% of the power was provided by our backup diesel generator, but we are working towards phasing out fossil fuels entirely since the full costs of logistics and management are quite high compared to solar and other efficiencies we can achieve through smart metering and user participation.
While the recognition in Poland felt fantastic, we’re excited to be back to work building more grids to deliver more energy and opportunity in Haiti. We’re looking forward to making great strides in 2019, and we are ever-grateful that you are sharing this journey with us.
The awards ceremony — where Wendy and Allison received the award for EarthSpark’s “Feminist Electrification” — was billed as ‘one of the most inspiring and hopeful moments of the COP.’ The Secretary General of the UNFCCC opened our event and praised the 15 winners for ‘real world examples of what scalable climate action looks like’.
To have our work recognized by the United Nations is a BIG deal for us, and we want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way. This award is for you!
The climate conference concluded with hard-won progress in the world of international treaties. This is great, important news and also totally insufficient. Being at the conference reminded us that all actors – individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments – need to push for progress on solving climate change. When we do, we enable others to also make progress.
One theme that was very strong in Poland was “Just Transition”, the notion that the best climate solutions build not only a cleaner economy but a more fair and inclusive world. From coal miners to communities that have never before had electricity, a Just Transition means that prosperity is possible as we collectively transition away from fossil fuels.
One other note from the conference: Unlike some who were claiming that fossil fuels are necessary to solve energy poverty, EarthSpark was there to share our evidence to the contrary. The first year of EarthSpark’s Les Anglais microgrid was over 98% powered by solar energy, directly from the solar panels and from the solar energy stored in the system’s batteries. The remaining ~1.5% of the power was provided by our backup diesel generator, but we are working towards phasing out fossil fuels entirely since the full costs of logistics and management are quite high compared to solar and other efficiencies we can achieve through smart metering and user participation.
While the recognition in Poland felt fantastic, we’re excited to be back to work building more grids to deliver more energy and opportunity in Haiti. We’re looking forward to making great strides in 2019, and we are ever-grateful that you are sharing this journey with us.
- Published on
By Allison Archambault and Madie Sturgess
As we welcome the holiday season, food will be central to many celebrations. Although the occasions may differ culturally, food feeds family holidays everywhere. In Haiti, aromas of spiced meats and vegetables, fried plantain, rice and sauce rise into the air and dance around neighborhoods, calling friends and families to their homes to eat and drink and revel in each other’s company. The flavors and recipes of Haitian cuisine have evolved over years of charcoal-fueled cooking. Come New Year’s Day, nearly every home will slowly stew the famed ‘soup joumou’ over hot coals. According to local lore, the rich pumpkin soup was formerly reserved for plantation owners. Fittingly, the now widespread enjoyment of soup joumou on January 1st has become a symbol of Haiti’s independence.
Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza and various New Year celebrations are right around the corner. What role will food play in your festivities? Where will you source your food and how will you cook it?
There is no doubt Haiti’s cooking is a conduit to its culture. Haiti's cuisine is nourishing and flavorful, and it brings family together. However the reliance on charcoal for cooking, a consequence of energy poverty, also risks household health, releases black carbon, contributes to deforestation, and exacerbates Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters.
Working with members of the Les Anglais and Tiburon communities, EarthSpark is exploring the electrification of cooking in these microgrid contexts. It is a seemingly small solution to a big problem, but there is potential to eliminate the health and climate damage of day-to-day charcoal cooking by enabling grid-connected households to use clean microgrid electricity with electric cooking appliances. Of course, we are all anxious to see how the soup joumou and other favorite recipes will taste!
As with other EarthSpark efforts, the electrification of cooking in the microgrid context is not just a potentially new approach to energy poverty in Haiti but is also relevant to the way people think about energy access and infrastructure design around the world.
To everyone preparing a celebratory meal this holiday season, happy cooking and bon appétit!
As we welcome the holiday season, food will be central to many celebrations. Although the occasions may differ culturally, food feeds family holidays everywhere. In Haiti, aromas of spiced meats and vegetables, fried plantain, rice and sauce rise into the air and dance around neighborhoods, calling friends and families to their homes to eat and drink and revel in each other’s company. The flavors and recipes of Haitian cuisine have evolved over years of charcoal-fueled cooking. Come New Year’s Day, nearly every home will slowly stew the famed ‘soup joumou’ over hot coals. According to local lore, the rich pumpkin soup was formerly reserved for plantation owners. Fittingly, the now widespread enjoyment of soup joumou on January 1st has become a symbol of Haiti’s independence.
Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza and various New Year celebrations are right around the corner. What role will food play in your festivities? Where will you source your food and how will you cook it?
There is no doubt Haiti’s cooking is a conduit to its culture. Haiti's cuisine is nourishing and flavorful, and it brings family together. However the reliance on charcoal for cooking, a consequence of energy poverty, also risks household health, releases black carbon, contributes to deforestation, and exacerbates Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters.
Working with members of the Les Anglais and Tiburon communities, EarthSpark is exploring the electrification of cooking in these microgrid contexts. It is a seemingly small solution to a big problem, but there is potential to eliminate the health and climate damage of day-to-day charcoal cooking by enabling grid-connected households to use clean microgrid electricity with electric cooking appliances. Of course, we are all anxious to see how the soup joumou and other favorite recipes will taste!
As with other EarthSpark efforts, the electrification of cooking in the microgrid context is not just a potentially new approach to energy poverty in Haiti but is also relevant to the way people think about energy access and infrastructure design around the world.
To everyone preparing a celebratory meal this holiday season, happy cooking and bon appétit!
- Published on
By Allison Archambault, Rachel McManus, and Madison Sturgess
This article is an update of our original 2015 blog by the same name.
EarthSpark International is pleased to announce that our commitment to Feminist Electrification was awarded the Momentum for Change Lighthouse Activity Award by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change! Wendy and Allison from the EarthSpark team were at the UN Climate Conference in December receiving the award and working to promote how climate justice and gender justice are inextricably linked.
We like to think of our work through a lens of 'feminist electrification'. Here's why:
Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and is usually associated with changing over from another power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology and economic history, usually applies to a region or national economy.
Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and is usually associated with changing over from another power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology and economic history, usually applies to a region or national economy.
The arrival of electricity service in a town signals a significant moment of technical, social, and economic change. Residents put away their candles and kerosene lamps and – for the first time - flip switches for electric lighting. People charge phones in their own homes and launch businesses to charge phones of people living beyond the new grid. Small appliances like radios and DVD players which had previously been impossible or cumbersome to operate – requiring a battery to be charged and transported or the repeated purchase of non-rechargeable batteries – become more commonplace, and, depending on the level of electricity service available, new opportunities in home appliances, refrigeration, and mechanized labor may emerge.
The economic benefits of electricity have been well documented, but there has been relatively little attention paid to the gender outcomes of the arrival of electricity in a town. How can community leaders, non-governmental organizations, and grid developers leverage the social disruption that is electrification to improve the standing of women and girls in the community or, at a minimum, at least ensure that the standing of women and girls is not diminished?
Energia, an international organization specifically promoting women’s empowerment through the issues of energy, points out that globally women are largely absent from energy-related infrastructure decisions. This is in spite of research that indicates that involving women in the planning and implementation phases of infrastructure development improves outcomes not only for women and girls but also for men and boys and for the funders (and overall sustainability of the project) too!
In infrastructure projects, a review of World Bank projects showed that:
Energia goes on to explain,
“There are many reasons why gender has been a neglected factor in energy planning. Many planners do not fully understand that energy impacts differently on men and women. One explanation of why there is a lack of understanding is that energy professionals are nearly all men, so women are not able to bring issues that affect them to the fore.” (more from Energia on that here.)
In the rural Haitian towns where EarthSpark is active, both men and women take leadership roles in local organizations and economic activities, but gender norms rest – as they do in all cultures – on a complex set of cultural patterns and local circumstances. Women tend to manage household finances related to agricultural production and local trade. There remains, however, a trend towards male dominance in decision-making at the high levels of local governance.
The areas of opportunity for gender-related engagement in the electrification process fall into at least five categories: infrastructure planning, training and employment, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) promotion, domestic energy use, and community resource availability.
A Haitian proverb often heard in Haiti says that fanm se poto mitan ("women are the pillars of society"). EarthSpark is working hard to ensure that these pillars of society are both beneficiaries and agents of change in their community helping to bring light and hope to all.
In general, access to electricity improves people’s lives by improving health, education, and economic outcomes. At the same time, local women are often under-represented in the decision-making process leading up to and structuring electrification. Since electrification of a town is by definition a cultural disruption, there is an opportunity to thoughtfully design the process to ensure “pro-women” outcomes. Not only is serving women’s needs an important tool in reducing extreme poverty; it also improves the viability of rural electrification business models. It is thus imminently within EarthSpark International’s mission to use a 'feminist electrification' lens in grid development planning and operations. From community engagement to employee recruitment and training to women-owned SME support and beyond, the women and men of EarthSpark and our partner organizations are hard at work on both climate and gender justice.
Here's what some are saying about EarthSpark's Feminist Electrification:
The economic benefits of electricity have been well documented, but there has been relatively little attention paid to the gender outcomes of the arrival of electricity in a town. How can community leaders, non-governmental organizations, and grid developers leverage the social disruption that is electrification to improve the standing of women and girls in the community or, at a minimum, at least ensure that the standing of women and girls is not diminished?
Energia, an international organization specifically promoting women’s empowerment through the issues of energy, points out that globally women are largely absent from energy-related infrastructure decisions. This is in spite of research that indicates that involving women in the planning and implementation phases of infrastructure development improves outcomes not only for women and girls but also for men and boys and for the funders (and overall sustainability of the project) too!
In infrastructure projects, a review of World Bank projects showed that:
- Women’s participation in design and decision-making in water users’ associations or rural electrification cooperatives improves governance, management, cost recovery and production
- Women’s participation increases the effectiveness, quality and sustainability of infrastructure rehabilitation and maintenance; provides a high economic rate of return (31 percent); and creates an improved work environment, with less violence and drinking in project sites.
Energia goes on to explain,
“There are many reasons why gender has been a neglected factor in energy planning. Many planners do not fully understand that energy impacts differently on men and women. One explanation of why there is a lack of understanding is that energy professionals are nearly all men, so women are not able to bring issues that affect them to the fore.” (more from Energia on that here.)
In the rural Haitian towns where EarthSpark is active, both men and women take leadership roles in local organizations and economic activities, but gender norms rest – as they do in all cultures – on a complex set of cultural patterns and local circumstances. Women tend to manage household finances related to agricultural production and local trade. There remains, however, a trend towards male dominance in decision-making at the high levels of local governance.
The areas of opportunity for gender-related engagement in the electrification process fall into at least five categories: infrastructure planning, training and employment, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) promotion, domestic energy use, and community resource availability.
A Haitian proverb often heard in Haiti says that fanm se poto mitan ("women are the pillars of society"). EarthSpark is working hard to ensure that these pillars of society are both beneficiaries and agents of change in their community helping to bring light and hope to all.
In general, access to electricity improves people’s lives by improving health, education, and economic outcomes. At the same time, local women are often under-represented in the decision-making process leading up to and structuring electrification. Since electrification of a town is by definition a cultural disruption, there is an opportunity to thoughtfully design the process to ensure “pro-women” outcomes. Not only is serving women’s needs an important tool in reducing extreme poverty; it also improves the viability of rural electrification business models. It is thus imminently within EarthSpark International’s mission to use a 'feminist electrification' lens in grid development planning and operations. From community engagement to employee recruitment and training to women-owned SME support and beyond, the women and men of EarthSpark and our partner organizations are hard at work on both climate and gender justice.
Here's what some are saying about EarthSpark's Feminist Electrification:
Involving women in decision-making is increasingly associated with better ROI for funders. EarthSpark’s ‘Feminist Electrification’ integrates this concept across its business model in a trailblazing way. Board rooms across the world, take note!"
- - Nancy Pfund, Founder and Managing Partner, Double Bottom Line Venture Capital
No matter what the field, diverse perspectives yield better results. EarthSpark’s ‘Feminist Electrification’, which makes sure women are represented and involved at all levels of energy system planning and operations, is filling a critical need!"
- Martha Broad, Executive Director, MIT Energy Initiative
Please join us in the global conversation for a climate resilient future by sharing this story.
- Published on
A version of this blog post first appeared in EarthSpark's newsletter. If you would like to receive EarthSpark news directly, please join our mailing list!
This week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report outlining global climate damage scenarios. Also this week, two American economists won the Nobel Prize for their work on climate change, innovation, and sustainable growth. The upshot is twofold:
The bad news: We are already feeling the effects of climate damage. At the rate of current emissions, we are on track to blow through our ‘carbon budget’ in as few as 12 years.
The good news: The future will be amazing! (if we have enabling policy and people actively engaged in building the future we want.)
Keeping climate change within the bounds of what many perceive as the maximum 'safe' limit would require "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society," the IPCC wrote. They continued, "With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, limiting global warming...could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society."
Ending poverty and solving climate change are largely the same work. Our urgent problems are also our unprecedented opportunities.
With its long shorelines, dependence on agriculture, poor infrastructure, and location in ‘hurricane alley’, Haiti has been ranked the 6th most vulnerable country in the world to climate change. Sadly, natural events are reminding us that those in United States and around the world are also increasingly vulnerable. Our hearts go out to those recently in the path of Hurricanes Michael and Florence. With the most recent hurricanes in mind, it’s easy to feel downhearted, but core to both the IPCC report and the Nobel-winning work is what one of the Laureates, Dr. Paul Romer, calls "Conditional Optimism." Romer writes:
There are two very different types of optimism. Complacent optimism is the feeling of a child waiting for presents. Conditional optimism is the feeling of a child who is thinking about building a treehouse. “If I get some wood and nails and persuade some other kids to help do the work, we can end up with something really cool.”
We love this notion of conditional optimism, the sense that we can participate in the building of something really great. In addressing climate change and extreme poverty, solutions won’t magically arrive, but we can solve this – with the tools we already have – if we roll up our sleeves and get to work. “I think people are grossly underestimating how rapidly we'll start to de-carbonize once we put our minds to it.”
Working with communities in rural Haiti to envision and build transformative clean energy infrastructure from scratch, we feel the joy and the hard work of conditional optimism every single day. You are part of this journey with us, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Please donate $25 now to help us build our next grids in Haiti.
One final note on optimism and action: as the US mid-term elections approach, we encourage those in the US to get involved and ask candidates about climate change leadership. Policy and prosperity are closely linked, and governments’ failure to build effective climate policies risks counter-balancing a lot of progress.
In actions and advocacy, now more than ever, we each have a powerful role to play in shaping our collective future.
Ready to build some treehouses?
In grateful, gritty optimism,
Allison and the EarthSpark team
(Image: Ms. Rosanne Jean-Jacques, a long-time grid ambassador, turns on electricity in her own home for the first time.)
Earlier this month during Climate Week in New York City, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Patricia Espinosa, named EarthSpark International a winner of the United Nations Momentum for Change Climate Action Award for our 'feminist electrification' approach to microgrid development.
Fifteen projects were chosen from a pool of over 560 applications from all over the world ranging from businesses and governments to communities and organizations.“These activities shine a light on scalable climate action around the world,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change. “They are proof that climate action isn’t only possible, it’s innovative, it’s exciting and it makes a difference.” This week a film crew from the UN came to Les Anglais to cover the story. We can't wait to share their footage with you!
Earlier this month during Climate Week in New York City, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Patricia Espinosa, named EarthSpark International a winner of the United Nations Momentum for Change Climate Action Award for our 'feminist electrification' approach to microgrid development.
Fifteen projects were chosen from a pool of over 560 applications from all over the world ranging from businesses and governments to communities and organizations.“These activities shine a light on scalable climate action around the world,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change. “They are proof that climate action isn’t only possible, it’s innovative, it’s exciting and it makes a difference.” This week a film crew from the UN came to Les Anglais to cover the story. We can't wait to share their footage with you!
Thank you to the 240 individuals who took the time to cast their vote for EarthSpark for the MIT Solve's popular vote award. We came in a solid second place, beaten out by a wonderful team working to restore shoreline habitats. Once again, we are honored to be surrounded by an entire community working on thoughtful, innovative solutions to resilient communities, climate change, and poverty.
Thank you for your continuing support in making our work a reality.
Thank you for your continuing support in making our work a reality.
As you may be aware, parts of Haiti were hit with fatal earthquakes over the weekend. While Haiti's southern peninsula was lucky to escape unscathed, other regions weren't so lucky. We offer our thoughts and hopes for a better future to those who've suffered loss.
The devastating impact of natural disasters and extreme weather events are exacerbated by poor infrastructure. As more storms and more quakes are inevitable, we take solace in working with communities to help build resilience as we build power.
The devastating impact of natural disasters and extreme weather events are exacerbated by poor infrastructure. As more storms and more quakes are inevitable, we take solace in working with communities to help build resilience as we build power.