Electrifying enterprise

Social enterprise increasingly occupies a key role in delivering electricity in countries where millions have insufficient access. In many developing countries government initiatives have failed to meet the energy needs of the rural poor and many are left with little or none. According to a recent article published in The Economist more than one fifth of the world's population have no access to electricity and a billion more have only unreliable and irregular supply. This is a statistic, which is both staggering and daunting. However the up side to the problem is the opportunities presented to harness the growing trend towards localized power generation technology and innovative bottom-up business models.

A country where such social enterprise initiatives are greatly needed is Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries. Nearly 80 percent of the nation's 140 million people live in rural areas. Of this number 20 percent live in extreme poverty. Compared to other developing countries, Bangladesh uses very little modern energy. Despite a government run rural electrification program, close to two-thirds of households remain without electricity. As a result biomass energy such as wood, straw and dung comprises well over 95% of total rural energy use for the country. This places pressure on the already declining vegetation in villages. The collection of biomass for fuel increases the drudgery of women and children.

Moreover, the smoke generated during indoor cooking affects the respiratory health of women and children to a great extent. Inefficient use of biomass in traditional stoves, coupled with insufficient ventilation, causes severe health hazards to women and children in the home. Electricity is scarce even during normal times in the country, and this means that the rural distribution cooperatives called PBSs are the first to have power rationed plunging their customers into darkness on a regular basis.

The sustainable production of energy for development offers valuable lessons in enterprise. Participation is the key to successful delivery of modern energy services in rural areas. Social investment, as well as technical development, ensures the sustainability of the project. Also technology options must remain open and be development-needs driven. A social enterprise that is meeting these needs is Emergence BioEnergy Inc. (EBI). EBI is a social enterprise committed to serving the "energy poor" through alternative energy solutions. The technology they have developed allows energy to be produced by small-scale generators running on biogas from manure. The social enterprise is committed to providing entrepreneurial opportunities for local people. As part of their scheme a cattle farmer in a small village could operate a one-kilowatt generator in his hut. He would then be able to sell the spare electricity produced to his neighbors and use the waste heat from the generator to run a refrigerator to chill milk. The farmer can preserve milk that might otherwise be spoilt, has new sources of income (selling power to the grid and charging mobile phones or running an internet kiosk) and is also providing power to others in his village.

EBI is headed up by Iqbal Quadir. Mr Quadir is the visionary behind GrameenPhone, the largest provider of mobile cell phone services in Bangladesh. EBI has successfully produced electricity from biogas in two villages in Bangladesh. The villages of Dokkhin Kustchia and Icchidiggi, both located outside of Dhaka, were electrified for eight hours a day over the course of the six months. Drawing upon their experiences, EBI are now organizing a larger experiment to take place in 2011 that will establish an economically sustainable model, which they plan to scale up into a nation initiative.

Photo credit: Horia Varlan