How solar microgrids can power the future » Yale Climate Connection

The successive arrivals of Hurricanes Helen and Milton caused unprecedented damage to the power grid in the southeastern United States, causing more than 2 million households to lose power. They also reminded us all how destructive life without electricity can be. . The image of darkness and disconnection is all too familiar to me. I grew up in rural India, where blackouts were common and reliable electricity was a luxury, not a given. Even today, this is true for the approximately 1.1 billion people around the world who lack reliable electricity.

Energy poverty is one of the least obvious but most pressing global inequalities. According to the International Energy Agency, nearly 9% of the world's population does not have access to electricity, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Without electricity, basic needs such as clean water, health care and education will become more difficult to meet. Clinics without power cannot properly store vaccines, and households without electric lights rely on dangerous kerosene lamps, which contribute to indoor air pollution. Children in energy-poor areas struggle to learn after sunset—like me—limiting their educational opportunities and potential for future success.

It is clear from the increasing frequency of extreme weather events that the global energy system is fragile, and climate change is making it even more vulnerable. Even in developed economies, power grids are ill-equipped to cope with the increasing pressures of a warming planet: as the 2021 failure of the Texas power grid is proof. Protests by career providers. But the solution goes beyond expanding fossil fuel-based infrastructure. To combat energy poverty and climate change, we must invest in resilient, sustainable energy systems.

Renewable energy, especially solar energy, provides a viable and affordable solution for many off-grid communities around the world. In recent years, solar technology has become cheaper, more efficient and easier to deploy, providing a way to deliver power to the most remote areas without further harming the environment.

Around the world, international organizations, governments, private companies and communities are actively deploying solar-based microgrids, which are self-contained, self-contained power grids that can provide power to small areas.

While there are successful examples of solar microgrid installations around the world from the Philippines to South Africa, maintaining these systems is often challenging, largely due to limited resources for battery replacement. Sometimes maintenance expertise is also not available or completely lacking locally. Energy poverty therefore becomes a self-perpetuating energy poverty trap.

Escaping this trap requires a three-pronged strategy: a financing model that covers upfront investment and long-term maintenance costs, the development of local technical capabilities, and local government support to ensure the successful implementation of microgrid models for private sector solar projects. None of this is easy, but neither is it insurmountable.

The blackouts in the southeastern United States are a wake-up call not only about the fragility of the U.S. energy system, but also about the long-term harm of global energy poverty. While the lights have mostly come back on in our southern states, more than a billion people around the world remain in the dark, and the certainty of change is uncertain. Solar microgrids can change this reality, but they require significant financial resources and a longer-term vision. Private sector investors and development finance institutions have a huge responsibility to prevent hundreds of millions of children like me from having to inhale kerosene fumes around the clock just to do their homework.

Rajat Panwar is a professor of responsible and sustainable business at Oregon State University/Corvallis and an OpEd Project and OSU Public Voices Fellow.