Energy efficiency, not the falling price of solar, has done the heavy lifting when it comes to unlocking the economics of distributed clean energy for the poor. The reduced demand from LEDs brings the size, and therefore cost, of everything down from solar panel to battery. Imagine if we took this lesson – energy efficiency unlocks distributed energy for the poor – and applied it to rural electrification as a whole? What you might come up with is a novel new approach to mini-grids dubbed by my colleague Stewart Craine of Village Infrastructure Angels ‘Skinny Grids.’

The concept begins with a lesson I need to tack on to the four we learned from Solar Crowdfunding: Energy Efficiency leads to ‘Skinnier’ Grids that cost less. Let’s start on the demand side.

Two of the most pressing basic needs the poor have are for lighting and mobile phone charging (the latter coming from an unprecedented number of unelectrified mobile phone users – an enormous market opportunity. Serving those needs with yesterday’s technology (the incandescent bulb and even CFLs) is very tough. So tough it has basically meant the economics to serve these markets with clean energy didn’t work.

Enter the LED. Advances in LED white lighting have revolutionized the amount of power poor households now need. That changes everything from component to system size which has cut costs dramatically. For example, the light supplied by 100W of incandescent bulbs can now be met with just 5W of well designed LED lighting. Since a phone charger takes similar power, we can now provide basic services with 90% less power.

That’s a story many may know. What is far less explored is the impact beyond the individual solar home system. That’s because the drop in demand lowers the current in the “poles and wires” that connect households in conventional grids. This enables companies to use much thinner and cheaper wiring. Combined with smaller poles and longer spans, or locally dug underground trenches, the cost per household for reticulated wiring can be vastly reduced via thin-cable designs not previously imagined – our aptly named Skinny Grids.

 

Combine this with innovative 1-2kV transformers that take this lower power and current as core to their design (like those promoted by Micro Former) and Skinny Grids could reach households 5-10km from power sources quite cost-effectively. That means they could service many hundreds of households if we ran them from existing off-grid sources of power (think Tower Power) or from the edge of the grid.

In some countries, over 95% of all households are within 5-10km of an off-grid telecom tower or the edge of the grid, and these towers are often grossly under loaded compared to the power demand for the tower (eg. 3kW load compared to 15kW installed capacity). That means the power generation to connect 10-20W of load per household may already exist for the majority of the unelectrified population. Even better, the only investment needed is $1/m of Skinny Grid connections.

Think about that for a minute. All the handwringing about the massive energy investments and grid expansion that’s needed to electrify the world (a big driver in the Power Africa initiative and the related fight over the Overseas Private Investment Corporation’s GHG cap) may be obviated (at least in part) by existing power sources that just haven’t been tapped. All of that thanks to the LED light bulb (Michelle Bachman eat your heart out).

At the end of the day Skinny Grids are just one of the many innovations coming from the off-grid sector. Many of the entrepreneurs believe that their innovations will boomerang to traditional grids in developed and developing country markets. Skinny grids seem closest to fitting that prediction given that fact that the LED is to the off grid market what the CFL is to those in the on-grid market. It looks like Par Almqvist of OMC may be right: the future for highly innovative clean energy deployment is off the grid.

Energy Collective

6 Comments on "Energy Poverty and Skinny Grids"

BillT on Tue, 24th Sep 2013 3:34 am 



And they are STILL way out of reach of all but the middle and upper class in most of the world. Here in Manila, an average LED bulb costs a day’s labor ($10). An incandescent cost 20 minutes. Which do you think they buy?

Solar will NEVER be much more than an aid, not the answer. Ditto for ALL of the so-called ‘renewables’.

BillT on Tue, 24th Sep 2013 3:45 am 



BTW: GregT, I enjoyed your rebuttal to Arthur in the article below about food and population. He still assumes that Europe is not going 3rd world when it all collapses. I would say that they are well on their way right now. The Entire West is in for a heart stopping shock someday in the not to distant future. That is reality, not doomer talk.

Come to the Philippines and visit the provinces for a taste of the future. I prefer to be with those who can cope, because they have been coping all their lives, than with the coddled Westerners when their world falls apart. THAT is where the real pain will be felt. Not in the 3rd world. Most will not even notice a difference.

GregT on Tue, 24th Sep 2013 3:48 am 



“Two of the most pressing basic needs the poor have are for lighting and mobile phone charging (the latter coming from an unprecedented number of unelectrified mobile phone users – an enormous market opportunity.”

WTF?

I agree that keeping the lights on at night is definitely a nicety, for five months of the year here in Canada, but not a necessity. But cell phones for the poor, “an enormous market opportunity”? Is this really what we believe that people NEED electric power generation for?

GregT on Tue, 24th Sep 2013 4:15 am 



BillT,

I haven’t been to the Philippines, but I would love to visit. I have travelled throughout much of Asia, and Central and South America. I have met some of the most down to Earth people in my travels, and it has really helped me realize how many clueless people that I meet on a day to day basis here at home. People here have no idea, as to how the rest of the 70% of the world’s populations live.

I have always been impressed with how people in third world countries can do so much, with so little, and they always seem to have smiles on their faces. Here, I am often reminded of how distorted our worldview is, when I hear little children in the stores screaming at their Mom’s, I want this, or I want that.

Many of the places that I have visited, to this day still have no automobiles, or electricity. People get by just fine, as they always have for thousands of years.

You are entirely correct, most of them will notice little to no difference in their lives at all, when oil is no longer viable. Us westerners, on the other hand, are in for a very rude awakening.

J-Gav on Tue, 24th Sep 2013 9:33 am 



Having worked on a project to install mini-solar in a village on Siberut Island, West Sumatra, I think I know what a barebones grid is. Result? 300 people have a light bulb instead of a dangerous petrolium lamp. That’s it. Skinnier than that, a grid gets invisible. No TVs, radios, roads & cars, hot water etc. so you’re on the money there, Bill and Greg, those people won’t be losing a helluva lot ….

BillT on Tue, 24th Sep 2013 12:59 pm 



GregT, come and visit sometime. It is about $1,800 RT from the US and cheaper from other places. A one month stay at a furnished condo in our building here in Makati would set you back maybe another $600. plus food and spending money. $3,000+- would give you a nice vacation and we would be glad to tour you around. Offer is open to anyone else on here that wants to exchange info and see the 3rd world up close. After New Years is the dry season and the best time to visit. And they speak English…lol.