Millennium Villages Blog

This solar cell phone charging station in Potou, Senegal, provides a source of income for a group of physically handicapped village residents.

Energy services are increasingly important for the Millennium Villages (MVs), and at a special breakfast seminar on February 25, 2010, Mr. James L. Dobson, CFA at Wunderlich Securities and member of the MV Energy Advisory Board, and Dr. Vijay Modi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University and Infrastructure Sector Leader of the MV project, led a discussion for stakeholders to learn more about our important energy initiatives.

Held at Millennium Promise’s New York headquarters and transmitted live online, the seminar was moderated by Rustom Masalawala, Director of Business Development, and Joaquin Aviles Lopez, Infrastructure Coordinator, who fielded questions from the online audience throughout the hour.

The job of MP’s energy team is to find ways to bring the best energy technology to the MVs at the most reasonable price for deep market penetration.

Dr. Modi explained that while the Millennium Development Goals – the focus of MP’s mission – do not include specific targets for building energy, road or communications systems, this kind of infrastructure is necessary for making the gains in education, health and poverty reduction that are part of the MDGs.

In the MVs, a unit of electricity can cost as much as $3, he explained, whereas in the U.S. we may pay 25 cents. Transit and communications costs are also much higher in the MVs than in the developed world. To eradicate poverty we must work to bring these costs down while improving service.

For example, in the MV of Mwandama, Malawi, candles are the primary source of light. One candle can cost $3, but new solar powered lanterns introduced to the village produce ten times more light for the same cost as a year’s supply of candles. With a battery that can be recharged 1,000 times and the solar panel guaranteed for 10 years, this technology is offering a more efficient and cost-effective energy alternative for village residents. The lanterns work well, and there is strong demand for more.

In addition to bringing light, the solar lanterns are also providing a business opportunity for entrepreneurial residents. Recently, with support from Shaklee, a group of residents in Mwandama formed a cooperative and worked with the MV project to learn best practices for running a solar lantern supply and distribution business. After a period of close assistance, the cooperative is now operating independently and recently placed an order for 400 lanterns at a cost of $1,200 entirely on its own. This is a success for the energy sector and for business development in Malawi, and is exactly the kind of foundation stone needed to build a self-sustaining community.

Similarly in Ruhiira, Uganda, a market for more fuel-efficient cookstoves is developing. After testing three different models, village residents decided on the model they most preferred, and now a small local business has been established to import and service these improved stoves. As a result, households and school kitchens using the stoves are spending less time gathering fuelwood, and producing far fewer carbon emissions by burning wood in the more efficient stoves.

Flexible energy service is also important, and in the MVs, explained the presenters, the most efficient and cost-effective way to create flexible service is through small solar power nodes distributed throughout the villages. For example, rather than building a large, powerful electricity grid that requires an enormous amount of expensive wire to connect all points at a cost of $1,500 per household, it is more efficient to build a solar powered micro grid to service 20 customers with a cost of only $50 for wire per connection. This model provides an investment opportunity, where a cluster of households can be connected to a flexible energy source at a cost of $300-400 per household. These nodes could also be connected to the national power grid should that opportunity arise in the future.

Dr. Modi again gave the example of Ruhiira, Uganda, which has 6,000-7,000 households, half of which are immediately viable for connectivity as they are in proximity of such nodes. Ruhiira would require 200 systems, he said, that would be autonomous yet managed by a central entity, perhaps following a franchise model and working with a local utility. Each node would cost about $7,000 to set up and would serve about 20 households. At a cost to households of about $50/year, the loan provided to build the node would be repaid in seven years.

Possibilities for wind power, hydropower, biogas, and other forms of energy were also discussed. The priority, said the presenters, is not the source, however. It is the economic model, finding what works best and what is the most viable option for the given location.

Today, said Mr. Dobson, technology is chasing costing opportunities, and with greater innovation comes lower costs. If we can get renewable, distributed resources and make them work in the westernized world, he said, no doubt we can deploy them in the node format bringing small amounts of electricity to rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Once this is done, he continued, the access to electricity will increase livelihoods and economic activity, allowing for greater market and growth and bringing the community closer to sustainability.

Those who are passionate about these topics and want to get more involved may contact Lauren Isenman at Lauren.isenman@millenniumpromise.org to find out more.

The PowerPoint presentation for this seminar may be viewed HERE. To learn more about energy initiatives in the Millennium Villages, visit the Millennium Promise website.

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