Description/achievement of initiative
With four million systems Bangladesh has been recognized as the country with the largest Solar Home System (SHS) program in the word, approx. 1.8 million of those have been installed by Grameen Shakti alone. The partnership has started to leverage this infrastructure by interconnecting SHS among each other as well as with households that so far could afford their own SHS. Villagers now swap electricity with a mobile money-enabled billing system allowing them to save money through better energy access, gain flexibility and get more power whenever they want, and notably to generate a direct income from their electricity trade.
Implementation methodologies
Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer
SOLshare has developed a Training of Trainers concept to build capacity in Grameen Shakti's field staff of 6,000 people to train them on peer-to-peer smart grid installations, maintenance and accounting (mobile money wallets).
The Grameen Shakti - SOLshare market-based platform is a sustainable model that can function with any combination or type of SHS and battery in any part of the world. The hardware is adaptable and needs only to be paired with a local GSM network and, if available, integrated with mobile banking platforms. The technology and business concept developed in the project has the capability to be replicated in most of the regions in Bangladesh, as it is flexible to fit different infrastructures, geographies, and socioeconomic characteristics. In the country, based on the already existing 1.8 million SHS installed by GS, we expect to operate more than 20,000 solar smart grids, serving over 1,000,000 households by the end of 2030.
The concept could be replicated in under-electrified areas that have similar market conditions. India, Myanmar, and Cambodia, as well as the East African market, are good examples of relatively mature SHS markets and low rural electrification rates. The concept can be applied in any under-electrified area in the Global South with a minimum number of 10 HH or SMEs located close to each other, making it applicable and scalable for millions of households worldwide.
Coordination mechanisms/governance structure
The partnership has successfully applied to the UN DESA Powering the Future We Want Award of USD 1 million, and now has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UN DESA for the implementation of the project over the next 24 months.
Partner(s)
Grameen Shakti
SOLshare
Progress reports
Goal 1
1.4 - By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
1.5 - By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
Goal 2
2.3 - By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment
2.4 - By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
2.a - Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries
Goal 4
4.1 - By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
4.4 - By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship
Goal 5
5.1 - End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.5 - Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
5.b - Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
Goal 7
7.1 - By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services
7.a - By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology
7.b - By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and land-locked developing countries, in accordance with their respective programmes of support
Goal 8
8.2 - Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors
Goal 9
9.3 - Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets
Goal 13
13.1 - Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
13.2 - Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
13.3 - Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
Goal 15
15.1 - By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements
Goal 17
17.6 - Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism
17.7 - Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed
17.16 - Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries
17.17 - Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
Data, monitoring and accountability
03/2019
