Utilities 2.0
(
Non-governmental organization (NGO)
)
#SDGAction43161
Description
Power for All convened 30 leaders in both centralized and decentralized energy to create a framework for electrification success at the Utilities 2.0 Bellagio summit in July 2018. Together, these leaders from the Global North and Global South developed a vision to bring grid, mini-grids and solar rooftop systems together create sustainable energy businesses and accelerate access. Ranging from Italy’s ENEL to Ethiopia’s EEU and India’s Tata Power, Bellagio participants defined Utilities 2.0 as an integrated, intelligent and interactive energy network of public and private actors, that deliver customer-centric clean energy solutions to end energy poverty. This same group of leaders have committed advance the Utilities 2.0 vision and prove that centralized and decentralized energy technologies have important roles to play in achieving universal energy access—and that these roles are bolstered by working together.
Objective:
Demonstrate how centralized and decentralized energy integration can help achieve faster, cheaper, more reliable universal access while also supporting the objectives of Umeme (and its regulator).
Theses:
- The use of integrated planning, coordinated energy markets, and innovative finance can reduce connection cost, accelerate connection pace, and improve affordability for end-users.
- The use of smart, integrated technologies can improve reliability of connections and reduce grid losses.
- The use of data and finance innovations can drive demand stimulation for all energy companies’ bottom lines and customer benefit.
Implementation
- User segmentation: Based on an agreed criteria, Umeme and Utilities 2.0 research teams will categorize user groups (e.g., by types of loads) and develop detailed mapping.
- Integrated Infrastructure: Based on customer research and site analysis, the consortia will work with Umeme to design integrated systems.
- Demand Stimulation: With Umeme, the consortia will help design consumer finance and demand-stimulation programs for testing and uptake
- Consumer Education: With Umeme, the consortia will assess consumer energy knowledge and coordinate energy literacy-building in an effort to grow support for integrated energy across Ugandan decision makers and end users.
- Regulation and Policy: In coordination with Umeme, the consortia will engage donors and key government entities for pilot support, including identifying and developing contingency plan for regulatory challenges that may slow pilot itself, as well as successful pilot results.
Follow-Up Mechanisms
- Implementation: Ongoing task force for stakeholder engagement working groups—including Umeme stakeholders, donors and other entities needed to support the pilot—are established and will be regularly updated on (publically).
- Communication: Utilities 2.0 will place a premium on sharing learnings in real-time (blogs, podcasts, videos), to build capacity and interest in the future pilots around the world--including placing Umeme on a global stage. This effort will begin by announcing the Umeme pilot.
- Evaluation and measurement: Designed at the beginning of the project, studies will include a range of technical and development studies to evaluate success of the pilot activities (e.g., behaviors, aspirations, health).
With an integrated approach, governments and utilities can make more informed decisions about how to invest scarce public resources, leveraging more private investment and thus maximize the total investment deployed in pursuit of energy access goals. In theory, the foundations of integrated planning—including comprehensive baseline studies and modeling based on GIS, population density, proximity to power infrastructure, and energy resource availability—should be able to produce the optimal technology mix to deliver least-cost, fastest-path energy access. And, given the dividends produced in education, health, and gender equality improvements (among other benefits) that result from accelerated connections to modern energy services, integrated energy planning and delivery has the potential to be one of the most powerful weapons to fight energy poverty.
Umeme—one of the Africa’s most innovative energy companies—has created a uniquely successful private utility on the continent. While Umeme’s management, customer base and regulatory framework have helped deliver one of the few profitable African utilities, Uganda’s electrification rate is only 22 percent. Simultaneously, energy off-take has failed to keep pace with Uganda’s generation growth, leading to increased pressure to stimulate energy demand across the country, to ensure profitability and long-term sustainable demand growth.
Based on grid economics, Umeme and traditional grid extension can’t solve these pressures alone. By combining advantages of traditional utilities like Umeme (infrastructure, transmission lines and poles, access long-term low-cost financing, existing customer billing and collections systems) and decentralized renewables (lower cost connections, fast implementation, fewer regulatory challenges) with targeted interventions to drive demand (financing, training, bundled services etc), we believe profitable, affordable and accelerated universal access is possible in Uganda.
By working with the Utilities 2.0 collaborative, Umeme can help demonstrate an economical model of integrated electricity access that stimulates demand, recruits future customers, and addresses energy poverty. With this pilot, decentralized and centralized energy together will catalyze the research, engineering, regulation and political will to realize faster, more affordable energy access for all. As a result of this pilot, not only will Umeme have an opportunity to pioneer the testing of such blended solutions, but Uganda itself will provide valuable vision and a path forward for all of Africa to follow.
SDGS & Targets
Goal 7
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
7.1
By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services
7.1.1
Proportion of population with access to electricity
7.1.2
Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology
7.2
7.2.1
Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption
7.3
7.3.1
Energy intensity measured in terms of primary energy and GDP
7.a
7.a.1
International financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy research and development and renewable energy production, including in hybrid systems
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
7.b.1
Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing and developed countries (in watts per capita)
Goal 9
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
9.1
9.1.1
Proportion of the rural population who live within 2 km of an all-season road
9.1.2
Passenger and freight volumes, by mode of transport
9.2
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries
9.2.1
Manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita
9.2.2
Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment
9.3
9.3.1
Proportion of small-scale industries in total industry value added
9.3.2
Proportion of small-scale industries with a loan or line of credit
9.4
By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities
9.4.1
CO2 emission per unit of value added
9.5
9.5.1
Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP
9.5.2
Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants
9.a
9.a.1
Total official international support (official development assistance plus other official flows) to infrastructure
9.b
9.b.1
Proportion of medium and high-tech industry value added in total value added
9.c
Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020
9.c.1
Proportion of population covered by a mobile network, by technology
Goal 17
Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
17.1
Strengthen domestic resource mobilization, including through international support to developing countries, to improve domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection
17.1.1
17.1.2
17.2
Developed countries to implement fully their official development assistance commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of ODA/GNI to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries; ODA providers are encouraged to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries
17.2.1
17.3
Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources
17.3.1
Additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources
17.3.2
17.4
Assist developing countries in attaining long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring, as appropriate, and address the external debt of highly indebted poor countries to reduce debt distress
17.4.1
17.5
Adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for least developed countries
17.5.1
Number of countries that adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for developing countries, including the least developed countries
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
17.6.1
Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed
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
17.7.1
Total amount of funding for developing countries to promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies
17.8
Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology
17.8.1
17.9
Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation
17.9.1
Dollar value of financial and technical assistance (including through North-South, South‑South and triangular cooperation) committed to developing countries
17.10
Promote a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization, including through the conclusion of negotiations under its Doha Development Agenda
17.10.1
17.11
Significantly increase the exports of developing countries, in particular with a view to doubling the least developed countries’ share of global exports by 2020
17.11.1
Developing countries’ and least developed countries’ share of global exports
17.12
Realize timely implementation of duty-free and quota-free market access on a lasting basis for all least developed countries, consistent with World Trade Organization decisions, including by ensuring that preferential rules of origin applicable to imports from least developed countries are transparent and simple, and contribute to facilitating market access
17.12.1
Weighted average tariffs faced by developing countries, least developed countries and small island developing States
17.13
Enhance global macroeconomic stability, including through policy coordination and policy coherence
17.13.1
17.14
Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development
17.14.1
17.15
Respect each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development
17.15.1
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
17.16.1
Number of countries reporting progress in multi-stakeholder development effectiveness monitoring frameworks that support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
17.17
Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
17.17.1
Amount in United States dollars committed to public-private partnerships for infrastructure
17.18
By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts
17.18.1
Statistical capacity indicators
17.18.2
17.18.3
Number of countries with a national statistical plan that is fully funded and under implementation, by source of funding
17.19
By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries
17.19.1
17.19.2
Proportion of countries that (a) have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years; and (b) have achieved 100 per cent birth registration and 80 per cent death registration
SDG 14 targets covered
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Region
- Africa
- Asia and Pacific
- Global
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Contact Information
Kristina Skierka, CEO