Autonomous energy generation through off-grid or micro-grid renewable sources is tackling energy poverty and reinventing the role of households in energy systems.
Off-grid and micro-grid renewable energy generation technologies are gaining momentum in emerging and developed economies. Distributed energy generation is well placed to meet the needs of the 1.4 billion people who lack access to energy worldwide. However, there is also growing interest in decentralized energy within developed countries. This suggests that the viability of distributed energy generation will not become redundant in low-income communities as they grow richer. In Germany, for example, households and farmers are now the major players in renewable energy generation, with utilities today owning only 12 percent of the country’s renewable energy assets.
The pursuit of Energy Autonomy for larger groups can bring significant added benefits. For example, autonomous micro-grids with the ability to “island” from the grid provide greater local resilience in the face of extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy in the USA in 2012.
In off-grid contexts, renewable energy sources often constitute a flexible, easy to-use, and affordable means of electrification. They can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and significantly decrease the risk of sunken assets in the form of carbon-intensive energy infrastructure. As such, it is possible to “leapfrog” to a distributed low-carbon energy system while meeting the urgent need for access to electricity. This goes hand-in-hand with the advent of mobile technologies, illustrating the potential for developing countries to bypass a fixed network in favor of a more flexible and modular array of mini-grids.
In developed economies, a variety of business models and financing opportunities related to Energy Autonomy have already emerged. For example, leasing solutions have rapidly achieved scale in the USA by offering both households and businesses the opportunity to produce energy by installing solar panels on their roofs. In the rural context, there are numerous options for third-party financing to bolster the integration of renewable more rapidly.
Survey Findings
Energy Autonomy is seen as one of the market opportunities with the greatest potential to create benefits for business, with the finance sector respondents being most positive. When asked if their companies would pursue new business ventures derived from this market opportunity, they are less positive, but the opportunity is still rated highly on this aspect in all business sectors except the governmental sector.
This opportunity gets very different ratings from respondents in high-income economies compared to respondents from lower-middle-income economies. In the latter group it is highly regarded by respondents for its potential positive impact on society. In the former it is assessed less optimistic. In our 2014 global survey of 15 market opportunities, Energy Autonomy consistently placed around the middle of the range across regions when assessed for its impact on society. As for most market opportunities, the younger respondents rate it most favorably.
This market was surveyed globally in 2014 by more than 5500 leaders from both the public and private sectors. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the research company YouGov. The survey results were originally published in the Global Opportunity Report 2015.
Global Goals addressed
