In the News

Congratulations to 2019 Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition winners! On Nov. 5, a dozen student teams from across the United States and overseas came to Duke University for the finals of the Energy in Emerging Markets Case Competition to pitch solutions to Aspire Power Solutions, a startup company deploying hybrid solar systems in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, to try to make electricity more reliable, affordable, and cleaner for businesses and residents.

What do dusty solar panels, biomass cookstoves, biogas-fueled sanitation systems, and renewable project finance have in common? Each is featured in a new volume of energy access case studies from Duke student authors. It’s the second volume of case studies published by Duke University’s Global Energy Access Network (GLEAN), a student organization. GLEAN brings together graduate, professional, and undergraduate students across disciplines, affording opportunities to explore diverse perspectives on energy access issues and discuss relevant fieldwork experiences.

Nearly a third of humanity lacks reliable electricity. Over the summer as part of Duke University’s Data+ program, Duke student teams deployed cutting-edge data analysis techniques to aid the search for solutions to this global challenge. Guided by Duke faculty, students learn how to marshal, analyze, and visualize data, while gaining broad exposure to the modern world of data science. Both teams’ research efforts contribute to the goals of Duke’s Energy Access Project, a new research and policy effort that aims to address the challenges around increasing access to modern energy solutions to underserved populations around the world. Key Duke collaborators in this effort include the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, the Duke University Energy Initiative, the Sanford School of Public Policy, Bass Connections, and the Nicholas School of the Environment.

Access to modern and reliable energy is something that most of the world takes for granted. But many around the world are living a different reality. Across sub-Saharan Africa and India, children often complete homework by the flicker of candles and kerosene lamps as wisps of smoke trickle up around them from the stoking of the fire beneath their cooking stove. The Duke University Energy Access Project aims to help achieve the United Nation’s (U.N.) seventh Sustainable Development Goal, which is to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by 2030.

Hannah Girardeau and Subhrendu Pattanayak have published an EfD Initiative paper on the enabling environment of offgrid solar. They identified 42 studies in 26 countries that describe the enabling environment: the constellation of financial, market, programmatic, and regulatory factors that lead to adoption of small-scale solar systems. At the household level, the cost of technology and quality of a product have the potential to greatly impact the success of a program. On a programmatic scale, customer support and ongoing maintenance have the potential to increase sustainable use of products. Finally, supportive government level policies and design standards can encourage the growth of high-quality products in regional markets.

On May 15–17, 2018, more than 100 academic researchers and energy access practitioners gathered at Duke University to discuss critical issues related to energy access as part of the third annual conference for the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative (SETI). Presentations by Kyle Bradbury of Duke University, Johannes Urpelainen of Johns Hopkins University, Nathan Williams of Carnegie Mellon University, and Jay Taneja of the University of Massachusetts–Amherst highlighted remarkable advances in energy data analytics, described applications for developing world energy challenges, and outlined remaining data-related hurdles impeding progress on energy access. Energy developers, utilities, planners, and policy makers are often not equipped with the necessary tools to understand the changing landscape of energy delivery options and customer preferences. Researchers and grid operators are often restricted by outdated, unavailable, or biased data in the field. Through innovative methods and analytical tools, such as remote sensing, satellite imagery, and machine learning, data analytics are improving our understanding of energy demand in rural areas, customer needs and expectations, the local availability of energy resources, and the realities of providing electricity to underserved communities. These proceedings present key conference takeaways related to the core theme of energy data analytics.

A new policy brief outlines the energy financing gaps in emerging markets and analyzes how the new tools and authorities proposed under the BUILD Act legislation would equip the U.S. development finance institution to respond to those financing needs.

In a Brookings blog post, Duke University Energy Access staff write about a three-year study of more than 77,500 papers on energy access and the internationally agreed on Sustainable Development Goals. Marc Jeuland of Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and Energy Access Project Director Jonathan Phillips will present findings from this work in Lisbon, Portugal, at the fourth Sustainable Energy for All forum May 2-3.

The Hult Prize, the world’s largest social entrepreneurship competition for college students, advertises itself as the “Nobel Prize for social entrepreneurs.” Now a Duke team—mPower—is heading to the Hult finals with an idea to address India’s shortage of agricultural cold storage solutions by offering a novel storage and distribution network that compensates farmers and simplifies the supply chain. To get here, team member Harshvardhan Sanghi, a Duke mechanical engineering major, told Duke Today that “we leveraged our resources at Duke, including the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative as well as the newly launched Energy Access Project. Our network of mentors helped us flesh out minute details within our business model, clarify logistics, and improve the viability of our proposed technology.”