The productive use of energy and the impact of improved energy access on rural communities.
This study analyses the achievements made in six mi¬ni-grid projects supported by the ACP-EU Energy Facility in Tanzania and Madagascar to understand the increase in Productive Uses of Energy (PUE) and the impact that energy access has had.
The unique value proposition of decentralized mi¬ni-grids is to provide grid quality electricity to clusters of end users that are not large enough to justify the cost of grid extension. In rural areas, the trajectory of demand growth is gradual, meaning that achieving commercial viability does not happen in the short-term timeframe of 2-5 years that development financiers are operating within. Therefore, in order to proactively drive progress, project developers are promoting the PUE to improve financial viability.
See the case study here: https://www.dem.dk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Study_Mini-grids_Short-version.pdf