The Sustainable Bioenergy High-Impact Opportunity (HIO) was launched at the 2nd UN SE4All Forum to facilitate the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy solutions. On that occasion, Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA) and the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) presented lessons learnt by their members on how to effectively implement innovative models that utilise bioenergy technologies for electrification purposes through their latest information paper. The paper looks at inclusive business models, value addition and provides policy makers with policy recommendations to encourage the uptake of biomass as part of decentralised energy production.

 

Meghan Sapp, Executive Secretary, PANGEA: “Sustainable bioenergy provides a major opportunity for distributed energy in developing as well as developed companies, helping to reduce expensive storage costs typically encountered in off-grid systems, making them more efficient, stable and affordable. What’s more, using waste and residues as a power source can provide added value to agriculture and more closely integrate farmers into the distributed energy space”.

 

The information paper is a product of a collaboration between ARE and PANGEA. Due to the sheer abundance of biomass often available in developing countries, this paper aims to encourage interested stakeholders from the public and private sector to make use of lessons learnt and to combine them with innovative models to utilise bioenergy technologies for electrification purposes in areas where there is no conflict with nutrition and linked issues.

 

In addition, the paper shows the added value of available technology solutions based on various types of clean bioenergies and appropriate ways to implement them for the benefit of electrification for rural communities in the developing world. It looks at modern uses for solid biomass, liquid biofuels and biogas along with practical examples and best practices of the various bioenergy-based business models currently being implemented for rural energy access as well as opportunities for further expansion.

 

Gerard Ostheimer, Global Lead, Sustainable Bioenergy UN SE4All Initiative: “Power from sustainably produced biomass can contribute in meaningful ways to increasing the energy access essential for rural economic development. The ARE-PANGEA report highlights nicely the potential for biopower production in different ecological and developmental contexts.”

 

Marcus Wiemann, Executive Director, ARE: “When thinking about the use of bioenergy in developing countries, it is important to know that to utilise this important sustainable energy resource is a great opportunity to create long-term partnerships, local income generation possibilities and business cycles.”

 

 

Alliance for Rural Electrification

www.ruralelec.org