Energy & Infrastructure
Energy & Infrastructure Systems
ACCESS TO ENERGY
MPA promotes the development of micro-utilities building upon the successful experience of the “SharedSolar” interventions currently being carried out in Millennium Promise Alliance project areas in the Sahel and throughout Uganda on renewable energy strategy using biomass.
From the simple task of charging a cell phone to powering clinics, computer labs and small townships, improving the quality and quantity of energy is vital to boosting incomes, agricultural production, health, environment and education in the most remote areas of the world. Improving access to water and energy, however, remains one of the biggest obstacles to development because of the large investments needed to have an impact at scale.
At the start of Millennium Promise Alliance, most public institutions and government partners lacked grid electricity connections, and household connections were virtually non-existent. Almost all cooking in homes and schools used fuel wood in traditional three-stone fires, which are both inefficient and unhealthy. Millennium Promise Alliance in partnership with government, private partners and local communities, have shown major gains in extending the electrical grid, increasing access to off-grid electricity and improving energy for cooking.
INNOVATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE
Investment in health, education, environment, agriculture energy, roads, information and communications technology (ICT), and water infrastructure is crucial to achieving the SDGs. MPA's experience includes:
- Technical advisory and implementation of the construction of schools, health clinics, livestock centers, roads, and water systems throughout rural West and East Africa. This includes interventions for improved rural electrification and access to internet connectivity.
- E-voucher systems for sustainable access to quality agro-inputs.
- Implementation of shared solar grid projects, which use a mobile credit system to pay for household and storefront energy use.
- Partnership with JM Eagle, the world’s largest PVC pipe manufacturer, to bring safer water to more than 120,000 people.
- Energy efficient cookstoves, which free women and children from the time-consuming task of collecting wood for fuel. This innovation also reduces environmental impacts from traditional cookstoves, which emit three to four tons of carbon equivalents per year.
The broad objective of MPA's infrastructure and innovation sector is to increase the number of people with access to modern energy, transportation, communication services, and water and sanitation. Activities in infrastructure development include the construction and rehabilitation of existing road networks, schools, health, sanitation and hygiene facilities, establishment of on-grid and off-grid electricity solutions, internet connectivity, irrigation systems, community centers, radio stations etc.