GETTING SOLAR ELECTRICITY TO THE NEXT BILLION

Off-Grid Electrification: A key to Myanmar’s promising growth

Andy Schroeter, February 27, 2013 (Next Billion)

“…[Myanmar is] Asia’s most talked-about, exciting new market. Given its political and economic reforms, this country of more than 60 million people is poised for substantial progress in the coming years – but not without a major increase in its electrification rate…Today, only one in four people in Myanmar have access to electricity. Of the 40 million people living in rural areas, only one in six have [it]…[L]ow rates of electrification are undeniably linked to the low levels of economic and social welfare in the country. Myanmar has one of the lowest per-capita gross domestic products in Asia at an estimated $855 in 2012, and recent assessments have found that a quarter of the population lives in poverty…

“…Fortunately, Myanmar is…building its electricity infrastructure from the ground up, allowing the government to tap into the lessons learned by other developing countries…Laos, for example, had an electrification rate hovering just above 30 percent in 2000. Today, after little more than a decade, more than 7 in 10 Laotians have access to electricity. This has been achieved through: (A) steady development of the country’s vast hydropower resources (which Myanmar also holds) to expand grid-connected power; and (B) rural, off-grid renewable energy, particularly with solar home systems (SHS) and village mini-grids.”

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“While on-grid electrification in Myanmar will likely come from its abundance of hydropower and natural gas in the long-term, the case is strong for off-grid renewable energy now, given that two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas…[E]fforts to implement solar PV, micro-hydro and other off-grid, clean energy sources need to be spearheaded jointly by the public and private sectors…The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, among other key players, have recently announced significant investments in Myanmar…

“…[E]ven more importantly, Myanmar has the opportunity to utilize off-grid renewable energy not only as a gateway to better education, healthcare and livelihoods, but also as a source of direct employment in rural communities. Using a community-based approach that provides training and direct income generation for local technicians and a local governance group (what we at Sunlabob call Village Energy Technicians and Village Energy Committees), Myanmar can use micro-entrepreneurship to simultaneously electrify the nation and help lift its people out of poverty…”

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