💡Spotlight on Husk Power Systems
How Husk solve energy poverty with low carbon electricity.
Recently, Ella had the pleasure of speaking with William Brent, Chief Marketing Officer of Husk Power Systems. Husk is the 'leading rural energy services company in weak-grid and off-grid communities in Africa and Asia. [They] provide reliable, quality, 100% renewable power to businesses, households, and institutions.' Ella spoke to William about what his role entails, the work that Husk is doing, and how this fits in with the global goal of ending energy poverty by using clean energy for rural electrification. Read on for some mid-week inspiration!
The Energy Problem
Across Africa, some 600 million people have no access to energy. Globally, this number is 759 million people, with 3 out of 4 of them living in Sub-Saharan Africa. One-third of the world's population uses dangerous and ineffective cooking systems and has to rely on diesel generators for electricity, which are expensive, highly polluting, and unreliable.
Enter Husk. Co-founded by Manoj Sinha in 2008, Husk Power Systems is a decentralised energy utility using an innovative mini-grid system to provide clean, affordable energy to rural communities across India and several African nations. Mini-grids are small-scale energy generation and distribution networks that are independent of a national grid. Husk’s first mini-grids used biomass fuel from gasified rice husks (hence the name), which would otherwise have been burned or wasted. They then developed a hybrid system of solar power and biomass fuel (plus batteries) which provides 100% renewable power 24/7 to the communities that benefit from the mini-grids. What a brilliant solution!
Why Are Mini-Grids Useful?
Mini-grids are incredibly important because of their environmental and socio-economic impacts. Where previously thousands of people only had access to polluting diesel generators if anything, they are now powered by a renewable, reliable mini-grid. To name a few benefits, this provides reliable, clean energy to schools - allowing more children to study and continue with their education, to hospitals and clinics - helping them to deliver better health outcomes, to businesses - enabling them to sell refrigerated products or other services which rely on a power supply like grain milling, and lastly, to individual households. Moving from an NGO in the same sector, what appealed to William about Husk is that "I can actually, in a much more quantifiable way, understand the impact I'm making on this particular challenge of energy poverty."
The Bigger Picture
Why does this matter? Energy access affects everything - from businesses to healthcare, to school attendance. As the previous Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon has said, “Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability. With access to energy, people can study, go to university, get a job, start a business – and reach their full potential.”
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include Goal 7 - to 'ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all'. Husk contributes to this goal and addressing energy poverty has a knock-on effect on other goals of education, leading to economic growth, providing clean water, and reducing hunger and environmental impact, to name a few.
One way that Husk is aiding the climate crisis, other than supplying renewable energy, is as William put it, "building climate resilience". Many of the communities that Husk serves are some of the most climate-vulnerable because of where they live. Building climate resilience through mini-grids also works well because, as we have seen in California, national grids are susceptible to climate disruption, such as the recent forest fires. These mini-grid systems are therefore allowing communities to adapt to an uncertain future by not having to rely on a centralised power grid.
Challenges
One of the challenges faced by the mini-grid industry is the gap between the financing available for mini-grids and rural electrification, and the ability to deliver these systems at scale. According to the World Bank, mini-grids have the potential to provide electricity to as many as 500 million people by 2030. To do this, about $220 billion of investment is required to build 210,000 mini-grids. Currently, Husk, a market leader, has about 130 mini-grids in operation, and globally, 47 million people are connected to 19,000 mini-grids. This is just 11% of the infrastructure needed to meet the 2030 goals and provide renewable energy for the 500 million people who need it.
Husk works with local government and agencies to ensure that these mini-grids serve the community where they are set up, with minimal upkeep by the community for maximum success and long-term sustainability. It's important that Husk and other companies have a specific profile, or vetting system, for the communities where it sets up a mini-grid. Certain local businesses must be present, and a minimum number of households must be served.
A Note on Shell
One of Husk's investors is Shell (yes, the fossil fuel company). In 2018, Husk received a $20 million investment from Shell and other partners. One of Shell's energy access ambitions is to provide a reliable and sustainable electricity supply to 100 million people in the developing world by 2030. To work towards this goal, Shell has invested in several companies providing accessible renewable energy through mini-grids, solar home systems, new meters and financing, and rooftop solar energy, even recently investing in UK solar.
While it's great that Shell is investing in renewable infrastructure companies like Husk, which are making a real difference to peoples' lives, these investments are just a tiny fraction of Shell's profits ($5.5 billion in Q2 of 2021). Shell still needs to cut down its own fossil fuel operations to make a difference to climate change. Sadly, investing in these projects alone won't offset the years of damage they've done.
Ending with Optimism
All in all, Husk Power System is doing really innovative and impactful work. It is companies like these that encourage us to stay optimistic in the face of climate change. We look forward to following Husk's progress and see how they expand, allowing even more people to reach their full potential.
I asked William what inspires him about his work, and I'll leave you with this. "We're powering communities, and that's inspiring. We're doing it in a clean and responsible, and hopefully resilient way that provides communities with livelihoods for the future."
Pretty easy to get inspired by.
Thank you for reading this longer piece. Let us know what you think below.
Stay optimistic,
Ella 💚