UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY – Visualisation Tool

The 2030 Agenda has set the of goal universal access to electricity by 2030. The challenge is significant. It involves reaching population with limited incomes, often living in sparsely populated areas, mostly in developing and least developed countries. Costs can tally. Taking into account local characteristics, this model finds the combination of technologies that can provide universal access to the population of every country at the lowest cost.
The visualisation tool allows for further exploration of model results. It displays country maps showing the choice of technology –Grid, Mini-Grid, and Stand alone energy devices—for each locality of 10 by 10 kilometres, assuming five different per capita consumption levels and two diesel prices.
To ease visualisation, the six technologies currently considered are aggregated to three technology types –GRID, Mini-Grid, and Stand alone, and plotted in a country or region map.
The model finds, using open geospatial data, which technologies provides electricity at the lowest cost to the population living in each 10 by 10 kilometers area in countries. The target population in each country is defined as the 2030 population minus the 2012 population without access to electricity. The national growth rate is then applied to the 2012 population geospatial data for each 10 by 10 kilometres in countries.
The model makes choices on the levellized cost of technologies calculated based on locally adjusted technical data such as distance to grid, distance to diesel sourcing, solar radiation, wind factors, water availability, among others. In granting universal access to electricity the model considers grid and off-grid options, five per-capita electricity consumption levels and two diesel prices. the model decides on the least costly option after comparing the costs of connecting to the central grid, to a mini grid, or to stand-alone solutions.