Energy access sits at the heart of sustainable development, enabling progress in health, education and women’s empowerment, among other things. Recognizing this, the global community committed to a dedicated energy access goal in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. To achieve this, investments in national energy systems have increased. Yet, while it is recognized that the majority of these investments should be directed towards decentralized energy systems to have the fastest, most economical result, energy access finance has not shifted or grown accordingly.

Poor people’s energy outlook 2017 uses national energy planning as an entry point to reframe energy finance discussions. Having developed bottom-up integrated national energy access plans in Togo, Kenya, and Bangladesh in PPEO 2016, PPEO 2017 models the least-cost national technology mix, and financing required, to achieve Total Energy Access in these countries and globally.

Achieving SDG7 will require us to challenge ‘business as usual’ models that have left over 1 billion people lacking electricity and 3 billion cooking on inadequate stoves. This means building capacity and cross-sectoral partnerships, and focusing on alternative technologies and financing mechanisms to facilitate new ways of working. Key to this will be development finance institutions, donors, philanthropists, impact investors, and other concessional financiers who can help facilitate systemic change using targeted subsidies, concessional loans, and other tools to reach those at the bottom of the pyramid.

The PPEO 2017 is the second in a suite of three PPEOs which takes the Total Energy Access framework developed in previous editions and illustrates how to operationalize it in terms of planning (PPEO 2016), financing (this edition), and delivering at scale (PPEO 2018).

Designing Sustainable Energy for All

Sustainable Product-Service System Applied to Distributed Renewable Energies

Vezzoli, Carlo

Ceschin, Fabrizio

Osanjo, Lilac

M’Rithaa, Mugendi K.

Moalosi, Richie

Nakazibwe, Venny

Diehl, Jan Carel

2018

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70223-0_4 [Citations: 0]

Energy poverty alleviation in Southeast Asian countries: policy implications for improving access to electricity

Shyu, Chian-Woei

Journal of Asian Public Policy, Vol. 15 (2022), Iss. 1 P.97

https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2020.1770426 [Citations: 4]

Affordable and Clean Energy

Centralized Versus Decentralized Electrification Pathways

Tarekegne, Bethel

2021

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95864-4_115 [Citations: 0]

Engendering the Energy Transition

Energy Transition and Gender in the Informal Street Food Sector in Africa

Diouf, Maïmouna

Mohlakoana, Nthabiseng

Sarr, Secou

Seydi, Bacary

2020

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43513-4_2 [Citations: 0]

Let capabilities ring: Operationalizing energy justice in Guinea

Jodoin, Laurent

Energy Research & Social Science, Vol. 72 (2021), Iss. P.101894

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101894 [Citations: 3]

Affordable and Clean Energy

Centralized Versus Decentralized Electrification Pathways

Tarekegne, Bethel

2020

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71057-0_115-1 [Citations: 0]

A critical review of modern approaches for multidimensional energy poverty measurement

Pelz, Setu

Pachauri, Shonali

Groh, Sebastian

WIREs Energy and Environment, Vol. 7 (2018), Iss. 6

https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.304 [Citations: 26]

Energy and Environmental Security in Developing Countries

The Politics of Electricity Access and Environmental Security in Mozambique

Cotton, Matthew

Kirshner, Joshua

Salite, Daniela

2021

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63654-8_11 [Citations: 0]

The benefits of energy appliances in the off-grid energy sector based on seven off-grid initiatives in rural Uganda

Hirmer, Stephanie

Guthrie, Peter

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 79 (2017), Iss. P.924

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.152 [Citations: 21]