Page 46 - CARILEC CE Journal Nov 21

THE SUSTAINABILITY

BALLAST FRAMEWORK

FOR DESIGN OF REMOTE

ELECTRIFICATION

Niebert Blair, Susan Krumdieck and Dirk Pons
bstract: The UN sustainable development goal No 7 aims to achieve affordable and clean energy for
all, but this is not yet achieved for approximately one billion people in remote communities. Small
A scale systems can provide benefits, but existing approaches are primarily top-down approaches that
are developed by experts, and focus on the electrical engineering, economics, and policy aspects. These
are not always successful, because the sociological aspects are overlooked. A new approach to addressing
remote energy development is required that better addresses the societal component. The objective was
to develop a conceptual framework whereby the sociological values of indigenous communities were better
included in electrification decision-making. A grounded theory approach was used to interview members
of a rural indigenous community and identify key features of their world view. Several categories of values
were identified, referred to as ’ballasts’. The idea of balance between these was a strong theme that emerged
from the community discussion. A composite index was then constructed. Case study results are presented
for a remote rural Amazonian community, Kabakaburi in Guyana. Nine sustainability ballasts were identified
as part of the indigenous community’s world view: biological capacity, social capacity, autonomy, equity &
equality, electric utility, health, education, communication, and products and services. This paper develops
a new framework to include the values and world-view aspects of indigenous communities in electrification
decision-making.

46