A small-scale, snow cone operation has come to Mali. Women in two remote villages are peddling small, sweet, frozen drinks that are sold wholesale to women in other neighboring villages.
The business, which is centered on a new community freezer, would not be possible without one key ingredient: electricity. Until recently, the women in the two villages lived as 1.3 billion other people do, without regular access to electricity.
The electrification of thee villages did not come from wires being extended by the local utility, but from a microgrid project called SharedSolar that was developed by Columbia University’s Earth Institute as part of the Millennium Village Project.
Microgrids are often discussed in the U.S. and Europe, but outside of defense departments and a few universities, true microgrids are cost prohibitive in countries where affordable, reliable electricity is readily available.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, many parts of Asia and some areas of Latin America, the outlook is quite different. Microgrids can provide basic electricity services where none were available before. read more>>>
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