IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2020 - 45

Well-Being (HDI Score)

cost reduction, knowledge transfer,
and operational issues in some conand creation of local economic opportexts, makes long-term sustainabiltunities. The Solar Urja through Locality questionable. Solar home systems,
PELS should promote
ization for Sustainability initiative of
off-grid single household solutions
and engage with enerthe Indian Institute of Technology
consisting of a small photovoltaic
Bombay, the grand winner of the IEEE
panel, battery storage with power
gy access as a research
Power Electronics Society (PELS)
electronics, and dc loads have demand education topic.
Empower a Billion Lives (EBL) chalonstrated increasing market adoplenge, is a noteworthy pioneer in this
tion but are still too expensive for
direction, using open source design,
the majority of unelectrified homes
local assembly and manufacturing, and
and are unable to power larger, prolocal capacity building to enable basic energy access for milductive energy loads. The latter could be the contributing
lions of households, income generation through local entrefactor to the failure to demonstrate the off-grid solar
preneurship, and women's empowerment.
industry promise of the climb up the energy ladder by offgrid households.
New generations of students and researchers are inThere is room for fresh thinking and new approaches
creasingly seeking to be engaged in more than excellent
that are a better match to users' needs: lowering cost
science. If the fledgling experience of the power electronics
at a higher reliability and availability of
supply, flexibility in accommodating various loads and sources, enabling growth
1
through modularity and interconnectivity,
United States
Germany
0.9
Norway
ultrahigh efficiency appliances for conCanada
sumptive and productive energy use, and
Kuwait
0.8 Brazil
Saudi Arabia
enabling new local economic and social
Russian Federation
0.7
China
opportunities. It is an opportunity to build
South Africa
a new kind of power system: decentral0.6
Ghana
ized, bottom up, and context appropriate,
Kenya
0.5
Nigeria
with power electronics as the key en Senegal
0.4
abling technology.
Ethiopia

New Ways and New Generations
For long-term sustainability of any energy
access solution, it is crucial that the solution be designed, deployed, and maintained,
taking into account the social, economic,
and cultural context lest it be yet another
case of the developed world pushing solutions it has and knows how to make without
knowing what users really want and need.
This calls for going far beyond "having a
social scientist in the room" and a new,
transdisciplinary approach to R&D toward
creating appropriate technologies that are
integrated into a sustainable sociotechnical
system to create a positive and lasting
impact. Collaborative interdisciplinary
research in research institutions and with
local partners well embedded in target communities is essential for testing research
hypotheses and ensuring that, beyond excellent engineering science contributions, our
research creates a positive and lasting
impact. Technologies and solutions that
embed and enable alternative innovation
models, such as cocreation, localization, and
open source, may enable faster adoption,

0.3

DRC
0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

Average Electricity Consumption (kWh/capita/Year)
FIG 1 The human development index (HDI) score versus average electricity consumption. (Source: World Bank, UN HDI; adapted by Matt Jordan.)

FIG 2 A rural household in Uttar Pradesh, India, not connected to the grid
despite the grid lines passing the house for decades. (Source: Gaurav Manchanda;
used with permission.)

June 2020

z	IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE

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IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2020
