Other critical components of our approach included UNDP’s capacity to combine policy advice with trials on the ground, understanding of the local context and the willingness to allocate the time and resources needed to systematically work through the issues, in order to build something sustainable. The strong partnership between UNDP and MME was the first step on our journey, and a prerequisite to get all the relevant partners around the table. It is the result of a broad effort involving the ministry, the regulatory agency, the national electricity utility company, private energy entrepreneurs, local communities and UNDP. Koh Kantheay island is the first site for these micro-grids we plan to replicate across 244 villages. Communities living in these villages are among the most vulnerable in the country, with limited access to public services and markets.Īs I stand watching workers checking the alignment of the solar panels in the pale winter sun, it is time to reflect on the journey that got us here. For us, this is putting the UN’s motto of “leaving no one behind” in practice. Designing viable models to deliver grid electricity in these locations –the most remote and hard-to-access – is no easy feat.Īt the request of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), UNDP has stepped in to help. It is one of the 245 “last frontier” Cambodian villages with no connection to an electricity grid. Their village sits on an island 70km South of Phnom Penh and right in the middle of the great Mekong river. “I will be able to charge my computer to develop teaching materials and do some research,” says the local school-teacher. Others mention that they will no longer have to travel by boat to the mainland to have their battery charged. “We plan to have a rice cooker, this will reduce smoke and I will have time to do other tasks,” someone says. On a visit to Koh Kantheay in Cambodia’s north, I hear residents talk about their expectations from the new solar micro-grid being installed in the village.
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