The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty
Globally about 800 million people live without electricity at home, over two thirds of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Planning electricity access infrastructure and allocating resources efficiently requires a careful assessment of the diverse energy needs across space, time, and sectors. Because o...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac0cab |
| _version_ | 1797747610176454656 |
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| author | Giacomo Falchetta Nicolò Stevanato Magda Moner-Girona Davide Mazzoni Emanuela Colombo Manfred Hafner |
| author_facet | Giacomo Falchetta Nicolò Stevanato Magda Moner-Girona Davide Mazzoni Emanuela Colombo Manfred Hafner |
| author_sort | Giacomo Falchetta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Globally about 800 million people live without electricity at home, over two thirds of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Planning electricity access infrastructure and allocating resources efficiently requires a careful assessment of the diverse energy needs across space, time, and sectors. Because of data scarcity, most country or regional-scale electrification planning studies have however assumed a spatio-temporally homogeneous (top-down) potential electricity demand. Poorly representing the heterogeneity in the potential electricity demand across space, time, and energy sectors can lead to inappropriate energy planning, inaccurate energy system sizing, and misleading cost assessments. Here we introduce M-LED, a Multi-sectoral Latent Electricity Demand geospatial data processing platform to estimate electricity demand in communities that live in energy poverty. The platform shows how big data and bottom-up energy modelling can be leveraged together to represent the potential electricity demand with high spatio-temporal and sectoral granularity. We apply the methodology to Kenya as a country-study and devote specific attention to the implications for water-energy-agriculture-development interlinkages. A more detailed representation of the demand-side in large-scale electrification planning tools bears a potential for improving energy planning and policy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a30b72e0b453444cb0d6579970238ccb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:55Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-a30b72e0b453444cb0d6579970238ccb2023-08-09T15:02:31ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116707403810.1088/1748-9326/ac0cabThe M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy povertyGiacomo Falchetta0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2607-2195Nicolò Stevanato1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3419-0389Magda Moner-Girona2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3808-4492Davide Mazzoni3Emanuela Colombo4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9747-5699Manfred Hafner5Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) , Corso Magenta 63, 20123 Milan, Italy; Free University of Bozen-Bolzano , 39100 Bolzano, ItalyFondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) , Corso Magenta 63, 20123 Milan, Italy; Politecnico di Milano , Department of Energy, Via Lambruschini, 4, 20156 Milan, ItalyEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) , Ispra, ItalyFondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) , Corso Magenta 63, 20123 Milan, ItalyPolitecnico di Milano , Department of Energy, Via Lambruschini, 4, 20156 Milan, ItalyFondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) , Corso Magenta 63, 20123 Milan, Italy; John Hopkins University SAIS , Via Beniamino Andreatta, 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Sciences Po PSIA , 27 Rue Saint-Guillaume, 75007 Paris, FranceGlobally about 800 million people live without electricity at home, over two thirds of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Planning electricity access infrastructure and allocating resources efficiently requires a careful assessment of the diverse energy needs across space, time, and sectors. Because of data scarcity, most country or regional-scale electrification planning studies have however assumed a spatio-temporally homogeneous (top-down) potential electricity demand. Poorly representing the heterogeneity in the potential electricity demand across space, time, and energy sectors can lead to inappropriate energy planning, inaccurate energy system sizing, and misleading cost assessments. Here we introduce M-LED, a Multi-sectoral Latent Electricity Demand geospatial data processing platform to estimate electricity demand in communities that live in energy poverty. The platform shows how big data and bottom-up energy modelling can be leveraged together to represent the potential electricity demand with high spatio-temporal and sectoral granularity. We apply the methodology to Kenya as a country-study and devote specific attention to the implications for water-energy-agriculture-development interlinkages. A more detailed representation of the demand-side in large-scale electrification planning tools bears a potential for improving energy planning and policy.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac0cabelectricity accessenergy demandrural developmentbottom-up energy modellingsub-Saharan Africawater-energy-food-environment nexus |
| spellingShingle | Giacomo Falchetta Nicolò Stevanato Magda Moner-Girona Davide Mazzoni Emanuela Colombo Manfred Hafner The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty Environmental Research Letters electricity access energy demand rural development bottom-up energy modelling sub-Saharan Africa water-energy-food-environment nexus |
| title | The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty |
| title_full | The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty |
| title_fullStr | The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty |
| title_full_unstemmed | The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty |
| title_short | The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty |
| title_sort | m led platform advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty |
| topic | electricity access energy demand rural development bottom-up energy modelling sub-Saharan Africa water-energy-food-environment nexus |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac0cab |
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