The Delivery Models Working Group is dedicated to the applied research on the technology-community relationship throughout the different phases of rural electrification projects.
The concept of Delivery Models
The success of rural electrification projects depends on a variety of factors that are not merely technical. Social, economical, environmental, institutional and cultural variables, all contribute to the sustainability of a project and should be taken into account in order for it to be successful.
To address the complex issue of sustainability of rural renewable energy systems, the concept of Delivery Models has emerged. A project’s delivery model can be defined as:
“The methodology with which a project attempts to achieve sustainability and scale up in a specific context by addressing the different variables that contribute to it”.
Graphical representation of the many elements that make up the socio-technical system in which SWTs exist and the various complex interactions between them. (Sumanik-Leary, 2013, adapted from Practical Action, 2012)
Goal and objectives
The group aims to provide methodologies and guidelines for implementing sustainable electrification projects with locally manufactured small wind turbines.
Objectives:
- to systematize knowledge acquired from the experiences of WE member organizations, making it accessible by everyone and practically relevant
- to provide methodologies for the assessment of the sustainability of different applications (delivery models applied in practice)
- to study different conceptualizations of the term ‘delivery model’, the variables it includes and its relation with other concepts and methodologies that are relevant to a rural electrification context
- To develop suggestions for monitoring projects
What are we working on now?
- Delivery model decision flowchart and best practices (contact Wanda and Katerina)
- Systematizing the knowledge acquired from WE members during the 2016 kick-starter project, we will create a decision flowchart, where answering questions about the objectives of the project and the initial conditions will lead us to proposed actions of how to deal with the several aspects, like management, training, maintenance, financing, etc. that comprise a delivery model. Each step will be supplemented by the relevant best practices identified through the WE members’ experiences and in the literature. In other words, guidelines for building the delivery model based on the initial conditions (socio-cultural context, physical context, enabling environment) and objectives of the project.
- The flowchart will be communicated to member organizations inviting them to validate its relevance and usefulness, and to enrich it with insights from their continuous experiences
- Typology of generic, “archetypical” delivery models for electrification with locally manufactured small wind turbines (contact Wanda and Katerina)
- Protocols for sustainability assessment of applications with locally manufactured small wind turbines (contact Katerina)
- Guidelines for Productive uses of energy (contact Guillermo)
What else would we like to work on?
- A Practical Guide for Initial Diagnosis, so that member organizations can access and interpret the needs of the community properly
- A methodology combining market assessment and more localized assessment techniques for assessing the initial conditions (enabling environment, physical, economic, institutional and socio-cultural context) in a given context
- Short videos explaining the concept of Delivery Models (DM) and their application in locally manufactured small wind turbines.
- … we are open to your ideas and suggestions for future work and collaborations!
Our copy-left publications
The production of knowledge is shared, so you can use our studies for research work in your university, school, or what interests you, with the condition that you give credits to the authors.
Relevant literature
We have gathered some relevant literature here. Please contact us to add more resources to this library.
Participate!
From any area of knowledge or language you may come, if you think you can contribute to our objectives, feel free to participate by:
- Contacting us to support our current projects
- Reporting projects with locally manufactured small wind turbines (past or ongoing)
- Conducting interviews with community members and/or social organizations involved in small-scale wind projects (field work, interviews and interpretation)
- Sharing yours ideas in the Group’s Discussion Forum
Please note: we have separate discussion forums for general discussion, for each of our working groups and for our executive board (members only).
If you have any questions you can send an email to the group coordinator!
