thus that responses to climate change mitigation and adaptation can be integrated
with poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Small scale hydroelectric
and solar systems can reduce emissions, enable adaptation and help local livelihoods although there are numerous problems that limit the success of projects
including poor design, inequitable distribution of benefits, negative user perceptions, and poorly designed or non-existent governance and maintenance structures.
Although the design of some case study projects did not allow for the triple
objective to be currently met, this does not preclude the projects from meeting it in
the future. In some projects, a proper PAR analysis wasn’t carried out as there were
no extreme weather events reported or any other emergency that showed the
usefulness, robustness or vulnerability of the technology or of the population thanks
to the infrastructure. Indeed, some DRE projects can be more robust, and some have
already been rebuilt after specific extreme weather events. Some users indicated
that their systems could still be working had the local donor or implementing NGO
been more aware and visited more often and not disappeared. This points to the
need for greater and better monitoring as well as evaluation, which hadn’t been
carried out in some of the projects visited, despite their being implemented for more
than 5 years.
Table 11.5 gives a summary of the results of all the case studies, according to
each major category of indicators.
The notes below explain in greater detail the concept of each column.
11.5 Renewable Energy and Climate Adaptation
As hypothesized, DRE systems have been seen to both increase and decrease
vulnerability to extreme climate events. To date, the potential response to extreme
weather events of DRE systems has hardly been considered and it has been seen that
they are vulnerable to extreme weather events which can harm users and hamper
their stated goals such as in Nicaragua. For example, a woman in Guatemala had a
nervous breakdown when her solar PV system had a short circuit inside her house
during a particular storm. In this case, the fault was due to improper system
installation which wasn’t reported earlier as this was the first external visit to the
system and household. On the other hand, one case study, Nueva Alianza, used their
biodiesel system after only 1 day of being installed, and it was robust enough to
withstand the force of Hurricane Stan. In general, the case studies helped identify
the main vulnerabilities of DRE systems to extreme climate events. The case
studies also showed that communities in which adaptation goals are being met
are communities in which, more often than not, development goals are also being
achieved. Actions that enable adaptation also enable development, such as communications, alternate income sources and more community unity. However,
research results also indicate that in most cases, adaptation to natural disasters is
better in communities where there is a good governance structure and where the
renewable energy system is commonly owned. Although this result might have
11 Sustainable Development, Climate Change, and Renewable Energy in Rural. . .
201
with poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Small scale hydroelectric
and solar systems can reduce emissions, enable adaptation and help local livelihoods although there are numerous problems that limit the success of projects
including poor design, inequitable distribution of benefits, negative user perceptions, and poorly designed or non-existent governance and maintenance structures.
Although the design of some case study projects did not allow for the triple
objective to be currently met, this does not preclude the projects from meeting it in
the future. In some projects, a proper PAR analysis wasn’t carried out as there were
no extreme weather events reported or any other emergency that showed the
usefulness, robustness or vulnerability of the technology or of the population thanks
to the infrastructure. Indeed, some DRE projects can be more robust, and some have
already been rebuilt after specific extreme weather events. Some users indicated
that their systems could still be working had the local donor or implementing NGO
been more aware and visited more often and not disappeared. This points to the
need for greater and better monitoring as well as evaluation, which hadn’t been
carried out in some of the projects visited, despite their being implemented for more
than 5 years.
Table 11.5 gives a summary of the results of all the case studies, according to
each major category of indicators.
The notes below explain in greater detail the concept of each column.
11.5 Renewable Energy and Climate Adaptation
As hypothesized, DRE systems have been seen to both increase and decrease
vulnerability to extreme climate events. To date, the potential response to extreme
weather events of DRE systems has hardly been considered and it has been seen that
they are vulnerable to extreme weather events which can harm users and hamper
their stated goals such as in Nicaragua. For example, a woman in Guatemala had a
nervous breakdown when her solar PV system had a short circuit inside her house
during a particular storm. In this case, the fault was due to improper system
installation which wasn’t reported earlier as this was the first external visit to the
system and household. On the other hand, one case study, Nueva Alianza, used their
biodiesel system after only 1 day of being installed, and it was robust enough to
withstand the force of Hurricane Stan. In general, the case studies helped identify
the main vulnerabilities of DRE systems to extreme climate events. The case
studies also showed that communities in which adaptation goals are being met
are communities in which, more often than not, development goals are also being
achieved. Actions that enable adaptation also enable development, such as communications, alternate income sources and more community unity. However,
research results also indicate that in most cases, adaptation to natural disasters is
better in communities where there is a good governance structure and where the
renewable energy system is commonly owned. Although this result might have
11 Sustainable Development, Climate Change, and Renewable Energy in Rural. . .
201