There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the complex global challenge of energy access. Shell’s approach is based on developing tailored approaches driven by local markets, needs and opportunities.

Shell applies business and technical resources to play an active role in improving access to energy for communities, particularly in regions of great need where Shell has a presence.

Collaborating to bring energy to more people

The scale of the access to energy challenge around the globe is so vast that Shell cannot confront it alone. Together with local partners Shell designs and implements self-sustaining access to energy projects that help unlock local markets for energy products and services. 

One example of increasing access to clean and reliable energy is Shell’s work with the non-profit organisation Pact in Myanmar.

Shell has helped increase energy access for more than 20,000 people and improved livelihoods for over 35,000 people in the Central Dry Zone and Thanintharyi Region in Myanmar.

Since 2010, Shell has been a founding member and largest private sector partner of the Clean Cooking Alliance, which works to make cleaner cooking accessible to families around the world.

Over time Shell has supported various programmes of the Alliance, including market building activities in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya, and global enterprise development support and behaviour change communication efforts in India.

In China, Shell and the Alliance have worked together to implement clean cooking programmes in Liaoning, Henan, Hebei, Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Gansu Provinces.

A new programme in Zhejiang Province aims to incentivise small businesses and households to make the switch to cleaner and more efficient cookstoves and fuels.

Shell also provides leadership support and strategic guidance to the Alliance at various levels.

Read more about our partnership with the Clean Cooking Alliance here

Stories of success

Philippines

In 2018, Shell implemented an access to energy project in the Logpan village in New Ibajay, El Nido, the Philippines – close to Shell’s offshore activities in Palawan. Communities needed energy and access to clean water. Combining energy, water and entrepreneurship, Shell developed a community-run solar-powered energy kiosk. It offers small solar home systems for individual households, but also manages a solar-powered water pump, which provides villagers access to safe and filtered water. The kiosk is managed and run by local people, helping to support livelihoods, and is becoming the central meeting point for the villagers.

Shell has also been working with the Batak people, one of the Philippines’ oldest indigenous peoples, who live deep in the forests of Palawan island. In the past when it grew dark at night they had to rely on light provided by burning wood wrapped in leaves. To change this, Shell Philippines Exploration and the Pilipinas Shell Foundation funded a micro-grid for the community that uses hydropower and solar energy to bring electricity to their homes for the first time, helping to create new opportunities. Read more about the project here or watch the film above to find out more.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, Shell worked with partners from Tonibung and PACOS Trust to bring electricity to the community of Saibibingkol, Sabah. The pilot programme gave 42 households access to a reliable source of electricity, generated by solar panels and a hydro turbine.

Shell also set up a socioeconomic development centre in the village, where people can use the electricity for income-generating activities, such as sewing or more efficient drying of tapioca chips and flour milling. Based on this successful pilot, the plan is to scale up these efforts to bring electricity to at least two more villages in 2019.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, the scale of the access to energy challenge is huge. In a country of over 180 million people, over two-thirds are either off the electricity grid or receive less than four hours of grid power a day. This is why Shell supports access to energy through All On, an independent impact investing organisation working to improve access to energy across Nigeria.

In 2016, Shell provided seed funding to All On who has gone on develop and grow businesses that provide energy to more people across the country. Click here to read more about our work with All On.

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