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Electrifying the Amazon: The impacts of access to renewable energy in riverine communities

Newton Fund Impact Scheme (NFIS) grant

2020 – 2021

The project evaluates the socio-economic impacts of two alternative configurations of solar photovoltaic systems in riverine communities. It focuses on individuals enrolled in Programa Bolsa Floresta (PBF), a policy that aims to protect tropical forests and reduce poverty.

The ‘Electrifying the Amazon: The impacts of access to renewable energy in riverine communities’ project is supported by a Newton Fund Impact Scheme (NFIS) grant, and hosted by the Latin America and Caribbean Centre in collaboration with the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) (1 May 2020 – 1 December 2021). Associated partners include Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA) and Brazilian NGO Fundação Amazonas Sustentável (FAS).

This project aims to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of two alternative configurations of solar photovoltaic systems in riverine communities and provide recommendations for expanding access to other communities in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Such communities typically rely on diesel generators for the provision of electricity, which can hinder development and generate negative environmental impacts.


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Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve, Amazonas. Photo by Grace Iara Souza
 

This collaboration builds upon two previous Newton Fund Institutional Links grants. The project focuses on communities enrolled in Programa Bolsa Floresta (PBF), a policy that aims to protect tropical forests and reduce poverty. Enacted by the State of Amazonas in 2007 and managed by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), PBF has to date enrolled almost 600 poor, riverine communities that manage 16 million hectares of forest.

To help meet the aims of PBF, the policy develops alternative livelihoods and sources of income that reduce pressure on forests, such as handicrafts, often dominated by women. Expanding access to and improving the quality of supply of electricity can help increase the scope and scale of these activities thus potentially improving incomes, enhancing the role of women in local economies, strengthening participation in environmental governance and encouraging more inclusive economic growth in Amazon communities.

The research team will evaluate energy demand, incomes, gender implications, and greenhouse gas emissions for two different configurations of solar photovoltaic systems: centralized and decentralized. The latter was installed in a previous Newton Fund project undertaken in riverine communities ('Sustainable and Replicable Off-grid Renewable Energy System for Riverside Communities in the Amazon, Brazil-STAR Energy'). The former is to be trialled in this project. Both will be evaluated using methodological tools developed in a second Newton Fund project ('Participatory Approaches to Natural Resource Conservation in the Brazilian Amazon').

Research Team

charles-palmer-200x200 Dr Charles Palmer (c.palmer1@lse.ac.uk)

Dr Palmer is the project’s Principal Investigator (PI) in the UK team. He is based at the LSE Department of Geography and Environment since 2009 and is also an Associate at the LSE Latin American and the Caribbean Centre. Charles holds a BA in Biological Sciences from Oxford University, an MSc in Environmental and Resource Economics from University College London, and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Bonn, Germany. He primarily works in the fields of environmental and development economics, has published widely, and has worked for a number of international organisations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York, and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia. Dr Palmer’s research focuses on forest management and land-use in tropical countries in Africa, Central and South America.


grace-iara-200x200Dr Grace Iara Souza (g.i.souza@lse.ac.uk) 

Dr Souza is the Research Officer, responsible for the overall management of the project, particularly the liaison between stakeholders in the UK and Brazil. She is based at the LSE Latin American and the Caribbean Centre since May 2020, having previously worked at the LSE Department of Social Policy between 2017 and 2019. Grace holds a BA in International Relations from the Laureate International University in São Paulo, an MA in Environmental Politics and Globalisation and a PhD in Political Ecology, both from King’s College London. For her PhD thesis, Dr Souza has conducted intensive fieldwork with riverine communities, protected area managers, and NGO workers in the Lower River Negro region, where this research is taking place, and in the Brazilian Federal Capital. Her research focuses on human security and political ecologies of development, conservation, and peasant societies, with particular interest on historical invisibility, agency, and forms of resistance, power dynamics, drivers and funders of deforestation, social policies, and identities in Brazil and Latin America more broadly. Before coming to the LSE, Grace held teaching positions at SOAS and King’s College London. She is a Fellow of the King’s Brazil Institute, the High Education Academy, and the co-founder of CLOSER, a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research group on Brazilian socio-environmental research.

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Professor Helder Cruz da Silva (helder@ufam.edu.br)

Dr Silva is the lead investigator in the Brazilian team. He is an Adjunct Professor and the Head of the Department of Electricity at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) since 2014. Helder has a BSc and MSc in Electric Engineering and a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Systems. With expertise in renewable energy installations, he was also the leader investigator of the STAR Energy Project in Brazil. He has extensive experience both in the academic and private sector. His research interests include distributed generation systems and power systems analysis.

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Dr Edilza Laray de Jesus (ejesus@uea.edu.br)

Dr de Jesus is a partner investigator for the Brazilian team. Edilza was the Brazil lead investigator for the ‘Participatory Approaches to Natural Resource Conservation in the Brazilian Amazon' project and remains an unvaluable research partner. She is member of the University of the State of Amazonas’ Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Programme in Human Sciences, teaching courses on geography, rural education and social development, tourism, and pedagogy since 2009. She is also the leader of a research group on Interdisciplinary Studies of Amazonian Culture (NEICAM) at the same institution. She holds a BA in Geography, an MSc in Environmental Education and a PhD in Education.

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Dr Alessandro Bezerra Trindade (alessandrotrindade@ufam.edu.br)

Dr Trindade is the researcher and responsible for the fieldwork and deployment of solar photovoltaic systems in Brazil. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Electricity Department of Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) since 2015. Alessandro is an Electrical Engineer with a master’s degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in Computing. His research interests include rural electrification and computing tools applied to power systems.

Intended outputs

i. To quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the socio-economic impacts (energy demand, income, gender implications, and greenhouse gas emissions) of installing solar photovoltaic energy systems using different configurations;

ii. To provide recommendations for expanding access to, and improving the quality of, electricity generated by solar photovoltaic energy systems to other communities that are enrolled in PBF;

iii. To generate an evidence base that will have the potential to improve public policy impact, private investments and environmental governance;

iv. To increase user engagement and participation in the decision-making process related to, and management of, photovoltaic solar systems;

v. To initiate, and in some cases expand, the dialogue with the private sector on the challenges and benefits of solar energy in the region.

Publications

  • A paper based on a quantitative analysis on socio-economic impacts of electrification via the installation of solar photovoltaic systems

  • A project report documenting all project activities and outcomes

  • Policy briefs to document the project's findings

  • Blog posts

  • Videos

  • Partnership with one or more private sector actors

Events

  • Workshops to disseminate project findings to community members

  • Symposium to showcase project findings to practitioners and academics

  • Event in Brasilia to engage with policy-makers and practitioners at the federal level

About the Newton Fund Impact Scheme

The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with 17 active partner countries to support their economic development and social welfare, and to develop their research and innovation capacity for long-term sustainable growth. It has a total UK Government investment of £735 million up until 2021, with matched resources from the partner countries.

The Newton Fund is managed by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and delivered through seven UK delivery partners, which includes UK Research and Innovation (comprising the seven research councils and Innovate UK), the UK Academies, the British Council and the Met Office.

 

Photo banner: Daily life of people in the Amazon, Brazil (CIFOR). Neil Palmer/CIAT, 2011, Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.