Energy services are highly interconnected with socio-economic development and human well-being. Yet, life without reliable energy is a reality for more than 675 million people globally, while more than 2 billion people use polluting fuels to cook their meals. Addressing the critical challenge of extending energy access to the unserved and underserved communities, more than six decades after full electrification in Europe and the United States, is imperative. Unfortunately, the current trajectory falls short. The latest SDG 7 Tracking Report highlights that the world is off course in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 by 2030, with 85% of those without electricity residing in Sub-Saharan Africa. The repercussions of this shortfall are significant, with adverse impacts on societies and economies: inadequate healthcare persists, educational institutions struggle to provide quality education, and agricultural and industrial sectors face competitiveness challenges in regions where reliable energy remains elusive. Despite efforts such as grid extension, community-run mini-grids, and individual household solutions, progress has been insufficient because these solutions haven't been delivered at scale, in a coordinated way. We urgently require access to data, analytical tools and innovative strategies to deliver affordable, reliable, and clean energy to those who lack access to it. While existing solutions have primarily focused on supply-side and technology-centric approaches, there's a crucial need to prioritize demand-side perspectives to truly meet the needs of users, whether households or institutions.

What is the Energy Access Explorer (EAE)? To help address this challenge, WRI, in collaboration with partners has developed the Energy Access Explorer (https://www.energyaccessexplorer.org/; https://github.com/energyaccessexplorer) (EAE), a data-driven, integrated and inclusive approach to achieving universal access to energy for equitable, socio-economic development. EAE is the first, open-source, online and interactive geospatial platform that enables energy planners, clean energy entrepreneurs, donors, and development institutions to identify high-priority areas for energy access interventions. EAE functions also as a dynamic information system, reducing software engineering and data transaction costs for both data providers and users and facilitating data management and governance.

Use cases With over 25,000 users, 48% of which are women, EAE users can customize the analysis and identify areas of interest based on their perspective. More specifically, the use of this platform enables the following:

Energy Planning Agencies improve the ways integrated and inclusive planning is carried out using a data-informed approach. They will explore the potential for grid extension, off grid systems, clean cooking technologies and renewables for expanding energy access where needed the most. Clean Energy Enterprises, especially the ones with limited or no market intelligence / GIS capacity in house, identify new market opportunities. They will access demographic, socio-economic data, consumer ability to pay for energy services combined with information on energy resource availability and power infrastructure to locate priority areas for expanding their businesses. Service Delivery Institutions in the health, education, productive use of energy, agriculture sectors get a better understanding of energy needs associated to development services. Clean Cooking agencies identify areas where the uptake of clean cooking technologies should be prioritized based on location specific data on demand, supply and environment. Donors and Development Finance Institutions identify areas where their grants and investment will have the most impact.

Outcomes to Date To date, EAE has contributed to: the Powering Healthcare Roadmap of the Government of Zambia and the Powering Healthcare initiative of the Health Ministry in Uganda, the development of local, integrated and inclusive County Energy Plans in Kenya, to support the 0.5 billion USD Africa Mini Grid and the Energizing Agriculture Program in Nigeria, to inform the results based financing scheme for off grid electrification in Ethiopia and to establish cross sectoral EAE working groups enabling an integrated and inclusive approach to planning.