This report covers several areas about energy access, its integration into national planning frameworks within the Latin American and Caribbean regions, energy consumption trends, social and environmental impact of reforms and emerging planning frameworks for energy in development. The report also provides recommendations, guides for general considerations in energy planning and best practices for implementation vis-a-vis the Millennium Development Goals.

Lighting a Billion Lives is a global initiative to facilitate clean energy access and the delivery of last mile energy services for basic and productive use. The initiative enables energy poor communities to transition from traditional and inefficient energy sources to modern, more efficient and sustainable energy solutions. The initiative accelerates market development for clean energy technologies through knowledge sharing, capacity building and market seeding.

This report provides the results of a review of the evidence that investments in electricity-generating capacity have benefits for poor people, and what factors influence that relationship. The review begins by elucidating a theory to break down the causal chain between additional renewable electricity generation capacity and poverty impacts in four stages or links, which can be formulated as four research questions: (1) What is the link between increased renewable electricity capacity and higher availability and reliability of supply?

This report highlights two underutilized but fully implementable technologies that efficiently integrate heat and electricity systems, provide flexibility and enhance energy security. It examines what restricts co‑generation and efficient district heating and cooling systems that can help de-carbonize the energy system.

Utility Transformation: Scenario Planning Process and Outputs

Objective: Support utilities’ understanding of the pace of change in the energy sector, and inform intentional decisions to capture value and opportunities in a changingenergy landscape.

The Advanced Energy Centre facilitates thefollowing process to achieve its core objective:

Short statement of Practical Action's commitment to delivering energy access made at the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Forum in New York, April 2015