Access to affordable and reliable energy is a prerequisite for development. UN SDG 7 explicitly targets “universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services” by 2030, but more than 730 million people still lacked access to electricity in 2020. In Ethiopia, the lack of electricity is a major obstacle to development and often leads to conflict and instability. Renewable mini-grids provide a viable solution in the area, but the World Bank and their government counterparts need reliable information to be able to identify and prioritise rural communities to be electrified.
Munich-based EO company Village Data Analytics (VIDA) has developed a geospatial intelligence platform that uses free and open satellite imagery from the EU’s Copernicus Sentinel fleet (and for some features, from commercial data providers) that help these operations, reducing planning time and costs. This also helps to understand local conditions and areas where investment could have a long-term, sustainable positive impact on development, by examining, for example, settlement size, agricultural activity and other key derived indicators.