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Origin Story In Distributed Renewables
- Emily McAteer began working on distributed renewables after a 2009 lecture and a Fulbright in India focused on small-scale solar.
- Early work prioritized kerosene-to-solar transitions and seeded her interest in larger mini-grid systems.
Reality Of 'Electrified' Grids
- Emily labels India among the 'nopest' grids because poles were counted as electrified despite no wires or service.
- She contrasts that with unstable but organized outages in South Africa and frequent outages in Nigeria.
Mini Grid Field Reality
- Emily's favorite DERs are mini grids: solar, storage, diesel backup, and a small distribution network serving 100–500 kW.
- Most customers use prepaid smart meters and pay from phones, allowing remote unlocking of power.