Alleviating energy poverty in developing countries through utilization of diaspora finances in renewable energy projects

Unlike the rapid advancement in accessing electricity in the past two decades, there are huge numbers of people all over the world who suffer from energy poverty. Most of these people live in remote areas and sparse populations. The consensual solution for this problem is off-grid electrification based on the potential of renewable energies but there is a financial scarcity to support this initiative. It seems that diaspora finances and especially remittances will be an opportunity for developing countries to overcome this impasse since remittances is the most stable and everincreasing financial flow from developed to developing countries. In this research, I try to test the viability of this idea by investigating some cases of previous or ongoing projects that make the connection between diaspora finances and renewable energy in Haiti, Bolivia, and the African continent by solar companies. I find that diaspora finances can play an important role in different levels of finance generating electricity from clean energy resources but it is not possible to be the main financial resource of these projects and is more effective in the blended finance method. The other important matters for making a success story are related to building trust with diaspora communities on the push side of these initiatives and having a robust distribution network in the target community on the pull side. These requirements make partnerships with local stakeholders an inevitable element of these projects in an interactive business model.