Perceived unknowns about gridless water, sanitation and energy services

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) identifies perceived knowledge gaps and barriers hindering the adoption of 'gridless' (decentralized) water, sanitation, and energy services. Based on workshops with 48 global stakeholders, the report argues that project failures often stem from socio-technical and systemic issues—such as regulatory mismatches, lack of user-centric design, and unsustainable business models—rather than technical performance.

• Gridless solutions, which include modular technologies like solar home systems, electrical mini-grids, and decentralized desalination plants, face significant barriers across their entire life cycle, from R&D to disassembly. Common obstacles include regulatory mismatches, a lack of sustainable business models, and an inadequate understanding of end-user expectations.
• In the gridless water and sanitation sector, stakeholders identified critical gaps regarding the role of governments in implementation and the need for better financial models. Key concerns include the lack of incentives for governments to upgrade regulations and the difficulty of monetizing positive social and environmental externalities to make resource recovery financially viable.
• The gridless energy sector is hindered by gaps in local workforce skills, training, and the capacity to establish viable markets. Stakeholders emphasized the need to balance the development of scalable, widely applicable solutions with the specific needs of individual users, while ensuring social justice and 'last-mile' access for marginalized communities.
• Across both energy and water/sanitation sectors, there is a shared lack of knowledge regarding the compatibility between gridded and gridless systems. This includes a need for better alignment of government regulations, business models, and finance to ensure these systems can complement each other.
• Current innovation practices often fail because they focus on technical efficiency and short-term product testing rather than long-term maintenance and local service chains. This narrow focus leads to the implementation of technologies with unrealistic maintenance requirements for their specific contexts.
• There is a significant lack of stakeholder reflection and regulatory attention regarding the disassembly of gridless products at the end of their life cycle. The report suggests that establishing requirements for disassembly could create new local value chains and business opportunities in recycling and repurposing.

APA

Macura, B., Barquet, K., Lambe, F., & Trujillo, A. S. (2021). Perceived unknowns about gridless water, sanitation and energy services. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/perceived-unknowns-about-gridless-water-sanitation-and-energy-services-1.pdf

Chicago

Macura, Biljana, Karina Barquet, Fiona Lambe, and Adriana Soto Trujillo. Perceived unknowns about gridless water, sanitation and energy services. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2021. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/perceived-unknowns-about-gridless-water-sanitation-and-energy-services-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Macura |first1=Biljana |last2=Barquet |first2=Karina |last3=Lambe |first3=Fiona |last4=Trujillo |first4=Adriana Soto |title=Perceived unknowns about gridless water, sanitation and energy services |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=November 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/perceived-unknowns-about-gridless-water-sanitation-and-energy-services-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{macura2021perceived, author = {Macura, Biljana and Barquet, Karina and Lambe, Fiona and Trujillo, Adriana Soto}, title = {{Perceived unknowns about gridless water, sanitation and energy services}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/perceived-unknowns-about-gridless-water-sanitation-and-energy-services-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }