Perceived unknowns about gridless water, sanitation and energy services

The report outlines systemic barriers to gridless services, emphasizing that failures often stem from a lack of understanding of user needs, regulatory gaps, and financial instability rather than technical performance.

• Stakeholders identified that the progress of gridless technological solutions is hindered by a lack of understanding regarding their benefits, challenges, and potential trade-offs.
• Significant barriers to the uptake of gridless solutions include regulatory gaps, a lack of information on how these solutions are compatible with existing gridded systems, and a need for better financial models to support innovation and start-ups.
• In the water and sanitation sector, perceived gaps are heavily concentrated on financial aspects across the product-development lifecycle and the role of governance in meeting user needs.
• In the energy sector, stakeholders highlighted critical gaps in local skills and training, the capacity for local manufacturing to generate employment, and the need for sustainable business models.
• Across both sectors, there is a recurring need to better integrate user needs, preferences, and social equity—specifically distributional justice—into the design and delivery of services.
• There is a notable lack of reflection and regulatory attention regarding the disassembly of gridless products at the end of their life cycle, which the report suggests could be an untapped business opportunity for local value chains.

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} }