Towards community energy resilience

Developing countries face multiple stresses and shocks that cause significant disruption to critical infrastructures including energy. Climate change is acting as a threat multiplier and countries need to make long-term adaption plans and cope with higher levels of uncertainty. Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be maintained without developing societies and economies building more resilience into their infrastructural backbone, including in the energy sector. But what does it mean to incorporate greater resilience into a community, and how can resilience be encouraged and developed, in particular at the community level?

This chapter explores the responses of communities to these challenges and develops the concept of community energy resilience. Firstly, we examine definitions of resilience and community resilience and how they relate to energy services. Secondly, we discuss energy resilience in the broader context of the community and the research needs identified during a series of workshops with experts from energy access and disaster risk reduction. Thirdly, we take a deep dive into the case study of Nepal after the major earthquake in 2015, an event that displaced 2.6 million people. Lastly, we will reflect on the concept of community energy resilience in relation to forced migration and avenues for further research.