Building up climate resilience of vulnerable remote island communities in Southeast Asia through electrification

Southeast Asia is one of the regions most affected by impacts of climate change. Unusual natural disasters in combination with uncertainties in seasonality due to changing weather conditions in recent years underline this fact dramatically. Rising sea levels, in addition, show the urgency to build up climate resilience of the region’s most vulnerable areas. This is especially true for remote communities located on numerous small islands. In addition, the communities face the problem of limited, expensive and unreliable supply of electricity, if existent. Their electricity access is mostly restricted to unreliable, expensive, and environmentally harmful diesel power generation. The limited electricity access hampers social and economic development and withholds access to information, healthcare, and education opportunities. This PhD research project combines both of the aforementioned challenges of island communities in Southeast Asia and analyzes the interdependencies of sustainable electrification approaches and their impact on local climate resilience. It aims to understand the impacts of sustainable electrification on local livelihoods and to identify electrification strategies that are suited best for a specific group of islands. This includes social and economic compatibility. It is also important to design and adapt the electricity systems in a way that they are climate resistant themselves. This means that they will have to resist extreme weather events caused by climate change and support emergency response mechanisms as well as quick recovery.

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