The pivotal role of open source knowledge transfer to achieve universal energy access

Community-company collaboration based on open source technologies is emerging as an alternative to proprietary solutions for planning, implementation, and maintenance of localized access to clean renewable electricity. We highlight some recent breakthroughs in creation of local technology ecosystems that follow an open access approach to knowledge transfer. On the other hand, on top of engineering, manufacturing, and maintenance questions, community led projects need to address social acceptance, economic viability, and regulatory barriers. Despite these barriers, open source in energy access is expanding and new sustainable business models are practiced. By comparing the advances in open source hardware scholarship with that of free and open source software, we anticipate an increasing communal pressure for adopting open-source friendly innovation policies. Academia and in particular university knowledge transfer policies play an essential role in achieving universal energy access via open source technologies.