For a fascinating and in-depth — if also somewhat despair-inducing — account of efforts to build a modern energy infrastructure in Afghanistan, be sure to check out Glenn Zorpette’s article in this month’s IEEE Spectrum.

“Re-engineering Afghanistan” illustrates more vividly than any whitepaper the vast assortment of obstacles (sadly, far too many of them self-induced) that stand in the way of bringing reliable electricity to parts of the world that don’t have it.

Here’s one choice quote from Zorpette’s introduction to the state of the grid in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan:

“Our destination is the only electrical substation within city limits, a creaky relic from the 1970s outfitted with Bulgarian switchgear and other electrical esoterica, including a 25-megavolt- ampere transformer that’s so old it has to be hosed down on hot days to keep it from overheating.”

Among other things the article highlights (if one can call them that):

• Kandahar’s 850,000 residents can, at best, access around 40 megawatts of energy. By contrast, a nearby NATO base that’s home to around 30,000 people, can plug into about 100 megawatts of electricity.
• The regions’ linemen, few of whom can read, have no protective gear and climb up utility poles wearing their regular clothes and sandals.
• Power plants with diesel-powered generators have trouble accessing the fuel, and the cost leads electricity to be far too expensive. With Afghanistan’s national utility charging well below break-even rates and little in the way of collections from customers, power plants rely on the US and the World Bank to cover the “tens of millions of dollars a year” in diesel costs.
• The decision to build diesel facilities also flies in the face of Afghanistan’s large hydroelectric potential, estimated at 23,000 megawatts.

At the end of it all, Zorbette comes to a discouraging conclusion:

“As theories about counterinsurgency were endlessly debated … (n)one was more radical than the proposition that helping ordinary people become more comfortable and productive could be as valuable, in military terms, as killing bad guys.

“Was that proposition right? We will never know for sure.”

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