10. Integrating the Social Dimension into New Business Models for Energy Access

In the last decades, the issue of energy access has attracted increasing attention from both academic and practitioners and the debate has gone beyond purely technical issues, raising the interest of the public opinion and private citizens. Particular attention has been given to the question: how private and public organizations can ensure energy access to everybody? From this perspective, this Chapter aims to analyze and discuss three cases of social proactive organizations in the energy sector in order to highlight how they have succeeded in combining social values with environmental and financial sustainability. New business models aiming at reaching low-income communities with efficient and sustainable energy systems should take into account all social aspects linked to the energy supply chain from production, distribution to final use and ensure the active participation of local communities. This ensures that energy access initiatives lead to effective results in terms of industrial and manufacturing activities but also contribute to improve health, education and livelihoods.