Research & Development
CommUnity Energy insights Framework
(CUE-F)
What is CUE-F?
The CommUnity Energy insights Framework (CUE-F) is an open access framework developed by Energy Action Partners (ENACT) to address a key challenge in rural energy access: the disconnect between project design and community realities. In many contexts, factors that shape demand, long-term sustainability, and project success are not consistently reflected in planning processes. CUE-F helps bridge this gap by translating community-level conditions into structured indicators that support more context-aware, grounded, and community-aligned energy access planning.
CUE-F responds to a common gap in mini-grid development, where system design is often not fully aligned with the socio-economic conditions of the communities it aims to serve. By translating community-level insights into a more structured and usable planning tool, CUE-F supports practitioners, developers, funders, and other stakeholders working toward more grounded, context-aware, and community-aligned energy access projects.
Bridging Community Realities in Energy Planning
Why do well-designed mini-grid projects still struggle in practice?
How does CUE-F tackle these struggles?
Explore it. Try it. Help shape it.
Many mini-grid projects are built on strong technical and financial foundations, yet still face challenges because community conditions, such as governance, livelihoods, local priorities, and patterns of energy use, are not always captured in a structured, usable way.
CUE-F is an open-access framework that assesses community readiness across nine pillars, helping translate community realities into a more structured profile that can support clearer, more grounded energy planning and decision-making.
Test the framework in your own context, and leave feedback through the visualisation to help strengthen how community realities are reflected in energy planning.
