Identifying Effective Electrification Approaches and Combinations Thereof to Meet Universal Electricity Access Targets in Eastern Africa

Abstract

The gains made in increasing electricity access between 2010 and 2018 indicate the benefit of a multi-pronged approach to electrification, which combines on-grid and off-grid electrification approaches and efforts from both public and private actors. The gains still fall short of the rate of increase needed to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030, indicating the need to increase the effectiveness of the multi-pronged approach. To do this the paper applies the triple embeddedness framework theory. Within the scope of Eastern Africa, we consider actors in the delivery of electricity access (irrespective of approach or whether public or private) as delivering similar goods and services, and conceptualize them as a collective entity i.e., firms in the electrification industry. The paper then analyses how these firms are shaped by the industry regime and influenced by the socio-political and economic environments, with a view to identifying where and how external pressure can be exerted to stimulate and facilitate the reorientation and recreation required to make progress towards universal electricity access. Through this exercise we demonstrate that the triple embeddedness framework provides a structured way of laying out the key aspects associated with electrification to create a picture that enables one to ‘see the forest for the trees’ and identify where and how to achieve more effective complementarity between on and off-grid approaches, and public and private firms.