System building in the Kenyan electrification regime: The case of private solar mini-grid development

Pedersen, Mathilde Brix; Nygaard, Ivan

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2018.03.010

Cited by 39 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The trajectory of village-sized mini grids started in the turn of the millennium in some countries of West Africa (Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali) and also Morocco, with more than 200 systems by 2018 [29]. While the first mini grids were financed with donors and international support, lately, a strong inclusion of private companies focusing on the business of mini grids for rural electrification has been seen.…”

Section: Mini Grid Deployment and Tendersmentioning

confidence: 99%

State-of-the-Art of Mini Grids for Rural Electrification in West Africa

2021

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The current electrification status in West African countries presents rural electrification rates below 40%, national grid losses above 39% with frequent disruptions, and electricity prices averaging $0.35/kWh, up to national values of $0.66/kWh. With this, off-grid systems have gained great attention during the last decade as energy solutions; especially solar home systems (SHS) and mini grids. Nowadays, 385 mini grids with a power of near 30 MW are operating in West Africa, with 95% based on PV. Since 2019, result-based tenders with international aid funding—more effective than previous competitive tenders—seek to install at least 317 new mini grids in Togo, 250 in Nigeria, 100 in Burkina Faso, and two in Mali. Besides, the market for mini-grid energy access start-ups grew from $19 million in 2013 to $339 million in 2018. Despite this recent development in West Africa, research and data for mini grids in this region is scarce, and it is mostly approached from the technological side, with a striking lack of information regarding the social impact. This work tries to describe the present status of research and current operating installations, as well as the main challenges for future development of off grid mini grids in West Africa, which pose as the missing link between SHS and grid extension.

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Section: Mini Grid Deployment and Tendersmentioning

confidence: 99%

State-of-the-Art of Mini Grids for Rural Electrification in West Africa

2021

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“…The latter casts analytical attention on the ways technology and innovation co-evolve with social practices and broader social institutions, creating dominant socio-technical regimes and path dependency that new niches of sustainable technology struggle to compete with and influence in new, sustainable directions. Importantly, as several authors have now shown in relation to energy access (e.g., [8,16,[39][40][41][42]), these socio-technical regimes can look different in remote areas of low-income countries to those studied in the Global North; the latter being the empirical context within which the majority of the socio-technical transitions literature has emerged to date (as analysed, for example, in a recent special issue, see [43,44]). Nevertheless, as demonstrated by the aforementioned recent contributions, these low-income contexts are still subject to similar dynamics, where everyday practices and powerful economic and political interests align with dominant socio-technical regimes (e.g., in the supply of kerosene for cooking and lighting), or with potentially unsustainable alternatives (e.g., expanding grid-connected, coal-fired electricity supply), implying continued utility for socio-technical transitions perspectives within low-income contexts.…”

Section: National Contexts For Fostering Innovation Including Technomentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Pay-As-You-Go, Digitally Enabled Business Models Support Sustainability Transformations in Developing Countries? Outstanding Questions and a Theoretical Basis for Future Research

et al. 2019

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This paper examines the rapidly emerging and rapidly changing phenomenon of pay-as-you-go (PAYG), digitally enabled business models, which have had significant early success in providing poor people with access to technologies relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (e.g., for electricity access, water and sanitation, and agricultural irrigation). Data are analysed based on literature review, two stakeholder workshops (or "transformation labs"), and stakeholder interviews (engaging 41 stakeholders in total). This demonstrates the existing literature on PAYG is patchy at best, with no comprehensive or longitudinal, and very little theoretically grounded, research to date. The paper contributes to existing research on PAYG, and sustainability transformations more broadly, in two key ways. Firstly, it articulates a range of questions that remain to be answered in order to understand and deliver against the current and potential contribution of PAYG in affecting sustainability transformations (the latter we define as achieving environmental sustainability and social justice). These questions focus at three levels: national contexts for fostering innovation and technology uptake, the daily lives of poor and marginalised women and men, and global political economies and value accumulation. Secondly, the paper articulates three areas of theory (based on emerging critical social science research on sustainable energy access) that have potential to support future research that might answer these questions, namely: socio-technical innovation system-building, social practice, and global political economy and value chain analysis. Whilst recognising existing tensions between these three areas of theory, we argue that rapid sustainability transformations demand a level of epistemic pragmatism. Such pragmatism, we argue, can be achieved by situating research using any of the above areas of theory within the broader context of Leach et al.'s (2010) Pathways Approach. This allows for exactly the kind of interdisciplinary approach, based on a commitment to pluralism and the co-production of knowledge, and firmly rooted commitment to environmental sustainability and social justice that the SDGs demand.

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“…While purely private models, in which private mini-grid developers rely on private equity and commercial loans to electrify rural villages, exist these models face various policy barriers to upscaling. Although the Kenyan electricity market has been liberalized and opened up to private sector involvement (Kapika & Eberhard, 2013), the current regulatory and policy frameworks are not conducive to private mini-grid development (Pedersen & Nygaard, 2018). Lack of clear policies on options for grid-integration in cases where the national grid arrives at a privately operated site, as well as a national uniform tariff level, are some of the main barriers facing private mini-grid developers.…”

Section: Policy Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable development impacts of nationally determined contributions: assessing the case of mini-grids in Kenya

et al. 2019

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As of today, access to electricity is still unavailable to 1.1 billion people in the world, half of which live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Projections suggest that this share will increase, leaving millions of people with limited development prospects. Kenya's nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the 2015 Paris Agreement includes a commitment to expand power supply, and in doing so, provide all its citizens with access to electricity. Access in rural areas, where the majority remains unconnected, is planned to be reached through different technologies. These include mini-grids, which are expected to bring multiple sustainable development benefits. However, comprehensive studies looking at synergies and trade-offs between environmental, social, and economic impacts of mini-grids are scarce. Analyzing the expected contribution of mini-grids to targets such as the NDC and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can provide evidence-based decision-support to policymakers, thus promoting well-designed and sustainable rural electrification policies. By using the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) Sustainable Development Methodology, this paper goes beyond the calculation of greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts resulting from access to modern electricity, analyzing also other environmental and socioeconomic implications of 146 solar PV mini grids under construction in Kenya. Using specific targets from the SDG framework, the paper presents a combined qualitative and quantitative analysis of the extent to which mini-grids can contribute to the implementation of Kenya's NDC and to sustainable development priorities. Key policy insights • The deployment of mini-grids is expected to lower the GHG emissions of the villages currently without access to electricity by 71%. • This contributes to 0.4% of the current NDC target for the power sector, in line with the capacity of the systems analyzed. • This action is expected to also bring about positive impacts on electricity access, indoor air quality, healthcare, education and economic activities, which are found to contribute to 16 SDG targets. • Apart from the economic investment required, possible negative impacts are associated with the electronic waste generated at the end-of-life of the mini-grids. • Accounting for sustainable development impacts of policies can increase support among policymakers for climate action, and ultimately raise ambition.

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System building in the Kenyan electrification regime: The case of private solar mini-grid development

Cited by 39 publications

References 36 publications

State-of-the-Art of Mini Grids for Rural Electrification in West Africa

State-of-the-Art of Mini Grids for Rural Electrification in West Africa

Can Pay-As-You-Go, Digitally Enabled Business Models Support Sustainability Transformations in Developing Countries? Outstanding Questions and a Theoretical Basis for Future Research

Sustainable development impacts of nationally determined contributions: assessing the case of mini-grids in Kenya

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