Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is home to 75% of the worldâs unelectrified population, and approximately 500 million of these live in rural areas. Off-grid mini-grids are being deployed on a large scale to address the regionâs electrification inequalities. This study aims to provide a comprehensive review of the research on the off-grid renewable mini-grids in SSA. The study covers the current status of the level of deployment of off-grid mini-grids. It also reviews multi-criteria decision-making models for optimizing engineering, economics, and management interests in mini-grid siting and design in SSA. The statuses of financing, policy, and tariffs for mini-grids in SSA are also studied. Finally, the current status of energy justice research in respect of mini-grids in SSA is reviewed. The study shows the important role of decentralized renewable technologies in the electrification of SSAâs rural population. Within a decade since 2010, the rural electrification rate of SSA has increased from 17% to 28%, and 11 million mini-grid connections are currently operational. Despite these gains, the literature points to several injustices related to the present model by which SSAâs renewable mini-grids are funded, deployed, and operated. Hence, several recommendations are provided for the effective application of the energy justice framework (EJF) for just and equitable mini-grids in SSA.
Abstract The transition to âSDG7 -modern and sustainable energy for allâ may reconfigure the lives of citizens who live âoutside the gridâ in the rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The decentralization approach for developing renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa has constantly been promoted as a means to rural electrification. This paper reviews the barriers to private sector participation in decentralized electrification projects and the solutions that have been proposed and implemented. It is not only the economic approaches that are analysed but also some of the solutions or drivers that have contributed to rural electrification. There are specific technological pathways which have proven fruitful in sub-Saharan Africa that are unique to its economic and demographic settings and that otherwise would not be adopted or used in developed countries. This paper finally analyses these technological pathways with the objective of matching the drivers and obstacles to potential solutions. Long term energy planning with the integration of regional power pools is instrumental to reduce CAPEX as well as to increase the market size. Blended financing together with already working technologies such as pay-as-you-go, and mobile money will be the pillars to meeting SDG7 goals.
As part of the Kyoto Protocol, several Sub-Saharan Africa countries vowed to use more renewable energy sources, and the number of Sub-Saharan Africa countries that have undertaken renewable energy initiatives has expanded considerably over the preceding decade. However, assuring demand while reducing climate change has always been one of the most significant difficulties confronting the global energy sector. This review looks at the state of practical renewable energy interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa countries over the last decade (2010-2020), focusing on infrastructure development and accessibility, decentralization, distribution, and communal acceptance, donor funding and private sector involvement, and the role of state political influence in renewable energy strategies. This study's findings suggest that renewable energy interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa are based on mature and commercialized technologies, that natural resources for energy generation have not been fully explored, and that ongoing research and development on raw material or feedstock availability will benefit regional and national projects. The findings also show that off-grid technology interventions exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the adoption of a decentralized approach to renewable energy generation, particularly in rural areas, financing, and the need for integrated project design and implementation, which includes factors such as community mobilization, social, economic, institutional, and technical engagement, have all hampered the implementation of such technologies.
Karen Mould, FĂĄbio Silva, S. Knott, Brian OâRegan
Solar and wind energy technologies, due to their nature of weather dependency, have been recognized as not the complete solution for the renewable energy transition. Creating a solution for the short fall is empirical if we are to remove the dependency on fossil fuels and reach net zero targets. The production of hydrogen, biogas and other gases can be produced sustainably, which can also allow for the utilization of waste materials or the ability to store energy and allow a greater positive impact on our environment. However, production of these gases is not always as transparent or environmentally friendly as perceived, so with the aid of certification and blockchain, we can create a system that can guarantee their environmentally positive origin, and ultimately help assist the transition to a greener future. This paper explores the varying production methods, with consideration to their environmental impact, and the implications of the use of certificates and blockchain to monitor production, trade and usage.
Sabrina Lee Chartier, Vinod Kumar Venkiteswaran, Shriram S. Rangarajan, E.R. Collins · 5 authors
Microgrids are emerging throughout the world as a means of integrating decentralized, renewable energy power generation. The flexibility of this customer-driven, behind the meter solution allows it to address unique challenges. This variability that drives microgrid adoption is the same thing that keeps them from being categorized and repeatable. This lack of specific modeling leads to a stalling in financing and wide-scale adoption. By analyzing the microgrid system development, evolution, architecture, integration zones, technological advances, and business models, a clearer picture of how these entities are intertwined emerges. Several case studies of deployed microgrids will showcase the cutting-edge solutions they apply. The future implications of this new energy revolution will be highlighted and shown to create an energy generation equilibrium and the significant role played by microgrids in this new energy revolution. Although many compilations of research work on microgrids have been previously presented by various reviewers, most of them are specific to an electrical or power quality-related issue, which addresses a discrete audience. This work only includes within its scope a general outlook of microgrids and the present-day challenges in its use of rural/urban renewable energy production and distribution. The results allowed for the researchers to conclude that microgrids have emerged as a great solution in situations where energy has to be transmitted from a decentralized system to a centralized system. Challenges will arise in the microgrid management and government laws and regulations if rectified microgrids can lead to an equilibrium between decentralized and centralized bulk energy networks.
Abstract Since the early beginnings of the electricity system, storage has been of high relevance for balancing supply and demand. Through expanded electricity production by variable renewable technologies such as wind and photovoltaics, the discussion about new options for storage technologies is emerging. In addition, the electricity markets were subject to remarkable alterations. Some developments which describe these changes are increasing electricity generation from variable renewables and the continuing decentralization. These developments have led, among other required transformations, to demands for additional capacities of storage technologies. However, their economics will play a crucial role in their effective market penetration in the following years. The core objective of this work is to conduct a review on the relevance of storage options for electricity and its costs, economics, welfare effects, and on issues of electricity market design. In addition, based on expected Technological Learning prospects for future economics are derived. The major result is that the perspectives of electricity storage systems from an economic viewpoint are highly dependent on the storage's operation time, the nature of the overall system, availability of other flexibility options, and sector coupling. All marketâbased storage technologies have to prove their performance in the large electricity markets or if applied decentralized, the (battery) systems compete with the electricity prices at the final customers level when the battery costs are also taken into consideration. Yet, new storage capacities should only be added when it is clear that electricity generation from variable renewables will also be expanded in a way that excess generation is expected. This article is categorized under: Policy and Economics > Green Economics and Financing Energy and Power Systems > Energy Infrastructure Emerging Technologies > Energy Storage
Alexander Ryota Keeley, Shunsuke Managi, 2 World Bank Disaster Risk Management Hub, Tokyo, Japan
Still a lot of Indonesia's population lacks access to electricity, and a large number of those people live in remote areas or on islands. Traditionally, electrification of areas not yet connected to the main electricity grid and too remote for grid extension has mainly been achieved through installation of decentralized generation units with diesel generators. However, with decreased cost of renewable energy technologies, renewable hybrid mini-grid systems are becoming economically viable options in an ever-increasing number of places. This paper analyzes the economic viability of renewable hybrid mini-grid systems with solar Photo-Voltaic cells, batteries, and diesel generators in a typical un-electrified village in Indonesia employing local data. The analysis is conducted by utilizing HOMER simulation techniques to design the optimal renewable hybrid mini-grid systems and the economic viability assessment of the system is performed by comparing the levelized cost of energy of the system with that of the conventional diesel system under different financial scenarios. Further financial analyses, such as Internal Rate of Return and Net Present Value, are performed for the hybrid systems to investigate what kind of financial scenarios (debt/equity ratios) and public aid (international aid and government fund), would make the hybrid systems attractive to private investors. The analysis has clarified that even at the most conservative scenario with 100% equity finance, the levelized cost of energy of the renewable hybrid mini-grid system is lower than that of the diesel system. Further analysis has shown that grant finance that covers 35% of the total project cost could make the hybrid system a profitable investment project for private investors even in the most conservative scenario. The paper also demonstrates that the profitability of renewable hybrid mini-grid systems is highly affected by financial scenarios (debt/equity ratios) in comparison with that of diesel systems, concluding with policy recommendations.
Using a variety of solar power plants is one of the solutions governments use to respond to energy and sustainable development needs. While Iran has a strong potential for using solar energy, the application of solar energy, especially through PV technology, has been limited due to the countryâs richness of fossil fuels and their low prices. Therefore, it is important to adopt effective strategies and policies to promote the development and application of this technology. The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting the use of photovoltaic technology in Iran. To this end, 142 factors were first identified through a comprehensive review of the literature. Then, all of these factors were prioritized and categorized by âsemi-structured interviewâ with 15 energy policy experts. The âcontent analysisâ of the expertsâ opinions showed that only 59 of these factors were considered important at the sectorial level for Iran. Based on the same content analysis, a conceptual framework for the application of decentralized photovoltaic power plants in Iran was developed. The framework shows that 10 generic categories of factors should be considered by policy-makers at the solar energy sector to promote PV technology application in Iran. They include policy factors, institutional factors, finance and budgeting factors, system economy factors, macroeconomic factors, socio-cultural factors, human resource factors, factors influencing capabilities of industries, technological and related infrastructural factors, geographical, climatic and environmental factors, and foreign political factors. It is also emphasized that all these categories should be considered at three levels: industry (electricity industry) level, national level, and international level. Thus, renewable energy policy-makers in Iran should take into account all means that influence these factors in order to improve the conditions for decentralized photovoltaic technology application.
Eventhough Ethiopia is investing a lot in electricity generation and infrastructure, the electricity access rate in the country is one of the lowest in Africa mainly due to inadequate expansion of electricity connection in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to assess the key challenges and the prospect of electricity access in the country and to recommend the way forward to address the electricity access gap. This study mainly used secondary data collected from extensively reviewed documents and also interviews with purposely selected experts and officials to substantiate the findings. According to the findings of this research, the electricity access programs of the country were not effective to meet the electricity access gap. The institutional instability of the sector, less attention to decentralized or off-grid electricity access programs ,lack of financing and private sector engagement have been some of the challenges hindering the enhancement of electricity access in the country. Therefore, establishing a long term and stable institutional structure in the electricity sector, strengthening and expanding decentralized (off-grid) electrification programs, setting a cost reflective electricity tariff (both for local and export) for the sector's sustainability and enhancing the private sector engagement are some of the recommendations of this study to reach the universal electricity access targets of the country
The important energy requirements for the desalination process impose especially in autonomous and decentralized plants supplied by Renewable Energy Sources (RES). In this paper, five alternative energy generation topologies of Reverse Osmosis desalination process are evaluated. The proposed topologies assessed in terms of economic, environmental, technological and societal indices are compared using multi-criteria analysis, namely the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE). Ranking of topologies resulted in the selection of direct connection and hybrid configuration as optimum solutions. In case economic priorities prevail diesel generation should also be considered.
The note focuses on the external \n benefits of rural electrification (RE), i.e., improved \n access to communication, education, and economic \n opportunities, in addition to extended health services. It \n outlines key lessons to scaling up RE, namely macroeconomic \n stability, continued government commitments, and \n institutional capacity. However, it also suggests that grid \n extension is not always cost-effective, rather, \n decentralized delivery options, and alternative energy \n sources, such as solar photovoltaic, mini-hydro, and other \n renewable energy sources should be considered. Moreover, \n good practices indicate the need for power sector reform, \n regulatory framework with legal guarantees that utilities \n can operate autonomously, and, financial viability, that is, \n to ensure commercialization, and identify a cost-recovery \n system that takes into account capital investment costs, and \n contributions levels. Strongly emphasized is the involvement \n of local communities in the design, and implementation of \n RE, by setting rural electrification committees, and by \n establishing institutional, and organizational procedures \n for project planning.