• Energy Research

Abstract It is widely accepted that community engagement is vital for achieving sustainable development outcomes. While governments in several low-income countries have introduced community engagement for their electrification initiatives, the adequacy of traditional top-down approaches to capture community needs has been contested. In this paper, we holistically assess the barriers to needs-centric community engagement. Based on a community survey with 1.016 participants and 54 semi-structured interviews with government institutions and energy businesses in Uganda and Zambia, we unpack the relationships between communities and the public sector, and between communities and energy companies to interrogate the realities of community engagement in rural electrification. We find considerable gaps between community preferences for needs-centric engagement and how public and private sectors are currently engaging. Key institutional barriers for needs-centric community engagement are vertical and horizontal disconnections within the public sector as well as challenging and ineffective sharing of crucial information. For energy companies the main obstacle is the limited value attributed to a deep understanding of community needs. Based on our results, we develop an integrated model for community engagement focused on capturing energy needs. The model combines top-down and bottom-up engagement approaches where public institutions play a catalytic role in setting a flexible enabling environment for energy companies to establish deep connections with local communities, and where communities are given a platform to define and communicate immediate and long-term needs through context-specific means.

Abstract While auctions are becoming increasingly popular for tendering renewable energy projects to private developers in Africa, their specific project risk implications are not yet fully understood. This paper identifies project risks arising from two types of auction schemes. It compares an approach where the government pre-selects the sites for future renewable energy plants in Zambia's Scaling Solar initiative to one where project developers choose, secure and conduct due diligence on their sites before bidding in South Africa's Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REI4P). Semi-structured interviews with developers who have participated in both schemes reveal notably different risk profiles. Despite contrary intentions, site-specific risks have been perceived as the highest overall project risk in the government-led site selection process in Zambia. Specifically, site-specific risks were driven by several severe technical issues such as geotechnical, grid connection and solar irradiation uncertainties. In contrast, in South Africa's developer-led site selection process, site-specific risks have been reported to be important, but less pronounced, and more evenly distributed among technical, economic, legal, permitting and social risk factors. This paper recommends an auction design which minimises project risks for all stakeholders. Where governments pre-select sites, closely consulting the private sector is advisable prior to bidding to identify and mitigate technical and other site-specific risks.

Decentralised renewable energy (RE) systems such as solar PV mini-grids (MG) are considered to be a cornerstone for the strategic achievement of the UN’s energy access goals in the developing world. Many of these systems implemented however face substantial technical, financial and social sustainability challenges which are also a recurring theme in the relevant literature. MG analyses however often lack detailed technical or financial data or apply ‘silo-approaches’ as a comprehensive review of MG case study literature presented in this article reveals. Consequently, this study aims to enhance the understanding of RE MG sustainability in the developing context based on the integrated evaluation of the technical, financial and social dimensions of MG operation through empirical data from community surveys on energy use from Uganda and Zambia and two in-depth MG case studies from Zambia. By presenting detailed technical and financial data in combination with energy consumer perception, the study aims to close existing data gaps on sustainable RE MG operation and offers an approach to evaluate and optimise the operational sustainability of an MG in its individual local context. The article finds that the complex rural community ecosystem is a central, but yet undervalued determinant of MG sustainability in rural developing contexts. The mismatch between energy affordability and MG tariffs threatens MG sustainability and the scaling of energy access projects if not addressed specifically during project development and implementation. Consequently, the article calls for a strategic inclusion of community-ecosystem parameters and MG planning based on realistic energy affordability levels and an added value approach that includes dynamic MG financing mechanisms and targeted measures to generate added value through energy consumption as integral parts of RE MG projects.

Results-based financing (RBF) programmes in the clean cooking sector have gained increasing donor interest over the last decade. Although the risks and advantages of RBF have been discussed quite extensively for other sectors, especially health services, there is limited research-documented experience of its application to clean cooking. Due to the sheer scale of the important transition from ‘dirty’ to clean cooking for the 4 billion people who lack access, especially in the Global South, efficient and performance-proven solutions are urgently required. This paper, undertaken as part of the work of the UKAid-funded Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, aims to close an important research gap by reviewing evidence-based support mechanisms and documenting essential experiences from previous and ongoing RBF programmes in the clean cooking and other sectors. On this basis, the paper derives key strategic implications and learning lessons for the global scaling of RBF programmes and finds that qualitative key performance indicators such as consumer acceptance as well as longer-term monitoring are critical long-term success factors for RBF to ensure the continued uptake and use of clean cooking solutions (CCS), however securing the inclusion of these indicators within programmes remains challenging. Finally, by discussing the opportunities for the evolution of RBF into broader impact funding programmes and the integration of energy access and clean cooking strategies through multi-sector approaches, the paper illustrates potential steps to enhance the impact of RBF in this sector in the future.

Abstract Electrification rates in sub-Saharan Africa are low despite increasing national and international efforts. Good governance is key to translate these efforts into tangible energy access improvements. However, evaluating the quality of energy access governance is challenging due to the multitude of stakeholders involved and its dynamic institutional environment. This paper designs a novel, holistic analytical approach to assess energy access governance based on three data collection methods: Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA), semi-structured stakeholder interviews and closed surveys. It assesses energy access governance along six indicators. Applying this approach to the previously unstudied cases of energy access governance in Uganda and Zambia allows us to induce a new model of the type of interdependencies between different indicators of good governance. It suggests that while a multitude of feedback loops between indicators exist, basic rule of law and transparency standards are critical prerequisites for accountability and inclusiveness, which in turn foster efficacy and, ultimately, responsiveness of energy access governance. For Uganda and Zambia specifically, our analyses reveal shortcomings across all six governance indicators, hampering electrification efforts. Key levers include completing regulatory frameworks, improving transparency, and designing meaningful interactions between stakeholders to foster inclusiveness, and responsiveness of energy access governance.