• Energy Research
• 13. Climate action close

Abstract There is a paucity of data on energy access in refugee camps and limited analysis regarding the viability of modern energy technologies such as solar home systems in these contexts. This paper addresses these by presenting an overview of the household and small enterprise electricity access situation in Kigeme, Nyabiheke and Gihembe camps in Rwanda and through the application of a Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) analysis to assess the barriers influencing solar home system provision. Most households and small enterprises currently have limited or no access to electricity and there is significant unmet demand for energy services such as mobile phone charging, lighting, and entertainment in the camps. The analysis suggests that solar home systems can meet these energy needs and identifies important factors in ensuring projects are successful. Projects should be informed by the needs and priorities of end-users and should be aligned with national policies, such as achieving Tier 2 energy access, to garner political support. Where possible, local market systems should be nurtured to normalise paying for energy products and to avoid free distribution. This can support private sector engagement and result in longer system lifetimes through improved maintenance. Energy literacy programmes can also improve awareness of solar home systems and their benefits compared to traditional sources of energy. These findings can inform practitioners on the supporting policy/financial frameworks, design requirements and implementation measures needed to maximise the benefits of future solar home system projects and help achieve electrification targets.

Abstract Off-grid renewable energy technologies are important in improving electricity access for rural communities. However, methods for ensuring their sustainable operation are often poorly understood. In this article, existing approaches for the assessment of off-grid projects are examined. Reliability of the technology, financial viability and community engagement are identified as the 3 key areas governing the sustainability of projects. Focusing on these areas, a methodology is proposed to understand the sustainability of micro-hydropower plants. A mixed-methods approach including a maintenance assessment and interviews with managers, operators and consumers is used to evaluate 24 sites in Nepal. Technically, the results of the study showed that trained operators delivered a higher standard of maintenance, however, technical issues were identified that arise during the design, manufacture and installation phases. The financial viability of plants was aided by charging consumers based on consumption, whilst plants with a higher rated capacity tended to benefit from a larger number of productive end uses. Community engagement was fostered through the local identity of the plant however this was threatened by societal changes. Inherent features of the site, such as rated power and the population density, internal resilience to short-term shock events (failure of components, insufficient collection of tariffs and departure of trained operators) and long-term external development (increased incomes, increased energy consumptions and growth in rural settlements) were found to affect the sustainability of plants.

Evaluating the sustainable operation of community-owned and community-operated renewable energy projects is complex. The development of a project often depends on the actions of diverse stakeholders, including the government, industry and communities. Throughout the project cycle, these interrelated actions impact the sustainability of the project. In this paper, the typical project cycle of a micro-hydropower plant in Nepal is used to demonstrate that key events throughout the project cycle affect a plant’s ability to operate sustainably. Through a critical analysis of the available literature, policy and project documentation and interviews with manufacturers, drivers that affect the sustainability of plants are found. Examples include weak specification of civil components during tendering, quality control issues during manufacture, poor quality of construction and trained operators leaving their position. Opportunities to minimise both the occurrence and the severity of threats to sustainability are identified. For the micro-hydropower industry in Nepal, recommendations are made for specific actions by the relevant stakeholders at appropriate moments in the project cycle. More broadly, the findings demonstrate that the complex nature of developing community energy projects requires a holistic consideration of the complete project process.

Transitioning into a sustainable energy system is becoming ever more pressing as the reality of an anthropogenic ecological crisis becomes difficult to ignore. Due to the complexity of the matter, proposed solutions often address the symptoms of the current socioeconomic configuration rather than its core. To conceptualise possible future energy systems, this Perspective focuses on the disconnect between science and technology and engineering studies. On the one hand, this disconnect leads to social science research that passively critiques rather than contributes to tackling societal issues in practice. On the other, it produces technical work limited by the incumbent conceptualisations of economic activity and organisational configurations around production without capturing the broader social and political dynamics. We thus propose a schema for bridging this divide that uses the “commons” as an umbrella concept. We apply this framework on the hardware aspect of a conceptual energy system, which builds on networked microgrids powered by open-source, lower cost, adaptable, socially responsible and sustainable technology. This Perspective is a call to engineers and social scientists alike to form genuine transdisciplinary collaborations for developing radical alternatives to the energy conundrum.

Abstract Electric cooking has the potential to improve quality of life for people who cook using biomass, both by improving health by eradicating harmful emissions and by removing the need to collect fuelwood, thus freeing up time for other activities. This paper reports on a study that introduced electric cooking as an alternative to biomass-based cooking in 10 households in Simli, a rural Western Nepali community, to assess its feasibility in rural off-grid contexts. Quantitative and qualitative data from a cooking diary study and electrical mini-grid data were collected, assessing the compatibility with micro-hydropower grids and Nepali cooking practices. Datasets of Nepali cooking practices and meal energy requirements were generated, revealing that generally two meals are cooked per day and that, on average, electric cooking consumes 0.25 kWh/day and 0.14 kWh/meal. Participants simplified their cooking practices and found chapati hard to cook on the induction hobs due to inexperience with the cookers. Conversely, dal and rice were found to be easy and fast to cook in pressure cookers on the hobs, leading to a switch from cooking chapati-vegetables based meals to dal-rice based meals. Fuel stacking was common, with participants reverting to their biomass stoves to cook chapati, and due to a lack of reliable electricity supply. Participants found that the transition to electric cooking provided more time for households, due to the reduction in length of time to cook a meal and less time required to collect firewood, and enjoyed cooking on the stoves due to elimination of indoor air pollution. The electrical data analysis showed that control issues, voltage instability, and limited micro-hydropower plant capacity provide obstacles for electric cooking, especially as it becomes more widely practiced. Nepali people typically cook at the same time as peak demand for electricity, exacerbating the problem of limited capacity in villages like Simli. Only three households continued to use their electric stoves regularly due to a lack of reliable electricity supply, showing that widespread adoption of electric cooking is currently unfeasible. The running costs of electric cooking were lower than the effective labour time costs of fuelwood collection, but initial capital expenses for the electric cooking system and monthly electricity costs are a further barrier to adoption in rural Nepal.

Abstract An energy access assessment conducted by Practical Action in 2018 as part of the Renewable Energy for Refugees project established that most households and small enterprises in Kigeme, Gihembe and Nyabiheke refugee camps in Rwanda had limited or no access to electricity. It also identified both demand in the camps for modern energy services and a willingness and ability to pay. To address the lack of access to electricity, two solar home system companies operating in Rwanda were supported by the project to access the camps and supply systems to refugees and the host community via market-based delivery models. This paper applies the diffusion of innovations theory as a framework to investigate the sales of solar home systems in the camps. It is the first paper to present data in this area and it assesses both the viability of market-based delivery of solar home systems in refugee camps and the suitability of using diffusion of innovations theory in these contexts. The results indicate that solar home systems can provide an advantage to households compared to existing energy solutions and are, in most cases, compatible with refugees' basic energy needs and expectations. However, the cost of systems remains a barrier and without subsidy, further reductions in costs or adaptations to payment models, solar home systems are unlikely to provide large proportions of households and small enterprises in the camps with access to energy. This seriously impacts the possibility of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 and for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to achieve the objectives it set out in its Clean Energy Challenge policy.