Solar Energy, Mini-Grids and Sustainable Electricity Access: Practical Experiences, Lessons and Solutions From Senegal

135 Pages·2019·1.01 MB·english

by  Kirsten Ulsrud

i
Solar Energy, Mini-Grids and
Sustainable Electricity Access
This book presents new research on solar mini-grids and the ways they can be
designed and implemented to provide equitable and affordable electricity access,
whileensuring economicsustainability andreplication.
Drawing on a detailed analysis of solar mini-grid projects in Senegal, the book
provides invaluable insights into energy provision and accessibility which are
highly relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Global South more generally.
Importantly, the book situates mini-grids in rural villages within the context of
the broader dynamics of national- and international-level factors, including
emerging system innovation and socio-technical transitions to green technologies.
The book illustrates typical challenges and potential solutions for practitioners,
policymakers, donors, investors and international agencies. It demonstrates the
decisive roles of suitable policies and regulations for private-sector-led mini-grids
and explains why these policies and regulations must be different from those that
are designedaspart ofan established,centralized electricity regime.
Writtenbybothacademicsandtechnologypractitioners,thisbookwillbeofgreat
interest to those researching and working on energy policy, energy provision and
access, solar power and renewable energy, and sustainable development more
generally.
KirstenUlsrudisapostdocresearchfellowinhumangeographyattheDepartment
ofSociologyandHumanGeography atthe UniversityofOslo, Norway.
CharlesMuchunkuisanindependentrenewableenergyconsultantinKenyawith
15 years of experience in the renewable energy sector in Eastern and Southern
Africa.
Debajit Palit is an associate director and senior fellow at the Rural Energy and
Livelihoods Division at TERI in India, with 20 years of experience working in
the field of clean energy access, rural electrification policy and regulation,
distributedgeneration, andsolar photovoltaics.
Gathu Kirubi is a lecturer at the Department of Environmental Sciences at
Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. He holds a PhD from University of
California, Berkeleyon off-grid rural electrificationinAfrica.
Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability
The Environmental Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh
Edited by Samiya A. Selim, Shantanu Kumar Saha,
Rumana Sultana and Carolyn Roberts
Climate Change Discourse in Russia
Past and Present
Edited by Marianna Poberezhskaya and Teresa Ashe
The Greening of US Free Trade Agreements
From NAFTA to the Present Day
Linda J. Allen
Indigenous Sacred Natural Sites and Spiritual Governance
The Legal Case for Juristic Personhood
John Studley
Environmental Communication Among Minority Populations
Edited by Bruno Takahashi and Sonny Rosenthal
Solar Energy, Mini-Grids and Sustainable Electricity Access
Practical Experiences, Lessons and Solutions from Senegal
Kirsten Ulsrud, Charles Muchunku, Debajit Palit
and Gathu Kirubi
Climate Change, Politics and the Press in Ireland
David Robbins
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Focus-on-Environment-and-Sustainability/book-series/RFES
iii
Solar Energy, Mini-Grids
and Sustainable
Electricity Access
Practical Experiences, Lessons and
Solutions From Senegal
Kirsten Ulsrud,
Charles Muchunku,
Debajit Palit and Gathu Kirubi
Firstpublished2019
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2019KirstenUlsrud,CharlesMuchunku,DebajitPalitandGathuKirubi
TherightofKirstenUlsrud,CharlesMuchunku,DebajitPalitand
GathuKirubitobeidentifiedasauthorsofthisworkhasbeen
assertedbytheminaccordancewithsections77and78ofthe
Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor
reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,
orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,including
photocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageor
retrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarks
orregisteredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand
explanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Ulsrud,Kirsten,author.|Muchunku,Charles,author.|Palit,
Debajit,author.|Kirubi,Gathu,author.
Title:Solarenergy,mini-gridsandsustainableelectricityaccess:
practicalexperiences,lessonsandsolutionsfromSenegal/
KirstenUlsrud,CharlesMuchunku,DebajitPalitand
GathuKirubi.
Othertitles:Routledgefocusonenvironmentandsustainability.
Description:NewYork:Routledge,2019.|Series:Routledgefocus
onenvironmentandsustainability|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018034629|ISBN9781138359031(hardback)|
ISBN9780429433955(ebook)|ISBN9780429783524
(mobipocket)
Subjects:LCSH:Solarenergy—Senegal.|Microgrids(Smartpower
grids)—Senegal.|Ruralelectrification—Senegal.|Renewable
energysources—Senegal.
Classification:LCCTJ809.97.S38U472019|
DDC621.3124409663—dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018034629
ISBN:978-1-138-35903-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-429-43395-5(ebk)
TypesetinTimes
byApexCoVantage,LLC
v
Contents
List of figures vi
List of tables vii
1 Solar energy, mini-grids, and private sector initiatives 1
2 Just come and invest! The energy system context 22
3 The local context 41
4 The socio-technical design 47
5 Findings on how the model functioned in practice
and why 57
6 Resulting access to electricity and the perspectives and
experiences of the people in the villages 64
7 Replication – influenced by factors at multiple scales 89
8 Conclusions, part one: Lessons for how to do mini-grids 98
9 Conclusions, part two: The structural challenges 110
Acknowledgements 122
Index 123
Figures
3.1 Main sources of income as reported by respondents 43
3.2 Levels of education reported by the respondents 44
6.1 End user applications among power plant customer
respondents 66
6.2 Alternative sources of lighting used by mini-grid customers 85
vii
Tables
6.1 Household energy choices by power Block 67
6.2 Multi-tier matrix for access to household electricity services 68

1
1 Solar energy, mini-grids, and
private sector initiatives
ThreestudentsfromGermanywithaninnovativebusinessmodelfordecen-
tralized electricity supply started their own company and went to Senegal
withavisiontoprovideelectricitytopeopleinareaswithoutanyelectricity
supply.TheycreatedajointventurewithaSenegalesecompany,hiredstaff
inSenegal,andstartedtoimplementsolar-energy-basedmini-grids inrural
villagesoutsidethemainelectricitygrid.Theirinitiativewasdifferentfrom
thealreadyexistingsmall-scale,renewablemini-gridsinSenegal,becauseit
was led by a private sector company that invested their own money and
took loans to make it possible. They intended to plan, finance, implement,
operate, and gradually increase the number of villages they would serve.
They expected that they would thereby avoid problems that had occurred
in other mini-grids, where those who were responsible for operating them
did not have enough incentive to keep them operating when major needs
for maintenance would occur. This book analyzes the practical outcomes
of this activity and presents lessons that can be built on by others who
engage in provision of sustainable electricity access, either practitioners,
policymakers, financers, or researchers. The book demonstrates how some
people make tremendous efforts to make the world both greener and
more equitable through social and technological innovation in practice.
Suchchangeagents,throughtheirstrugglestochangeestablishedstructures
in society, generate knowledge and experience that might provide valuable
lessons for other engaged actors and for society as a whole. Belonging in
the domain of sustainable energy access, this book analyzes such an
example.Theexampleoffersarangeoflessonsononeofthemainorgani-
zational models for decentralized electricity provision: small-scale mini-
grids for rural villages, based on solar energy or other renewable energy
sources.
Currently,small-scalerenewablemini-gridsareamongboththemostinter-
estingandthemostchallengingofthedecentralizedelectricityaccessmodels.
Thereareintensiveinnovationstrugglesinthisfield,includingtheeffortsof