Abstract
Despite the global campaign for energy transition towards renewable sources, South Sudan's electricity generation is exclusively diesel-based with an installed capacity of 12MW in Juba against 154MW demand. Persistent power outages have led to a rise in off-grid electricity self-generation using diesel generators. This study explored the available electricity generation options in Juba, quantified the off-grid electricity, and assessed the electricity market system dynamics through a survey involving 44 companies, 2 government institutions, and 2 solar energy retailers. The study found that the current off-grid installed generation capacity in Juba is higher than the on-grid with a total of 28.93MW from 142 generator-sets. 98% of this amount is diesel-fired and 2% is from solar. Running these generators for a month cost the companies US$ 533,204 on 589,760 liters of diesel, and the combustion of this fuel results in 1553.8 tCO2e emissions. Knowledge of solar energy adoption was low and showed a mixed perception with most companies having no/limited knowledge. Besides, the governance of the electricity market is monopolized by a government utility company without legal frameworks. The study recommends restructuring the electricity market to attract private players by developing legal frameworks and the creation of awareness for the promotion of solar energy.
Highlights
Access to modern forms of energy like electricity is crucial in the fight against poverty, as it is among the greatest drivers of socio-economic development of modern society [1]
The electricity generation in Juba city is thermal based on diesel generators
Detailed analysis of the other sectors showed that, despite having more diesel generator sets, the banking sector's generation capacity is less than that of manufacturing. This can be attributed to the fact that most of the banks operate for eight hours daily during working days, as they do not have functional ATM cash machines available at the time this study was conducted
Summary
Access to modern forms of energy like electricity is crucial in the fight against poverty, as it is among the greatest drivers of socio-economic development of modern society [1]. More than 1.3 billion people in the developing countries have no access to electricity of which 600 million are in subSaharan Africa (SSA), a region with huge energy resources potentials [2, 3]. As observed by Nagy and Szép [7], oil-dependent economies are vulnerable to global oil price uncertainties. This vulnerability has currently resulted into a worse economic crisis in South Sudan with an inflation rate of more than 104.12% [8], mainly due to the decline in global oil prices since 2014 and reduction in its daily oil production by more than 60% because of political instability in the country
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
