Increasing energy access: the rise of pay-as-you-go solar and innovative financing partnerships

Energy poverty is a significant barrier to sustainable development, affecting millions of people worldwide. However, technology offers innovative solutions that can bridge the energy gap and promote access to reliable and affordable energy services. In this study, we analyze the impact of ICT and globalization on energy poverty in N‐11 countries from 1990 to 2021, utilizing education, financial development, and economic growth as control variables. Results explain that the impact of ICT on energy poverty in lower quantiles appears to be relatively weak and positive, suggesting that it may be of limited effectiveness in reducing energy poverty in the most vulnerable populations. At higher quantiles, however, the impact becomes increasingly hostile, which suggests that higher ICT levels may exacerbate energy poverty among those who are already experiencing it. Energy poverty tends to decrease as globalization increases, as evidenced by the statistically significant negative coefficients across all quantiles. At the 10th percentile (Q0.1), an increase of one unit in globalization is associated with a reduction of 0.898 in energy poverty. Similarly, at the 90th percentile (Q0.9), an increase of one unit in globalization increases to 0.050 in energy poverty. It is possible to optimize resource utilization, reduce costs, and increase energy access through regional energy cooperation frameworks, such as cross‐border electricity grids or gas pipelines. In order to promote sustainable energy practices among citizens, the government should prioritize investing in clean energy projects, promoting energy conservation, and raising awareness of the importance of sustainable energy practices.

The developing world continues to face substantial obstacles to achieving affordable and dependable electricity access. This issue is especially pertinent for Nigeria, where diesel generators are widely relied upon in urban and rural regions because of an underdeveloped and unreliable national grid. The lack of grid reliability is worsened in Northeastern Nigeria, an area plagued by conflict, extreme poverty, and grid infrastructure deterioration. This study investigates the feasibility of implementing community-scale microgrids in rural areas without grid connection access. It focuses on assessing the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of utilizing these microgrids to deliver inexpensive and dependable electricity to underserved populations to increase energy access. A case study was conducted in Kabuiri, a village with an estimated population of 2,300 residents and an estimated load demand of 610 kWh per day. A hybrid microgrid system was designed and optimized to meet the community’s load demand using HOMER software, sized to produce 610 kWh/day of electricity with a renewable penetration of 99%. The optimal solar PV/battery/generator system had a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of $ 0.093 per kWh, a net present cost (NPC) of $266,709, and an annual operating cost of $9,110. The system contributed 1,624 kg CO2 eq/year of global warming potential and 56.81 kg O3 eq/year of smog formation during operation. Sensitivity analysis showed that the system could effectively react to or adapt to substantial increases in diesel prices, requiring only marginal increases in photovoltaic capacity and reduced generator usage to maintain the most cost-efficient operation. Additionally, the system model can be adapted based on the population of the remote community without substantially impacting the LCOE, however, the NPC increases with increase in population size. This research will aid in increasing energy access in remote locations by providing insights to stakeholders and energy access project developers.

Energy efficiency as a means to expand energy access: A Uganda roadmap

Over the past few decades, countries in the Association of Islamic Cooperation Organizations (OIC) have reached various levels of economic development. At present, increasing energy access is one of the goals to be achieved by ensuring affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy access. This study aims to measure the effectiveness of energy access based on the indicators of the seventh sustainable developmet goals (SDGs) in 50 countries that are members of the OIC during the period 2010-2017. Efficiency measurements are carried out using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The productivity measurement is done by using the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI). The results showed that Yemen was the country that had the highest rate of increase with a TFP value of 1.194. While the State of Egypt was the country that experienced the largest decline with a TFP value of 0.821. On the other hand, there are differences in the level of efficiency regionally, where Muslim countries in the European continent are then followed by the countries of the West Asian region in the second position and the third position is the central African region which is superior to the region Other Africa. Keywords: Sustainable Developmet Goals, Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency, Energy Access, Islamic Cooperation Organizations JEL Classifications: O1, 05, Q4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.10499

While recent years have seen the rapid growth of off-grid solar power, ten per cent of the world’s population, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa, still lack access to electricity. Meanwhile, standalone solar home systems using pay as you go (PAYGO) mobile money have been proposed as a key solution to meeting the target of universal access to energy under Sustainable Development Goal 7. These systems are being deployed in various regions of the global South, including East Africa and to a lesser extent West Africa. I investigate how through PAYGO, off-grid solar electricity in sub-Saharan Africa is being transformed into a cash flow, a financial asset and a conduit for consumer debt. In so doing I analyse evolving relationships between some of the key actors and institutions involved in this process, including mobile banking platforms such as M-Pesa, ‘next generation utilities’ such as M-KOPA and BBOXX, and powerful mobile network operators such as Safaricom and MTN. Theoretically I conceptualise energy access as a new frontier of ‘electricity capital’, a developing field from political economy and energy geography, which is concerned with the way in which technological developments in the electricity sector are reconfiguring relationships between different institutions of the state, industry, finance, and users.

Rwanda’s Off-Grid Solar Performance Targets

Energy for cooking is considered essential in achieving modern energy access. Despite this, almost three billion people worldwide still use solid fuels to meet their cooking needs. To better support practitioners and policy-makers, this paper presents a new model for comparing cooking solutions and its key output metric: the ‘levelized cost of cooking a meal’ (LCCM). The model is applied to compare several cooking solutions in the case study area of Nyeri County in Kenya. The cooking access targets are connected to the International Workshop Agreement and Global Tracking Framework’s tiers of cooking energy access. Results show how an increased energy access with improved firewood and charcoal cookstoves could reduce both household’s LCCMs and the total costs compared to traditional firewood cooking over the modelling period. On the other hand, switching to cleaner cooking solutions, such as LPG- and electricity, would result in higher costs for the end-user highlighting that this transition is not straightforward. The paper also contextualizes the results into the wider socio-economic context. It finds that a tradeoff is present between minimizing costs for households and meeting household priorities, thus maximizing the potential benefits of clean cooking without dismissing the use of biomass altogether.

Energy poverty, resulting from poor energy efficiency and economic and social barriers to accessing appropriate, modern, and sustainable energy services, remains a critical issue in Jordan, a country facing growing climate pressures, particularly given its history of rapid urbanization. This study examines energy poverty through a multidimensional lens, considering its spatial and socio-demographic variations across Jordan. Drawing on data from 19,475 households, we apply a novel energy poverty index and binary logistic regression to analyze key determinants of energy poverty and discuss their intersection with climate vulnerability. The energy poverty index (EPI) is structured around four pillars: housing, fuel, cooling, and wealth. The results show that 51% of households in Jordan are affected by energy poverty. Contributing factors include geographic location, gender, age, education level, dwelling type, ownership of cooling appliances, and financial stability. The results indicate that energy poverty is both a socio-economic and infrastructural issue, with the highest concentrations in the northern and southern regions of the country, areas also vulnerable to climate risks such as drought and extreme heat. Our findings emphasize the need for integrated policy approaches that simultaneously address income inequality, infrastructure deficits, and environmental stressors. Targeted strategies are needed to align social and climate policies for effective energy poverty mitigation and climate resilience planning in Jordan.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize energy poverty as a significant issue affecting developing and developed countries. Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 7) focuses on energy poverty (EP) and aims to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy services by 2030. This study examines the relationship between energy poverty and educational attainments in Pakistan using time series data from 1990 to 2020. A multidimensional energy development index (EDI) is constructed to measure energy poverty. By employing robust econometric techniques such as the Johansen cointegration test, fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), canonical cointegration regression, and the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation, this research uncovers empirical findings that offer valuable insights into the crucial role of energy poverty as a determinant of educational attainments. The findings of this study reveal that improvements in energy development (characterized by a decline in energy poverty) and real GDP per capita, significantly enhance school enrollments in Pakistan. Moreover, it is also observed that general poverty and a high pupil-teacher ratio negatively influence educational attainments. These results emphasize that inadequate access to and affordability of energy act as formidable barriers, impeding the educational journey of children and adolescents. These findings also highlight the urgent need to address energy poverty as a paramount policy concern to enhance development outcomes. Policies aimed at improving energy infrastructure and providing reliable and affordable energy sources are crucial to unlocking educational opportunities for more children and enabling them to embark on their educational journeys.

Energy access is an essential prerequisite for economic, social, and human development. The 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly recognized affordable and clean energy as a key factor in development, alongside education and poverty alleviation. The UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SEforALL) mobilizes international donors, countries, and the private sector to help people in developing countries gain access to modern energy services.To assist in support of SEgorALL goals, this joint study of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provides a comprehensive review of energy poverty policies and programs in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This report measures the progress and impact of energy-access programs and also documents the experience of successful projects. This study reviews cutting-edge methodologies to assist in program design, shares of experiences of successful programs and develops a vision for reaching sustainable energy for all in the LAC region. With electricity coverage at more than 96 percent, LAC is close to becoming the world’s first developing region to achieve universal access to electricity. Despite recent progress, within LAC there are still substantial pockets of energy poverty. Approximately 21.8 million people are without electricity access. More than 80 million people rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking that is burned in fuel-inefficient, primitive stoves. These traditional cooking technologies emit a significant amount of indoor air pollution (IAP), which has been linked to respiratory illnesses and adverse environmental impacts. Thus, in addition to promoting electricity, energy access programs also might give priority to the promotion of cleaner methods cooking by making available better stoves and cleaner burning fuels at reasonable costs. The report also explores ways to measure energy poverty and monitor energy access in developing countries. The accuracy and effectiveness of tools such as the IEA’s household energy data efforts and the Global Tracking Framework depend on collecting information through standardized national surveys. Approaches to measure energy poverty and monitor energy access have increasingly focused on the provision of energy services such as lighting, space conditioning and cooking. The transition from low-quality energy services to more modern forms can be accomplished in different ways. As households in developing countries adopt electricity and clean methods of cooking, they benefit from higher quality, lower cost and convenient to use appliances. However, measuring the societal and developmental benefits of energy investments--though difficult--is important. Two basic approaches have evolved over the years to measure the benefits of energy access: (i) consumer surplus and (ii) regression-based techniques. The consumer surplus approach evaluates the economic benefits of energy services through measuring increased demand resulting from lower costs of such energy end uses such as lighting, radio and television. When possible, rigorous impact evaluation techniques based on multivariate models can be used to more directly measure the socioeconomic benefits associated with energy access and modern energy services including higher income and improved education. In recent years, new approaches for meeting the requirements of modern and sustainable energy services have emerged. Due to technical and market changes, new types of equipment have become available for providing energy services to rural areas. In LAC, three basic models have been developed to provide rural populations with electricity service: (i) main grid extension, (ii) community networks, and (iii) individual home-based systems (including clean cookstoves). The level of investments necessary to achieve the 2030 SDG target for expanded electricity access for all will be quite high. Reaching the universa

Energy and mobility poverty limits people’s choices and opportunities and negatively impinges upon structural economic and social welfare patterns. It also hampers the ability of planners to implement more equitable and just decarbonization pathways. Research has revealed that climate policies have imposed a financial burden on low-income and other vulnerable groups by increasing food and energy prices, leading as well to global inequality. Similarly, researchers have warned that in developing countries, emission mitigation policies could increase poverty rates and even frustrate progress towards universal access to clean energy. This research explores whether low-income social groups experience a 'double energy vulnerability', a situation that simultaneously positions people at heightened risk of transport and energy poverty. We investigate this 'double vulnerability' through original data collection via three nationally representative surveys of Mexico (N = 1,205), the United Arab Emirates (N = 1,141), Ireland and Northern Ireland (N = 1,860). We draw from this original data to elaborate on the sociodemographic attributes, expenditure and behaviour emerging from energy and transport use, focusing on themes such as equity, behaviour and vulnerability. We propose energy and transport poverty indexes that allow us to summarize the key contributing factors to energy and transport poverty in the countries studied and uncover a strong correlation between these two salient forms of poverty. Our results suggest that energy and transport poverty are common issues regardless of the very different national, and even sub-national, contexts. We conclude that energy and transport poverty requires target policy interventions suitable for all segments of society, thus enabling contextually-tailored, just energy transitions.

Energy poverty is one of the important facets of sustainable development, but less attention to the linkage of energy poverty to economic vulnerability. This study proposes that two variables would have a mutual linkage, which is tested through a sample of 73 low- and middle-income economies. By applying panel Granger causality and two-step system generalised method of moments estimate to a system equation of two variables, the robust results are as follows. First, mutual causalities between economic vulnerability and energy poverty are evidenced. Second, economic vulnerability appears to have an increased influence on energy poverty; and energy poverty, in return, shows similar effects on economic vulnerability. Third, the nexus is mostly consistent in 46 low- and lower-middle-income economies and 27 upper-middle-income economies. The results indicate the important mutual link between economic vulnerability and energy poverty at a global level, which demands urgent action on appropriate policies to deal with energy poverty

Nigeria has a significant number of people in Africa without access to electricity. Achieving universal electricity access in Nigeria will have a significant impact on a large number of people’s lives. Currently, Nigeria’s main barriers to universal energy access is rural electrification and unreliable electricity from the grid. Both have significantly influenced the productivity of Nigeria’s economy, which points to the potentially significant economic growth impact that reliable and universal electricity access will have in Nigeria. Access to clean cooking is another challenge faced in Nigeria. More than 80% of households do not have access to clean energy for cooking. In addition to limited access to electricity, other socio-economic factors such as increasing poverty rate, inflation and the poor distribution network for LPG have contributed to the low access to clean energy for cooking. In order to come up with recommendations to increase electricity access in Nigeria, a feasibility study was evaluated using Ikate, Lagos State, Nigeria as the target location. This pilot project demonstrated that electrification via solar home systems and mini-grids is a good starting point for increasing energy access for rural and urban areas in Nigeria. The proposed solution is to use Off-Grid and Mini-Grid Renewable Energy to tackle the problem of access to electricity. The results showed that with a combination of a Solar PV and Generator, only the case of 100kWh/person/year would be affordable by the residents of the community, but will still require some significant capital outlay. A net metering policy that will clarify how customers who generate electricity from renewable energy can manage the excess energy they generate, thus encouraging private participation in renewable energy generation. In addition, we address pathways to improve access to clean cooking across households in Nigeria. Combined with pathways for improving access to electricity forms a basis for a roadmap to ensuring universal energy access in Nigeria.

Access to modern and reliable energy services is vital for human development and societal progress. However, energy poverty remains a significant global challenge, characterized by inadequate, unaffordable, and unsustainable energy sources. This paper explores the multifaceted issue of energy poverty, analyzing its root causes, global distribution and dimensions. It identifies factors that perpetuate energy poverty through case studies and expert insights while proposing strategies to eliminate it. Energy poverty has adverse effects on human development, hindering health, education, and economic opportunities, and it also contributes to climate change through increased greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing energy poverty requires a comprehensive approach involving policy reforms, investments in renewable energy infrastructure, and community-based initiatives. Empowering energy policy frameworks, strengthening regulatory environments, and promoting energy literacy are crucial steps towards achieving sustainable energy access. Additionally, engaging local communities and fostering public-private partnerships can expedite progress. By understanding the complexities of energy poverty and implementing these strategies, stakeholders can collectively work towards achieving SDG 7 - universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy services by 2030. This endeavor will foster inclusive and sustainable development worldwide.

Towards the achievement of SDG 7 in sub-Saharan Africa: Creating synergies between Power Africa, Sustainable Energy for All and climate finance in-order to achieve universal energy access before 2030