Abstract
A review on rural electrification programs and projects based on off-grid Photovoltaic (PV) systems, including Solar Pico Systems (SPS) and Solar Home Systems (SHS) in Developing Countries (DCs) was conducted. The goal was to highlight the main multidimensional drawbacks that may constrain the sustainability of these systems. Four dimensions of sustainability (institutional, economic, environmental and socio-cultural) were considered in this review. It was found that institutional flaws (such as the scarcity of durability/stability and enforcement of formal institutions, weak regulations or standards, incomplete decentralization/participation and the lack of institutional adaptability) seriously compromise the sustainability of rural electrification efforts in DCs. While the lack of an effective focalized subsidy scheme (e.g., cross-tariff scheme) for the electricity tariffs of the poor population often made projects economically unsustainable, the scarcity of environmental awareness, regulations or incentives has often turned presumably clean energy technologies into environmentally unsustainable projects. Progress regarding social acceptance, accuracy and cultural justice is urgently needed for ensuring the socio-cultural sustainability of rural electrification efforts in DCs. This review may help stakeholders to identify and (based on prior experiences) address the most severe drawbacks affecting the sustainability of rural electrification efforts in DCs.
Highlights
Access to energy offers great benefits to development through the provision of reliable and efficient lighting, heating, cooking, mechanical power, transport and telecommunication services [1,2]
Institutions can be understood as a framework of guidelines that set the rules of the game for interactions between human beings [70]; while formal institutions refer to laws and regulations that have been legally enacted by actors and that determine the political, economic and enforcement system, informal institutions can be understood as religious or moral values and traditions that have been established in a certain place, though they have not been legally enacted [71]
In Developing Countries (DCs), these two factors tend to be low, which is problematic for the sustainability of off-grid PV systems
Summary
Access to energy offers great benefits to development through the provision of reliable and efficient lighting, heating, cooking, mechanical power, transport and telecommunication services [1,2]. According to the United Nations (UN), Sustainable Development (SD) is not possible without sustainable energy, such that the issue has been prioritized by devoting a stand-alone SD goal (No 7) to sustainable energy, which implies universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy [4]. The methodology used by the IEA is fixing a minimum annual household consumption of 250 Kilowatt-hours (kWh) in rural areas and 500 kWh in urban areas [5]. According to this definition, 1.2 billion people worldwide are still lacking access to electricity, especially those from rural areas [6]
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