Abstract
This paper analyses the implementation of renewable off-grid technologies in rural areas, especially where an extension to the national electricity grid was not considered economically feasible. Implementation of remote, stand-alone, electricity technologies as alternatives to a grid connection to provide sustainable electricity access have often failed with many planned projects not realised or abandoned. Our initial assumption was that stand-alone electricity project exhibiting higher scores on sustainability indicators would benefit communities more and make their endurance more likely. However, the impact of the stand-alone technology was often overruled or its quality weakened by government preferences wishing to realise a connection to the central electricity grid. Empirically, the study compares three cases of stand-alone micro-hydropower projects and three cases of stand-alone solar photovoltaic projects in Bogor Regency, Indonesia. It is based on qualitative document analysis, complemented by multiple rounds of semi-structured interviews and observations. The paper assesses the extent to which each project met indicators of technical, economic, social, environmental, and institutional sustainability. The paper tries to explain the endurance of the project from these sustainability scores and uses additional explanations from Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. The findings show that, for the studied local communities, the attractiveness of a grid connection overrules the virtues of a stand-alone electricity project, despite its quality, successful operation and impact. Our research also shows that government policy priorities changed in the rural electrification programme for some communities. In these situations, the off-grid rural electrification programme predominantly provided only temporary access to sustainable electricity for remote local communities that remained waiting and hoping for a grid connection to connect them to fossil fuel-dominated electricity.
Highlights
Despite all global efforts, 14% of the world population still has no access to electricity, while 84% live in rural areas in developing countries [1]
Our research was guided by the following research question: To what extent existing off-grid renewable-based rural electrification projects are sustainable and which factors explain their endurance?
Knowing that 14% of the global population does not have access to electricity, with 84% of them living in poorly developed rural areas in developing countries, stand-alone electricity projects are generally considered as a good alternative to costly connections to national grids
Summary
14% of the world population still has no access to electricity, while 84% live in rural areas in developing countries [1]. They can meet local needs and can allow the community to participate in the selection of energy [6,8] Indonesia is employing this type of electrification in several rural areas because connection to the central grid here often is constrained by geography and costs. On one hand, these initiatives increase the electrification ratio of the country and on the other hand, they reduce the heavy reliance on crude oil, natural gas, and coal for power generation [9]. Our research was guided by the following research question: To what extent existing off-grid renewable-based rural electrification projects are sustainable and which factors explain their endurance?.
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