Unpacking the effect of coup d’état on energy poverty in Africa

The rate of energy poverty in Africa particularly in Sub-Sahara region is quite alarming and appealing. This anomaly has greatly affected industrialization processes in this region. Not only has electricity access remain an acute issue in Burkina Faso almost two centuries, but in addition, the accelerated consumption of fossil fuels is leading to drastic consequences manifested in the form (s) of impaired development for humans and nature. To encourage greater access to renewable energy, the Government of Burkina Faso has been subsidizing energy programmes in the country (exemptions from customs duties and VAT on solar equipment) for a couple of years now. Nevertheless, a lot of work remains to be done as energy access in the rural areas remain insignificant, hence, not meeting up with the population growth. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to implement a bicycle-mounted hybrid solar- and human-powered devices available to the residents of five (5) in the municipality of the idea leverages the fact that bicycles are widely used by indigenes of Koupela as part of their daily life. This device will have dual functionality: powering the bicycle light and generating energy for domestic use (lighting of houses, children's study, etc.) via a storage system battery system. This paper, therefore, is strongly committed towards environmental protection and the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs especially the goals 7 and 13. It will support the five (5) selected localities in becoming green villages while also addressing the issue of energy poverty. Keywords: Bicycle, Burkina Faso, Clean Energy, Rural Areas; Solar panels. Cite this Article Sidnoma Nita Belemsobgo, Aristide Belemsobgo, Abel Ehimen Airoboman. Towards Curbing Energy Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa through The Use of Solar Bike: A Case of Koupela, Burkina-Faso. Journal of Thermal Engineering and Applications . 2020; 7(1): 9–14p.

Does capital flight set Africa as the seat of darkness? Linking capital flight and energy poverty

ABSTRACTMobile money is a novel system for providing seamless financial services in developing countries. The use of this technology has allowed poor households to make payments, receive money, and get credits via mobile phone algorithms, and it has gained popularity among nations in Africa. This technology has leapfrogged the traditional services of formal financial institutions. Many studies have been conducted on energy poverty alleviation in Africa, but little is known empirically about whether mobile money can serve as a policy instrument for energy poverty alleviation in developing economies. Furthermore, the role of mobile money in energy justice has not been explored. The objective of this paper is to fill this gap by examining the effect of mobile money innovations on energy poverty. Applying the system generalized method of moments and panel quantile regression via moments on the dataset of 36 countries in Africa between 2012 and 2021, this study shows that mobile money innovations reduce energy poverty in Africa. Further analysis reveals that the effect is heterogeneous across the sample used in the study. Our findings also reveal that mobile money innovations reduce the disparities in accessing electricity between urban and rural households. Overall, this study suggests that mobile money is a veritable tool that can be used for energy poverty alleviation in developing countries.

Currently, energy poverty in Africa, which has significant fossil fuel resources, remains at the highest level among the regions of the world. Complete elimination of energy poverty and industrialization in Africa is possible only with a balanced combination of fossil and non-fossil fuels with priority given to local energy sources. The authors of the article developed a model of the economy and energy of Africa, using which a forecast of consumption of various types of energy sources was formed, which would ensure a significant reduction in the level of energy poverty on the continent and the development of the economies of African countries. According to the authors' forecast, a fair energy transition in Africa assumes that by 2050 almost 57% of the consumed primary energy should be provided by oil, gas and coal, mined mainly on the continent. The authors conclude that by implementing a fair energy transition, Africa, on the one hand, will be able to maximize its resource potential, and on the other hand, open up new opportunities for international cooperation, including with Russian companies that have key technologies and competencies in the energy sector.

Studies have highlighted the important role of financial technology (fintech) in enhancing socio-economic conditions of nations. However, despite the efforts of governments to improve the latter, the rating of African countries still remains manifestly inadequate. Given that access to electricity is imperative for fintech, and fundamental to improving socioeconomic conditions, we provide novel evidence by investigating the degree to which the prevailing energy poverty in Africa mediates the relationship between the duo. Our baseline results confirm that fintech has a significant positive impact on socioeconomic conditions, proxied by human development, and the impact becomes increasingly significant in the face of constant energy supply. However, when we split our sample based on regions and income classification proposed by the World Bank, our results show that the impact of fintech on human development, in the absence of access to electricity, is notably limited to some African regions. Considering the current state of human development in Africa, our study advocates for more investment in energy infrastructure for the rapid realization of the gains of fintech.

Energy bricolage in Northern Uganda: Rethinking energy geographies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a comprehensive roadmap for the global energy sector to achieve net-zero emission by 2050. Considering the sizeable share of (Sub-Sahara) Africa in the global population, the attainment of global energy sector net-zero emission is practically impossible without a commitment from African countries. Therefore, it is important to study and analyze feasible/sustainable ways to solve the energy/electricity poverty in Africa. In this paper, the energy poverty in Africa and the high renewable energy (RE) potential are reviewed. Beyond this, the generation of electricity from the abundant RE potential in this region is analyzed in hourly timestep. This study is novel as it proposes a Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) central grid as one of the fastest/feasible solutions to the energy poverty problem in this region. The integration of a sizeable share of electric vehicles with the proposed central grid is also analyzed. This study aims to determine the RE electricity generation capacities, economic costs, and supply strategies required to balance the projected future electricity demand in SSA. The analysis presented in this study is done considering 2030 and 2040 as the targeted years of implementation. EnergyPLAN simulation program is used to simulate/analyze the generation of electricity for the central grid. The review of the energy poverty in SSA showed that the electricity access of all the countries in this region is less than 100%. The analysis of the proposed central RE grid system is a viable and sustainable option, however, it requires strategic financial planning for its implementation. The cheapest investment cost from all the case scenarios in this study is $298 billion. Considering the use of a single RE technology, wind power systems implementation by 2030 and 2040 are the most feasible options as they have the least economic costs. Overall, the integration of the existing/fossil-fueled power systems with RE technologies for the proposed central grid will be the cheapest/easiest pathway as it requires the least economic costs. While this does not require the integration of storage systems, it will help the SSA countries reduce their electricity sector carbon emission by 56.6% and 61.8% by 2030 and 2040 respectively.

This paper examines the multifaceted issue of energy poverty in Africa, with a specific focus on Ghana. It defines energy poverty as the lack of access to sufficient, affordable, clean, and reliable energy for basic human and economic development. The study examines the causes of energy poverty, which include high costs of modern energy sources, low-income levels, cultural beliefs, and inefficient energy infrastructure. It also highlights the widespread reliance on traditional biomass fuels and the adverse health, environmental, and socio-economic impacts that result. The analysis reveals the deep interlinkages between energy access and development, showing how energy poverty impedes health outcomes, education, economic productivity, and gender equality. Various strategies are reviewed to tackle energy poverty, including public and private financing, investment in distributed renewable energy technologies, and comprehensive policy frameworks. Ultimately, the paper calls for integrated development planning that treats energy access as a foundational pillar of socio-economic progress in Ghana and across sub-Saharan Africa.

This study investigates the effect of participation in the Global Value Chain (GVC) on Multidimensional Energy Poverty (MEPI), and the role played by the quality of institutions (QI) in the short and long run for 51 African countries over the period 1995–2018. For this purpose, the DCCE-PMG approach is employed, as well as both the GVC and QI indices. MEPI includes electricity, clean fuel, and technology for cooking. The findings show that GVC participation negatively affects MEPI in both the short and long run, meaning that the GVC reduces energy poverty in Africa. Besides, there is mixed evidence regarding the heterogeneity effect according to rural and urban locations. The evidence further shows that GVCs interact with institutions to negatively impact both energy poverty and the rural–urban MEPI gap, implying that the better the institutional quality, the larger the effect of GVC integration on energy poverty reduction. Therefore, a better quality of institution enables local firms, participating in the GVC, to easily capture technology and knowledge diffusion to promote energy development and fulfill the spatial inequality in energy poverty. Additional tests allow us to confirm the evidence and, moving forward, the implications of participation in the GVC.

Theoretically, the impact of human development on energy poverty could occur through a number of channels, for instance, through improved social mobility and employability. In this study, we elaborate on these channels and examine how human development affects energy poverty in Africa, where access to electricity is a challenge for many. We proxy human development with scores on the human development index (HDI), human capital and education levels and analyse panel data on 40 African countries from 2000 to 2018. Employing a battery of estimation methods, the results suggest that an increase in human development generally improves energy poverty.

The energy poverty of households presents one of the significant threats to sustainable development worldwide. Governments, international organizations like the United Nations, and various non-governmental organizations have enacted policy measures to mitigate energy poverty and its negative impacts on society. This concern is exacerbated by the finite nature of fossil fuel resources globally and persistent instabilities such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Iran-Israel conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which contribute to price fluctuations and energy supply insecurity. Consequently, the issue of energy poverty may become increasingly intricate and prominent in the near future. Due to its importance, the issue of energy poverty has been widely investigated in the literature. A new dimension in the literature is based on the relationship between energy poverty, which is defined as the inability to access a sufficient volume of clean energy, and economic growth. Energy poverty can affect the economy through lower productivity and lower labor force participation. In this regard, the majority of studies in the literature have focused on African countries with low electricity access rates, typically using energy access rates as a proxy for energy poverty. In those studies, "energy poverty" and "energy deprivation" are often used interchangeably. However, this approach is not appropriate, as energy poverty and energy deprivation due to low energy access rates imply different conditions. While energy access rate can serve as a measure of energy poverty, relying solely on this indicator may not always accurately reflect the extent of energy poverty. This is because households with full infrastructure and access to clean and continuous energy sources may not always be able to fully utilize these sources, owing to cost constraints, income deficiencies, or other factors. A striking example of this situation can be seen in Türkiye, where 20.3% of households face difficulties in adequately heating their homes, representing one of the highest rates in Europe. Additionally, the average per capita household energy consumption in Europe was 1.7 MWh in 2021, whereas in Türkiye, it was only 0.56 MWh on average, which is one-third of the EU average. This happens despite Türkiye having relatively low energy prices, various support programs in place, and nearly 100% electricity access and very high natural gas access rates. Hence, unlike other studies that use energy access rate, this study utilizes per capita household electricity consumption as an indicator of energy poverty, which could provide a more precise evaluation, especially for Türkiye. This introduces a novel viewpoint in the research on energy poverty and economic growth. For this reason this study examines data from 2007 to 2021 comprising 15 years of annual data with DOLS and FMOLS panel econometric techniques across 26 regions of Türkiye, to uncover the association between energy poverty and economic growth. Additionally, factors such as the consumer price index, population, and industrial electricity demand per capita for production are used as control variable. According to both of the estimation techniques an increase in household electricity consumption may also lead to an increase in per capita GDP in Türkiye.

Ethnographies of electricity scarcity: Mobile phone charging spaces and the recrafting of energy poverty in Africa

Enabling innovations in energy access: An African perspective

International sanctions and energy poverty in target developing countries

The role of green finance and natural resources rent in eradicating energy poverty – the case of the Sub-Saharan African countries