Energy Poverty In Africa Research Articles

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

Despite the fact that capital flight is a scourge for African economies, no study, to the best of our knowledge, has analyzed its effects on energy poverty. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature by providing one of the first empirical studies of the effects of capital flight on energy poverty. The present study focuses on a panel of 30 countries in Africa over the period 2000–2018. We use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to construct an energy poverty indicator. Results suggest that capital flight increases energy poverty in Africa. This result is robust when controlling for endogeneity. Additionally, good institutional quality helps mitigate the negative effects of capital flight on energy poverty. Further analysis allows us to identify income inequality, government spending and unemployment as the channels through which capital flight influences energy poverty. Policy wise, better control of capital flows based on appropriate institutional settings should reduce energy poverty in Africa.

Fintech, human development and energy poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

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.

The importance of human development in combating energy poverty

AbstractTheoretically, 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.

Juxtaposing Sub-Sahara Africa’s energy poverty and renewable energy potential

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.

Towards Curbing Energy Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa through The Use of Solar Bike: A Case of Koupela, Burkina-Faso

Abstract 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.

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

In this paper, we propose the idea of ‘energy bricolage’ as a way of rethinking how people in Sub-Saharan Africa realise their energy needs on a daily basis. In doing so, we directly challenge dominant framings of energy poverty in Africa by the United Nations and other development agencies that have tended to present the issue as a question of access to the electricity grid; that energy poverty emerges from a lack of access to large-scale infrastructure. Drawing on research from Northern Uganda, we show how households and individuals in Africa can be understood as bricoleurs, making creative and resourceful use of whatever materials at are at hand to try and realise their energy needs and desires. That they engaged in complex geographies of energy: using batteries for torches, photovoltaic power for phone charging and stereos, firewood for cooking, charcoal for selling and petrol for transport. In this sense, beyond the modernist conceptions of energy development as grid electricity access, they are able to craft post-modern energy landscape, one that is neither ‘traditional’ nor ‘modern,’ rather the fragmented product of different social and economic processes. We argue that this conception of energy bricolage allows us to bring a more nuanced perspective for understanding the geographies of energy poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the developing world. We reframe the view of the energy poor as subsistence population eking out pre-modern lives, to one that has complex entanglements with different and changing energy technologies and institutional arrangements.

Production of methane from maize cob fed termites

Termites are detritivores, which means that by consuming decomposing organic matter they obtain nutrients. By feeding on cellulose matter, termites generate methane. Waste energy content offers good opportunities to generate low-cost and available energy. This can help increase energy access and reduce energy poverty in Africa. This work helps to determine the rate of gas production by termites when fed with maize cob. A simulated environment was created for Macrotermes Subhyhalinus Sp. of termites made with optically transparent polycarbonate material (plexiglas). Methane emission from termites’ simulated environment was monitored with the use of a gas flow meter. The termites’ production rate was highest at dry temperature 28.07 o C with RH of 88.30%, and 0.630μg/termite/day flow rate was recorded form their simulated laboratory environment. The cellulose in maize shaft/cob is in the native state and the chemical composition not inhibited by processing; this led to the relatively high consumption and overall production rate of termites when they fed on it because maize cob was easier to digest. Keywords: Detritivores, Macrotermes Subhyalinus sp. , simulated environment, Polycarbonate

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

In this paper, we explore the practices and spaces of mobile phone charging in The Gambia and Sierra Leone through the lens of ‘electricity scarcity’ as a means to conceptualise electricity access in West Africa. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is seen as the leading authority on the state of global energy access, and is frequently cited by government and non-government bodies. We, however, suggest that the IEA's quantitative and binary framing of electricity access is analytically problematic for understanding energy poverty. Using ethnographic methods, including observation and semi-structured interviews, we provide insights into the changing socio-technological, socio-political and socio-economic dimensions of mobile phone charging including its relationship with the built environment. Comparing mobile phone charging in The Gambia and Sierra Leone, clearly shows that the notion of absolute electricity scarcity which is promulgated by IEA statistics only offers a limited picture of energy poverty, especially at the locale. Instead, drawing on political ecology scholarship, we propose a concept of political electricity scarcity as an approach enables a more human-centred and nuanced understanding of how energy poverty operates or is mitigated through community-based structures or at a household level. By reframing energy poverty issues through this lens, we are able to illustrate the role that political economy dynamics play in shaping the electricity flows in rural Sub-Saharan Africa and who ultimately gets what kind of electricity access.

Addressing Nuclear in the Africa–European Union Energy Partnership: Issues and Perspectives Through an African Lens

ABSTRACTGlobally, opinions concerning nuclear energy as a low-carbon technology are divided. On the one hand is the belief that nuclear is a green technology when viewed from the energy production and/or climate perspective. On the other hand is the argument that nuclear is not an acceptable green energy due to challenges around waste management and disposal. In this context, the Africa–European Union Energy Partnership (AEEP) took the form of a non-nuclear, low-carbon energy approach. Being one of the eight region-to-region connections established in 2007 under the Joint Africa–European Union Strategy (JAES) and, certainly, the most active, the AEEP sought to promote energy access and security across Europe and Africa focusing mainly on renewable energies. But the question remains: how impactful is the AEEP in addressing energy poverty in Africa, in particular when nuclear is side-lined? Further to this, the AEEP is still struggling to meet its 2020 energy targets, while the financial resources needed to achieve the targets are still incomplete with less than three years to the agreed dateline. Using data from secondary sources and ‘constructivism’ as its theoretical framework, this paper contextualises the potential role of nuclear in the AEEP, especially in the context of the political dynamics in Europe and Africa.

Political autonomy and resistance in electricity sector liberalization in Africa

Abstract Electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest amongst all regions of the world. In response, since the 1990s, the World Bank and other donors have pushed African countries to reform their electricity sectors. While a “standard model” of liberalization reforms has been endorsed, the timing, pace and extent of reform adoption and implementation undertaken by countries varies significantly. This paper asks: why do some countries adopt electricity sector reforms more quickly and more fully than others? The paper uses a comparative historical analysis of Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda to answer this question. Each country’s experience with reform varies. Our study finds that the timing of reform was largely contingent on economic factors, primarily the need for financing to improve sector efficiency. The pace of reform was shaped largely by international political considerations, namely differences in the countries’ reliance on aid from key donors, especially the World Bank. And the extent of reform was determined primarily by internal national political factors. Specifically, where elite decision-makers faced a historically-grounded national ideology that created citizen expectations that the state provide electricity, a competitive democratic regime, and stronger civil society, electricity sector reforms were less extensive. The paper makes an important contribution to understanding the politics of institutional change. We show how African governments exercise autonomy and resistance, both internationally with donors, and domestically, in the rewriting of institutional rules; that reforms are contingent on political calculations by national political elites about domestic conditions and needs; and that global norms are not sufficient to cause policy change. Overcoming energy poverty in Africa is expected to remain a challenge for the foreseeable future. As new development partners replace or complement the World Bank’s role in African energy sectors, attention to how domestic institutions and politics engage with global norms is critical.

Enabling innovations in energy access: An African perspective

Conventional energy technologies and deployment approaches cannot be relied upon to eliminate energy poverty in Africa. Innovations in energy access are necessary. Previous attempts at introducing and scaling up innovative solutions do not sufficiently address dynamic and structural determinants of success. This limits their actual performance as scalable drivers of innovations in technology, policy and institutions. Using technological innovation systems theory, we demonstrate a practical approach to assess the sustainability of innovations in energy access, and develop a framework to guide energy policy makers, clean energy entrepreneurs and energy-development researchers.