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NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner

A comparative study of socio-technical innovations and sustainability factors for up-scaling in village scale solar power supply models

Awarded: NOK 4.4 mill.

Factors influencing the success of village-scale solar power The main goal of this project was to improve the understanding of factors that influence the success of decentralized use of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology in the Global South. The use of solar PV technology has increased among people without access to conventional electricity grids, but most likely, this is just a small start on the utilization of the enormous solar energy recourses available. Decentralized use of solar PV technology includes both village- or community-scale systems and standalone systems for individual users. The focus of this research is village-scale solar power supplies, including mini-grids, energy charging centers, and other small-scale models. These power supplies can provide good opportunities for both the use of power-demanding machines and basic electricity services for the poorest people. Such village-scale energy systems require knowledge, policies, and support mechanisms that are distinct from those of individual standalone solar PV systems. We therefore conducted case studies on village-scale solar electricity supplies in India, Senegal, and Kenya that were created by different providers, including government units and the private sector. We studied factors that affected the usefulness and affordability of the electricity services for the users, the operational and economic functioning of the electricity supply, and the replicability of the energy models. We find significant progress over the last decade toward solar mini-grids that function well in practice and achieve better economic performance than what was common earlier. Such progress can be credited to committed and innovative pilot projects with support from various funders, such as the projects we studied in Senegal. A key success factor for making the electricity supply useful and accessible for low-income people is to strongly emphasize adapting it to the social context, including peoples needs, economic situation, and daily habits. Decentralized, village-scale solutions make such adaptations possible to a much larger extent than mainstream rural electrification because they allow innovation based on the local reality in poor, neglected areas. For instance, as we found in Kenya, access to rental of portable and appropriately bright lamps at solar energy centers provided practical and flexible lighting in everyday life in several parts of the country where the settlements are dispersed and the income levels very low. The success of village-scale solutions also depends greatly on the knowledge and commitment of those actors who carry out the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance, whether they are government officials, private sector representatives, or others. However, these actors face a dilemma between economic sustainability on the one hand and affordable and socially beneficial access on the other, because of high poverty levels in most rural areas that lack access to electricity. Electricity suppliers try different strategies to improve the economic performance, such as saving costs by implementing small-capacity systems or focusing on larger villages with more economic activities and a higher number of people who can pay for electricity. We therefore identify a need for well-designed and flexible economic support mechanisms for actors who provide a wide range of electricity services for people in poor, remote areas. According to our findings, private sector actors can do useful and important work to provide electricity through solar mini-grids and create economic activities in rural villages. The private sector is also crucial for innovation, both technical and organizational, which in turn can be used in larger government projects. A strong barrier to the private sector achieving economically sustainable mini-grids, however, is that existing policies, regulations, and energy institutions are largely unsuitable for this purpose. The work of building new institutional frameworks for more decentralized supply has just begun, and it confronts challenges and controversies around principles for tariff setting and licensing. Innovative policies and regulations will be required to solve these issues. Our findings challenge the common ways of viewing upscaling (or replication) of decentralized solar power. Such upscaling is often regarded as a linear process: first a successful pilot project, and then replication in large numbers. We find instead that upscaling is a long-term and comprehensive effort that involves learning by doing, failing, and trying again. Such learning processes include gradual social and technical innovation, as well as institution building at several geographical levels. It is important for governments and international organizations to design their support mechanisms based on an understanding of such long-term struggles and learning processes.

This social science based, interdisciplinary research project will analyze and compare four Indian, Kenyan and Senegalese cases of village scale solar power systems, including the experiences with implementation, social organization, economic sustainabili ty, long-term operation and maintenance, and local involvement. In the Kenyan case the role of local solar power supply for adaptation to climatic challenges will be explored. The four cases represent promising solutions for the future in terms of success ful elements that can be built on. The project team will directly apply findings in pilot projects and up-scaling initiatives as well as activities for transfer and exchange of experience and socio-technical designs through action research. An ongoing pil ot project in Kenya will be monitored, improved and expanded. This will result in a cluster of pilot projects based on initiatives from the villages, creating a unique case for the long-term monitoring, analysis and demonstration. The proposed work will f acilitate replication and scaling up in a bottom-up manner based on interest, initiative and leadership of women and men at the local level in interaction with actors at other geographical levels and in other places and countries. Theoretical implications for technology and knowledge transfer as well as socio-technical systems innovation will be drawn. The results will be published and disseminated in both academic and non-academic ways. In addition, the Indian partner, TERI, will directly spread the resu lts to several African countries - Ghana, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, and Uganda - as well as Indian states. Other partners in the group will spread the results to Tanzania, Somalia, Namibia, Botswana and Nigeria. The findings are likely to be rel evant for researchers, government departments, NGOs, providers of technical equipment and others. The results are also relevant for the new, Norwegian program for clean energy investments in developing countries.

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NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner