The economics of renewable energy expansion in rural Sub-Saharan Africa

Uwe Deichmann, Craig Meisner, Siobhan Murray and David Wheeler

No 5193, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Accelerating development in Sub-Saharan Africa will require massive expansion of access to electricity -- currently reaching only about one-third of households. This paper explores how essential economic development might be reconciled with the need to keep carbon emissions in check. The authors develop a geographically explicit framework and use spatial modeling and cost estimates from recent engineering studies to determine where stand-alone renewable energy generation is a cost effective alternative to centralized grid supply. The results suggest that decentralized renewable energy will likely play an important role in expanding rural energy access. But it will be the lowest cost option for a minority of households in Africa, even when likely cost reductions over the next 20 years are considered. Decentralized renewables are competitive mostly in remote and rural areas, while grid connected supply dominates denser areas where the majority of households reside. These findings underscore the need to de-carbonize the fuel mix for centralized power generation as it expands in Africa.

Keywords: Energy Production and Transportation; Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases; Transport Economics Policy&Planning; Power&Energy Conversion; Carbon Policy and Trading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev, nep-ene and nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Journal Article: The economics of renewable energy expansion in rural Sub-Saharan Africa (2011)
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