 Cost-effectiveness of rural energy access strategiesJörg Ankel-Peters, Gunther Bensch, Kevin Moull, Mascha Rauschenbach and Maximiliane Sievert Energy Policy, 2025, vol. 203, issue C Abstract: Quantitative benchmarks for cost-effective provision of rural energy access are difficult to obtain because deployment costs vary across technologies, contexts, and technical assistance approaches – but crucially also across sustainability assumptions. As an alternative, this policy perspective provides a qualitative cost-effectiveness assessment of different energy access strategies. We discuss the different cost factors and account for differences in impact potentials and sustainability challenges across rural energy access options. We include on-grid and off-grid electrification as well as improved cooking technologies. The focus is on rural sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where energy access rates are low. We diagnose largely disappointing impacts of high-power electrification technologies, turning stand-alone solar into the more cost-effective electrification strategy in that setting. We conclude by emphasizing the high impact-cost ratio for energy-efficient biomass cookstoves. Keywords: Energy access; Rural electrification; Modern cooking energy; Sub-sahara africa (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:203:y:2025:i:c:s0301421525001405 DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114633 Access Statistics for this article Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier |
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