Designing policies to reduce the carbon footprint of mini-grids in Africa

Théo Chamarande (), Sandrine Mathy () and Benoit Hingray ()
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Théo Chamarande: UMR 228 Espace-Dev, Espace pour le développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - AU - Avignon Université - UR - Université de La Réunion - UNC - Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie - UG - Université de Guyane - UA - Université des Antilles - UM - Université de Montpellier
Sandrine Mathy: GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes
Benoit Hingray: IGE - Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Fédération OSUG - Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes

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Abstract: Mini-grids with a low carbon footprint are a promising solution for providing electricity in rural areas, while being compatible with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Public policies are needed to encourage their development and their design should consider the different point of view from each stakeholder involved in mini-grid projects (State, developer, users). We propose a multi-criteria approach to evaluate a set of policies to limit the carbon footprint of mini-grids. Our method is based on the simulation of fictitious mini-grids and on the calculation of four indicators: the mitigation cost, the policy cost, the average levelized cost of energy (LCOE) at the national level, and the disparity of individual mini-grid LCOE within the country. We applied the methodology to Senegal, Madagascar, Kenya and Nigeria chosen for the diversity in solar resource and fuel price. Our results advocate for the combination of fuel tax and subsidy on solar panels and batteries to further reduce the carbon footprint of mini-grids. Using fuel tax revenues to equalize the LCOE of mini-grids within a country allows a cost-efficient reduction of the carbon footprint while reducing the cost disparities between mini-grid projects.

Keywords: Rural electrification; Carbon footprint; Public policies; Sub-Saharan Africa; Mini-grids (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05125326v1
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Published in Applied Energy, 2025, 396, pp.126296. ⟨10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126296⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05125326

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126296

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