Renewables in the energy transition: Evidence on solar home systems and lighting fuel choice in Kenya

Jann Lay, Janosch Ondraczek () and Jana Stoever ()

Energy Economics, 2013, vol. 40, issue C, 350-359

Abstract: We study the determinants of households' choices of lighting fuels in Kenya including the option of using solar home systems (SHS). Our goal is to add new evidence on the factors that influence the introduction and adoption of decentralized and less carbon-intensive energy sources in developing countries, and, more generally, to the empirical debate on the energy ladder. We capitalize on a unique representative survey on energy use and sources from Kenya, one of the few relatively well-established SHS markets in the world. Our results reveal some very interesting patterns of the fuel transition in the context of lighting fuel choices. While we find clear evidence for a cross-sectional energy ladder, the income threshold for modern fuel use – including solar energy use – to move beyond traditional and transitional fuels is very high. Income and education turn out to be key determinants of SHS adoption, but we also find a very pronounced effect of SHS clustering, i.e. the prevalence of SHS in the proximity of a potential user increases the likelihood of adoption. In addition, we do not find a negative correlation between grid access and SHS use.

Keywords: Renewable energy; Household fuel choice; Lighting fuel choice; Solar power use; Solar home systems; Kenya; Energy ladder; Household survey data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 O12 Q42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (53)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988313001692
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Renewables in the energy transition - Evidence on solar home systems and lighting fuel choice in Kenya (2012)
Working Paper: Renewables in the Energy Transition: Evidence on Solar Home Systems and Lighting-Fuel Choice in Kenya (2012)
Working Paper: Renewables in the energy transition: Evidence on solar home systems and lighting fuel choice in Kenya (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:40:y:2013:i:c:p:350-359

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2013.07.024

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Economics is currently edited by R. S. J. Tol, Beng Ang, Lance Bachmeier, Perry Sadorsky, Ugur Soytas and J. P. Weyant

More articles in Energy Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().