Improving Energy Access in Low-Income Sub-Saharan African Countries: A Case Study of Malawi

Ehiaze Augustine Ehimen (), Peter Yamikani Sandula, Thomas Robin and Gregory Tsonga Gamula
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Ehiaze Augustine Ehimen: Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability (CERIS), Atlantic Technological University, F91 YW50 Sligo, Ireland
Peter Yamikani Sandula: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Blantyre 312225, Malawi
Thomas Robin: Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability (CERIS), Atlantic Technological University, F91 YW50 Sligo, Ireland
Gregory Tsonga Gamula: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Blantyre 312225, Malawi

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-26

Abstract: The inaccessibility of modern energy in low-income countries (LIC), especially in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region, continues to be a problem in the 21st century. The lack of access to modern energy has led to an inability to implement developmental structures and initiatives. While considerable progress and successes have been realised in the last three decades with increased activities and global commitments from international governments and multinational agencies through electrification projects in the SSA region, SSA countries remain off-track in their efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7. This is mainly demonstrated in sparsely populated rural regions where the high cost of centralised power generation, poor transmission and distribution infrastructures and economic factors have been a major barrier to electricity expansion. Although the use of RES (i.e., decentralised or stand-alone systems) have been acknowledged by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to be the least expensive route to improving access, its impact has not been effectively demonstrated regionally. Decentralised RES use in SSA countries have not seen significant uptake and/or enjoyed long-term sustainability owing to a number of factors. Malawi, despite its significant hydropower resources and the favourable proximity of its inhabitants to grid infrastructures, still has one of the lowest levels of access to electricity globally, with 86% of the population having no access to electricity. The country provides a good case study to investigate factors limiting electricity access in SSA countries. This paper explores the main issues that have historically hindered the uptake and sustainable operation of decentralised RES in the country. Recommendations to facilitate a potential improvement in RES use as a pathway to improved universal energy access are then put forward.

Keywords: energy access; renewable energy systems; Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); Malawi; low-income countries; power generation; electricity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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