A First Step up the Energy Ladder? Low Cost Solar Kits and Household’s Welfare in Rural Rwanda

Michael Grimm, Anicet Munyehirwe, Jörg Peters and Maximiliane Sievert

The World Bank Economic Review, 2017, vol. 31, issue 3, 631-649

Abstract: More than 1.1 billion people in developing countries are lacking access to electricity. Based on the assumption that electricity is a prerequisite for human development, the United Nations has proclaimed the goal of providing electricity to all by 2030. In recent years, Pico-Photovoltaic kits have become a low-cost alternative to investment intensive grid electrification. Using a randomized controlled trial, we examine uptake and impacts of a simple Pico-Photovoltaic kit that barely exceeds the modern energy benchmark defined by the United Nations. We find significant positive effects on household energy expenditures and some indication for effects on health, domestic productivity, and on the environment. Since only parts of these effects are internalized, underinvestment into the technology is likely. In addition, our data show that adoption will be impeded by affordability, suggesting that policy would have to consider more direct promotion strategies such as subsidies or financing schemes to reach the UN goal.

JEL-codes: D13 H23 H43 I31 O13 O18 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (40)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhw052 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: A first step up the energy ladder ? low cost solar kits and household's welfare in Rural Rwanda (2016)
Working Paper: A First Step Up the Energy Ladder? Low Cost Solar Kits and Household's Welfare in Rural Rwanda (2015)
Working Paper: A First Step up the Energy Ladder? Low Cost Solar Kits and Household's Welfare in Rural Rwanda (2014)
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:oup:wbecrv:v:31:y:2017:i:3:p:631-649.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The World Bank Economic Review is currently edited by Eric Edmonds and Nina Pavcnik

More articles in The World Bank Economic Review from World Bank Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().