Household Effects of Electrification Through Mini-Grids: Evidence from Tanzania

Federico M. Accursi and Raúl Bajo-Buenestado

No 12453, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Mini-grids are emerging as a key solution to electrify access-deficit communities, yet their effectiveness in improving energy access and household welfare remains underexplored. This paper provides novel evidence from Tanzania, where a policy reform doubled the number of mini-grids since 2008. Exploiting spatial and temporal variation created by the distance to the households in proximity to mini-grids and the timing of their deployment, and using data from two different nationally representative surveys, we find that mini-grids increase local electrification rates by 10-23 percentage points — a result corroborated by a surge in nighttime light intensity near newly deployed projects. We also show that mini-grids reduce reliance on polluting fuel-based lighting and drive the uptake of electric-powered devices. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest the surplus generated by renewable-based mini-grids nearly offsets their costs.

Keywords: energy access; mini-grids; nighttime light; energy poverty; Sub-Saharan Africa; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L94 O13 Q48 Q56 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp12453.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:ces:ceswps:_12453

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klaus Wohlrabe ().