The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

Accelerating development in Sub-Saharan Africa will require massive expansion of access to electricity--currently reaching only about one third of households. This paper explores how essential economic development might be reconciled with the need to keep carbon emissions in check. We develop a geog...

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Main Authors:	Deichmann, Uwe, Meisner, Craig, Murray, Siobhan, Wheeler, David
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Economic Development: Agriculture Natural Resources Energy Environment Other Primary Products O130 Economic Development: Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses Transportation O180 Alternative Energy Sources Q420 Energy: Government Policy Q480 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes R110
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5611

id	okr-10986-5611
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-56112021-04-23T14:02:23Z The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa Deichmann, Uwe Meisner, Craig Murray, Siobhan Wheeler, David Economic Development: Agriculture Natural Resources Energy Environment Other Primary Products O130 Economic Development: Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses Transportation O180 Alternative Energy Sources Q420 Energy: Government Policy Q480 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes R110 Accelerating development in Sub-Saharan Africa will require massive expansion of access to electricity--currently reaching only about one third of households. This paper explores how essential economic development might be reconciled with the need to keep carbon emissions in check. We develop a geographically explicit framework and use spatial modeling and cost estimates from recent engineering studies to determine where stand-alone renewable energy generation is a cost effective alternative to centralized grid supply. Our results suggest that decentralized renewable energy will likely play an important role in expanding rural energy access. However, it will be the lowest cost option for a minority of households in Africa, even when likely cost reductions over the next 20 years are considered. Decentralized renewables are competitive mostly in remote and rural areas, while grid connected supply dominates denser areas where the majority of households reside. These findings underscore the need to decarbonize the fuel mix for centralized power generation as it expands in Africa. 2012-03-30T07:33:40Z 2012-03-30T07:33:40Z 2011 Journal Article Energy Policy 03014215 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5611 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
topic	Economic Development: Agriculture Natural Resources Energy Environment Other Primary Products O130 Economic Development: Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses Transportation O180 Alternative Energy Sources Q420 Energy: Government Policy Q480 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes R110
spellingShingle	Economic Development: Agriculture Natural Resources Energy Environment Other Primary Products O130 Economic Development: Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses Transportation O180 Alternative Energy Sources Q420 Energy: Government Policy Q480 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes R110 Deichmann, Uwe Meisner, Craig Murray, Siobhan Wheeler, David The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	Accelerating development in Sub-Saharan Africa will require massive expansion of access to electricity--currently reaching only about one third of households. This paper explores how essential economic development might be reconciled with the need to keep carbon emissions in check. We develop a geographically explicit framework and use spatial modeling and cost estimates from recent engineering studies to determine where stand-alone renewable energy generation is a cost effective alternative to centralized grid supply. Our results suggest that decentralized renewable energy will likely play an important role in expanding rural energy access. However, it will be the lowest cost option for a minority of households in Africa, even when likely cost reductions over the next 20 years are considered. Decentralized renewables are competitive mostly in remote and rural areas, while grid connected supply dominates denser areas where the majority of households reside. These findings underscore the need to decarbonize the fuel mix for centralized power generation as it expands in Africa.
format	Journal Article
author	Deichmann, Uwe Meisner, Craig Murray, Siobhan Wheeler, David
author_facet	Deichmann, Uwe Meisner, Craig Murray, Siobhan Wheeler, David
author_sort	Deichmann, Uwe
title	The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
title_short	The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full	The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr	The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed	The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort	economics of renewable energy expansion in rural sub-saharan africa
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5611
_version_	1764395667005898752

The Economics of Renewable Energy Expansion in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

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