The benefits of energy appliances in the off-grid energy sector based on seven off-grid initiatives in rural Uganda

The aim of this paper is to build on the existing knowledge of the benefits of energy appliances for the off-grid energy market. Rural electrification schemes often focus on generating power for electric lighting and, more recently, phone charging. The purpose of this study, however, is to identify the benefits of an array of energy appliances (other than lighting) that rural electrification initiatives rarely take into account. From the literature review, and the user-perceived benefits identified through a ‘User-Perceived Value Game’ conducted in 119 interview settings, it is found that the top-ranked benefits pertaining to energy appliances are business opportunity, elimination of labour intensive tasks, preservation of health, protection from people posing a threat (personal security), operational expenditure, ability to acquire knowledge, feeling comfortable, food security, information access, time savings and productivity improvement. Of these, the benefits pertaining to energy appliances, as perceived by the beneficiaries whose values are often overlooked by the project implementers, are identified and include comfort, security and food security. Furthermore, the study gives a brief account of the user-perceived benefits of modern energy sources (e.g. solar home systems, solar lanterns and generators). Where possible, reference is made to the traditional energy alternatives (e.g. candles), revealing the reasons why villagers sometimes preferred traditional energy sources to more modern ones.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (Grant No. EP/K503009/1) and Qualcomm European Research Studentships in Technology (Grant No. 1068)

Second-life battery systems for affordable energy access in Kenyan primary schools

As the world transitions to net zero, energy storage is becoming increasingly important for applications such as electric vehicles, mini-grids, and utility-scale grid stability. The growing demand for storage will constrain raw battery materials, reduce the availability of new batteries, and increase the rate of battery retirement. As retired batteries are difficult to recycle into components, to avoid huge amounts of battery waste, reuse and repurposing options are needed. In this research, we explore the feasibility of using second-life batteries (which have been retired from their first intended life) and solar photovoltaics to provide affordable energy access to primary schools in Kenya. Based on interviews with 12 East African schools, realistic system sizes were determined with varying solar photovoltaic sizes (5–10 kW in 2.5 kW increments) and lithium-ion battery capacities (5–20 kWh in 5 kWh increments). Each combination was simulated under four scenarios as a sensitivity analysis of battery transportation costs (i.e., whether they are sourced locally or imported). A techno-economic analysis is undertaken to compare new and second-life batteries in the resulting 48 system scenarios in terms of cost and performance. We find that second-life batteries decrease the levelized cost of electricity by 5.6–35.3% in 97.2% of scenarios compared to similar systems with new batteries, and by 41.9–64.5% compared to the cost of the same energy service provided by the utility grid. The systems with the smallest levelized cost of electricity (i.e., 0.11 USD/kWh) use either 7.5 kW or 10 kW of solar with 20 kWh of storage. Across all cases, the payback period is decreased by 8.2–42.9% using second-life batteries compared to new batteries; the system with the smallest payback period (i.e., 2.9 years) uses 5 kW solar and 5 kWh storage. These results show second-life batteries to be viable and cost-competitive compared to new batteries for school electrification in Kenya, providing the same benefits while reducing waste

Data needed to decarbonize paratransit in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sustainably transitioning to electric vehicles is challenging where transport and electricity systems are poorly defined due to a lack of data, such as those dominated by paratransit (informal, privately owned ‘public’ transport). We call for a more systemic approach to data collection as a key enabler for this transition

The benefits of energy appliances in the off-grid energy sector based on seven off-grid initiatives in rural Uganda

The aim of this paper is to build on the existing knowledge of the benefits of energy appliances for the off-grid energy market. Rural electrification schemes often focus on generating power for electric lighting and, more recently, phone charging. The purpose of this study, however, is to identify the benefits of an array of energy appliances (other than lighting) that rural electrification initiatives rarely take into account. From the literature review, and the user-perceived benefits identified through a ‘User-Perceived Value Game’ conducted in 119 interview settings, it is found that the top-ranked benefits pertaining to energy appliances are business opportunity, elimination of labour intensive tasks, preservation of health, protection from people posing a threat (personal security), operational expenditure, ability to acquire knowledge, feeling comfortable, food security, information access, time savings and productivity improvement. Of these, the benefits pertaining to energy appliances, as perceived by the beneficiaries whose values are often overlooked by the project implementers, are identified and include comfort, security and food security. Furthermore, the study gives a brief account of the user-perceived benefits of modern energy sources (e.g. solar home systems, solar lanterns and generators). Where possible, reference is made to the traditional energy alternatives (e.g. candles), revealing the reasons why villagers sometimes preferred traditional energy sources to more modern ones

Perceived value interviews and socio-economic survey data for communities in rural Uganda

This article describes a dataset of perceived values and socioeconomic indicators collected in rural Ugandan communities. The data were collected in interviews which employed: (1) the User-Perceived Value game, which solicits verbal data using graphical prompts and 'why'-probing; and (2) socio-economic surveys, which collected demographic data. The dataset constitutes 119 interviews conducted between 2014 and 2015 in seven rural Ugandan villages. Interviews were conducted in various settings (e.g. individual/group, women/men/mixed) and in seven different local languages (which were subsequently translated into English). These interviews were part of a research project aiming to better understand what is important to rural communities in Uganda, and to investigate decision-making as a function of different demographics. This dataset can be used by researchers and practitioners in various fields such as sustainable development (e.g. to analyze how development initiatives may be designed to match community values) and natural language processing (e.g. to automatically perform perceived value classification from the expert-annotated interviews)

The power of language: exploring values, empowerment dynamics and communication strategies for gender-inclusive energy service design in rural Uganda

Understanding consumer needs and values is crucial to the sustainable delivery and uptake of energy access projects in Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Nevertheless, many energy projects aim to empower women without first assessing gendered roles, needs, values, and relations for both men and women in project communities. Neglecting these can be detrimental to the end-users of energy projects, exacerbating conflict within households rather than empowering vulnerable groups. We propose a value-based approach to elicit the varying priorities and values of men and women and assess how these may shape energy access project design and communication in LMICs. Data from 84 qualitative individual interviews, equally split between men and women, and 28 gender-disaggregated focus-group discussions in seven rural Ugandan communities were used. We find that men and women in rural Uganda held largely the same high-priority underlying values focused on basic human needs such as income, healthcare, information services, food security, and water security. However, the language used to communicate these values differed in small but significant ways. Based on this, we offer two potential solutions for a more balanced gender-inclusive approach to energy service project design and communication: (1) Design projects and messaging based on underlying values of both genders while avoiding inadvertently reproducing patriarchal norms; and (2) use gender-specific messaging and vocabulary linking energy projects to underlying values to increase buy-in. This work constitutes a first step in better understanding the importance of gender-disaggregated data in decision-making for energy access initiatives in LMICs

Green hydrogen for development: An alternative to natural gas

It is well accepted that hydrogen and its carriers, such as ammonia and methanol, will play a part in our future global energy system. Despite significant uncertainty in future hydrogen demand, one thing is clear: the use of hydrogen is set to increase. To understand this, several important questions must be considered, including: (i) How will hydrogen likely be used? (ii) How does green hydrogen production compare to that of blue hydrogen (cost and emissions)? (iii) How can green hydrogen be cost-competitive with current day alternatives? (iv) Where geographically will green hydrogen be low-cost to produce? (v) In which regions will green hydrogen demand be greatest? (vi) What are the trade implications? By reviewing the current literature, this report investigates each of these questions, highlighting uncertainty and knowledge gaps

Stakeholder decision-making: understanding Sierra Leone's energy sector

The Sierra Leone energy sector suffers from multiple problems of inadequate capacity and finance. Most of the population does not have access to electricity, and supply is often unreliable. At the same time the country has been trying to implement significant structural and economic reforms, aimed both at government policy objectives and more market-driven operation. The focus of this paper is to achieve a better understanding of current decision-making processes and issues in terms of their impact on inception, planning, implementation and operation of projects. This should assist consideration of organisation and governance for the sector. The method has been to apply the Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) matrix with surveys of key actors in the sector including ministries, utilities and regulatory bodies, development partners and independent power producers. These were predominantly middle or senior managers most closely associated with the electrification. An initial online survey with 11 key informants allowed us to identify important linkages in decision-making processes. A further 16 face-to-face interviews with 30 interviewees added depth and helped identify weaknesses and challenges. Key findings relate to the conflicting frameworks of market driven pressures and government or policy driven objectives, and the lack of a clear pathway for change. Resulting problems include misaligned goals, unclear or inconsistent communication channels and ambiguous responsibilities. At the same time the sector is hindered by a lack of capacity, insufficient finance and threats from ‘briefcase organisations’. The paper also discusses some key remedies for these issues which include streamlined decision-making processes, clearly defined stakeholder roles and improved communication channels

Can electric vehicles be good for Sub-Saharan Africa?

Transport is an integral component of the energy system, and in Sub-Saharan Africa the demand for transport has been increasing due in part to population growth and economic development. To demonstrate the extent of this increased demand, emissions from transport in Africa grew by 84% over 6 years last decade [1] until, in 2018 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 15% of final energy consumption was demanded by the transport sector [2]. However, a global system change is underway for road passenger transport: a transition from polluting internal combustion engine vehicles to low-emission electric vehicles. Sub-Saharan Africa will not be immune to this transition, especially as a region which currently depends heavily on the import of second-hand vehicles [3]; not to mention the emission and air quality benefits electric vehicles can offer. Yet, by 2019 only 500 electric vehicles were on the roads in South Africa [4]. In this Viewpoint, we aim to dispel concerns that electric vehicles are always unaffordable and will cripple the already overloaded power systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, we propose that with innovative thinking and context-specific approaches and technologies, different from those in High-Income Countries, electric vehicles could in fact offer benefits to governments, the power systems, and vehicle owner-operators in Sub-Saharan Africa. We lay out how the historically siloed transport and electricity sectors could evolve to support each other in the future

Making e-mobility and renewable energy integration work in Asia and the Pacific

New electricity demand from e-mobility can incentivize investment in new clean generation and grid infrastructure, thus improving power system services. As electric vehicle charging is flexible, this demand can be shifted to follow supply from low-cost variable renewables, like wind and solar. In this working paper, we identify nine key barriers to effective e-mobility/ renewable energy integration, which revolve around upfront cost, locked-in governance and technology uptake. We present a framework of enablers for effective e-mobility and renewable energy integration. The framework divides enablers into four categories and subdivides them into ten subcategories. We identify enablers according to this framework, which will be used as a base from which to develop practical solutions in the Asia-Pacific context. Through presentation of a case study, we demonstrate how these enablers can make ‘win-win’ solutions in e-mobility and renewable energy integration a reality in making tangible contributions to Asia-Pacific countries’ decarbonization pathways while increasing access to mobility and electricity