Geospatial and socioeconomic prediction of value-driven clean cooking uptake

Understanding the community-specific values and needs of consumers is essential for effective targeting and planning of energy services such as clean cooking. Many clean cooking programmes do not however consider these values and needs in targeting, as they can be difficult and time-consuming to ascertain. This work therefore explores whether community needs and values related to cooking can be predicted, using a novel approach that understands the relationship between socioeconomic, demographic, and geospatial data. Specifically, this study investigates (i) which values are most closely linked to cookstoves in rural Uganda; and (ii) whether it is possible to predict cookstove prioritisation and related values using openly-available data. Using machine-learning approaches, user-perceived value data from 199 rural low-income households in Uganda are mapped against socioeconomic, demographic, and geospatial data to identify correlations and intersections. The values most closely related to cookstoves were found to be food security, time benefit, accessibility to services, fixed costs, and being healthy. The most important parameters in predicting who would hold these values were found to be: the number of people living in a house; age; quintile 2 of the wealth index; annual accumulated precipitation; forest density; night time luminance; and distance to water source, nearest forest within ten kilometers, and nearest road. This study takes a first step towards enabling energy service providers to target areas with a greater likelihood of uptake based on open-source datasets. While cooking in Uganda is analysed herein, the proposed method can be applied for different geographies and energy services

Renewable energy in Morocco: assessing resource curse risks

Renewable energy development and export creates an opportunity for low- and middle-income countries to foster green economic growth while supporting global decarbonisation. However, without careful assessment of risks, a renewable energy boom could create a resource curse which paradoxically slows growth and development. Here, the likelihood of a resource curse driven by renewable energy development in Morocco is evaluated. Specifically, 14 potential negative impacts of the resource curse (i.e. “symptoms”) relevant to renewable energy are studied. Through surveys with 21 Moroccan energy experts, the highest-risk (i.e. most likely and highest-impact) symptoms are found to be: (1) increased economic dependence on other countries and international organisations, (2) increased dependence on other countries for technology and expertise, and (3) damage to local flora, fauna, and landscape. The risks associated with these symptoms, while serious, are preventable via policy strengthening or intervention. Through 10 follow-up semi-structured interviews and subsequent complex systems analysis, the following policy interventions are identified to mitigate resource curse risks: careful negotiation of robust co-funding arrangements to safeguard Moroccan autonomy; the development of local renewable energy innovation capability, including technology manufacturing and test-bedding; and continuation and enhancement of environmental protection mandates

Enabling environments for e-mobility and renewable energy integration in Southeast Asia

Deep and drastic cuts of greenhouse gas emissions are urgently needed from all sectors of the global economy to avoid irreversible climate and ecological breakdown. The majority of transport decarbonization pathways rely on two parallel activities: (i) the electrification of the majority of modes of surface transport, including road and rail, and even short-distance shipping and aviation; and (ii) significant growth in renewable electricity generation. Making this work effectively will require the interaction of two previously siloed sectors: electricity and transport. This working paper explores how relevant stakeholders can support enabling environments for the integration of e-mobility and renewable energy in the Southeast Asian context, based on analyzed interviews with staff of energy and transport secretariats of the Asian Development Bank and United Nations Environment Programme

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)

Data flows and coordination for decentralised energy planning in Zambia

Decentralised energy planning can be used to deliver quicker access to cleaner and more sustainable energy, and to achieve broader developmental objectives such as better livelihoods in rural and low-income communities. However, effective decentralised energy planning is anchored on good quality data, effective data flows and efficient coordination between local-level and national-level actors. Given the plans of the Zambian government to devolve the energy sector by 2024, it is important to assess the status of energy data sources, data flow systems and coordination amongst stakeholders. Based on input from two stakeholder workshops and insight from over fifty interviewees from local councils and other stakeholders, our study established that there is currently inadequate data sharing and coordination among stakeholders, there is little availability of energy data, and there are inadequate data flow systems to support effective decentralised energy planning and provision in Zambia. To ensure effective energy sector devolution, the government must put in place minimum viable data requirements and data sharing policies; undertake capacity building in energy data collection, analysis and reporting; and promote the involvement of local communities and traditional leaders in energy decision making and planning

Net zero portfolio targets for development finance institutions: challenges and solutions

Development finance needs to be better aligned with climate change objectives, and many experts see net zero portfolio targets as a powerful way to achieve this. This paper explores the operational implications of net zero portfolio targets for development finance institutions (DFIs). We set out an agenda to move development finance towards net zero goals in a way that acknowledges development concerns. These include (1) setting context-specific emissions pathways with granular bottom-up data and emphasising climate-development win-wins; (2) dealing with inertia and lumpiness in the portfolio through ‘when’ flexibility (multiyear carbon budgets) and ‘where’ flexibility (sharing of carbon space); (3) encouraging transition projects through future-emissions accounting and transition credits; (4) managing climate-development and other trade-offs with an internal carbon price and ESG standards; and (5) accounting for emissions after project-end with monitoring and legal provisions

The status of power sector decentralisation in Zambia

Decentralisation has been part of the government’s policy in Zambia since the 1960s. However, due to various factors, the actualisation of decentralisation in various sectors, including energy, has been very slow. Given the rising interest in decentralisation, this study was undertaken to understand the status and prospects of decentralised energy planning and provision in Zambia. Our key findings are that there is currently very little decentralised energy planning; there is confusion regarding the role of the state power utility (ZESCO) and that of the councils in municipal electricity service provision going forward; and there is very little local-level coordination of electrification planning in Zambia. However, our study finds that the prevailing political and policy environment provides a good foundation for the decentralisation of the energy sector in Zambia. To actualise decentralised energy planning, the government must finalise and implement the energy sector devolution plan; introduce integrated local energy sector planning; and strengthen the legal and regulatory framework for the use of the CDF in financing off-grid renewable energy projects in the local councils

Policy support for BECCS and DACCS in Europe: the view of market participants

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is the essential 'net' in net zero. However, a thriving CDR industry will not come into being without government intervention. As governments start to devise CDR support policies, this paper solicits the views of market participants in two of the most prominent CDR methods: bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS). We survey 47 BECCS and DACCS project developers and financiers active in Europe, conducting in-depth interviews with 27 of them to identify their key challenges and preferred policy interventions to address them. We find that participants prefer compliance markets, such as links to emissions trading systems, to generate demand but seek government support to cushion early market risks. They acknowledge the need for stringent monitoring and regulation to ensure environmental integrity. Bearing industry expectations in mind, policymakers face five key challenges in developing CDR: reaching scale, striking a balance with emissions cuts, safeguarding integrity, ensuring fairness and accelerating the speed of deployment

Stakeholder decision-making: Understanding Sierra Leone’s energy sector

open access articleThe 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