This report describes the current status and limitations of the power sector in Burkina Faso and develops a new methodology that through spatial analysis processes aims to provide a possible pathway for universal electricity access through a sustainable energy mix.
Two percent of the rural population in Burkina Faso has access to electricity and supply is lacking at many social structures such as schools and hospitals. Energy access achievements in Burkina Faso are still very modest. The rural electrification strategy for Burkina Faso is scattered in several electricity sector development policies: there is a need of defining a concrete action plan. Planning and coordination between grid extension and off-grid electrification programmes is essential to reach a long-term sustainable energy model and to avoid
high unnecessary infrastructure investments.
This report describes the development and the results obtained with a dynamic planning tool to support national government and development partners in defining an alternative electrification plan.
Currently, the common national policy for electrification is dominated almost exclusively by grid extension with the government subsidising fossil fuel electricity production. However, the results of our analysis suggest that an electrification plan mainly based on further grid extension becomes inefficient and unsustainable in order to reach the national energy access targets.
Our results also suggest that Burkina Faso’s rural electrification strategy should be driven by distributed minigrids powered by local renewable resources. We find that this approach would connect more people to power more quickly, and would reduce imported fossil fuel dependence/consumption that would otherwise be necessary for grid extension options.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable
