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(a) Sub-Saharan Africa map with the PV-DEI index score for each country computed for the private sector approach: From highest performance (in dark green) to lowest performance (in dark red). The colour scheme is divided in five ranges, separated at the values of the 20 th , 40 th , 60 th , and 80 th percentiles. (b) Country-level ranking and breakdown of index with share of the four main dimensions (Environmental, Social, Political and Financial).
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There are over 650 million people in Africa who have no access to electricity; this is in sharp contrast to the continent's vast untapped renewable energy potential and due largely to the historical lack of investments in energy infrastructure. New investments in decentralised power generation within Sub-Saharan Africa play a progressively importan...
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... data-points from the existing data, however the 'true' imputation model may have contained non-linearities. When reassessing the correlations between variables following each imputation method using the COIN tool [41], the MissForest method ( Fig. SI.5) preserved the original relationships between the variables better than the MICE technique (Fig. SI.4). This result is in alignment with the findings of Shah et al. [43], who found that a random forest technique was more efficient than default MICE methods, and produced narrower confidence intervals when looking at complex datasets. Our research therefore also lends additional support for their ...
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... emerging overall picture of the county level PV-DEI (Fig. 4) is that Eastern and Southern African countries (6 of the 8 top countries) scored significantly better than central African countries. In the west region, results were more heterogeneous with countries such as Senegal and Benin performing well, while other countries such as Ghana and Sierra Leone scored poorly. The five best scores were ...
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... performance in red and higher performance in green). The size of the bubble serves as an indication of the market size per country. The market size represents the amount of population living in areas favourable to decentralised energy. measures decentralised energy options, the market size in each country is meaningful to establish the ranking. Fig. 4 also breaks down how countries score on each of the dimensions. Low-ranking countries on the PV-DEI Index tend to score poorly on financial considerations, despite obtaining relatively high scores in the environmental and social dimensions. For example, Madagascar ranked third in the environmental dimension but was ranked in 32nd ...
Citations
... reproductive health, empowerment and economic status) and the African Green Growth Index (Kararach et al., 2018). In 2020, a composite indicator, the Photovoltaic Decentralised Energy Investment (PV-DEI) index was constructed, which directly addresses financing in sustainable energy development in rural areas Moner-Girona, Bender, et al., 2021). The Social CEA Index presented in this paper integrates a wide range of social dimensions related to electricity access into a comprehensive indicator that can serve as a measure to address funding towards clean electrification projects and support the monitoring of social effects related to electricity access in SSA. ...
... Countries and indicators with data coverage lower than 63 % across the 24 indicators were removed. Considering the results obtained from Bender et al. Moner-Girona, Bender, et al., 2021), as well as the evidence provided by Shah et al. (Shah et al., 2014), the authors decided to implement a random forest algorithm (MissForest). ...
... Finally, the datasets were normalized to ensure comparability between indicators expressed at different scales and measured in unequal units. Considering the results provided by Bender et al. (2021) and Moner-Girona, Bender, et al. (2021) the rescaling or min-max method of normalisation was chosen because this was able to preserve the shape of the data distribution for each indicator and did not disproportionately reward or punish exceptional indicator values in contrast to methodologies using Z-scores. ...
New financing in clean energy technologies plays a progressively important role in increasing energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This research investigates the salient social dimensions of clean electricity access with the view to identify the most suitable SSA countries for funding and implementing decentralised renewable energy systems and sheds light on the opportunities for improving social conditions through clean electrification. Our multi-dimensional analysis of social considerations culminates in the Social Clean Energy Access (Social CEA) Index. The composite indicator structure was empirically tested and improved in terms of accuracy and robustness for 35 SSA countries. The Social CEA index captures the status of social factors on health, education, economic development, gender equality, and quality of life related to electricity access. The Social CEA Index strength is assessed by exploring the synergies between electricity access and social development and its progress over time is evaluated through a dimension's breakdown approach in Ghana.
... In sub-Saharan Africa, other characteristics such as strong governance and the human development index were found to have a positive impact on electricity access [48] . Similarly, Moner et al. [39] used the solar Decentralised Energy Investments (PV-DEI) index to direct decentralized renewable energy investment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These indicators take into account social, political, environmental, and financial factors. ...
This study examines the drivers of electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa in 48 chosen countries from 1995 to 2019, accounting for endogeneity of variables using a new novel xtdpdgmm command that implements two-step system GMM (Generalized Method of Moment) estimators. The findings show that in sub-Saharan Africa, domestic credit to the private sector and the food production index are the two most important factors influencing access to electricity. Domestic credits to the private sector and food production are statistically significant and have a positive impact on increasing regional electricity access. Thus, having access to credit from financial institutions is crucial for many households in order to have access to electricity. The result reveals that agricultural productivity improves food security by increasing access to electricity. Our study recommends that governments in sub-Saharan Africa should boost agricultural production and provide a favorable environment for the banking sector and other microcredit institutions to finance electrification initiatives. In order to improve the region's access to electricity, financial institutions, governments, and donor funding should be encouraged to finance small-scale renewable energy projects. Thus, to lower the cost of electrification in sub-Saharan Africa, increasing off-grid financing should be prioritized. These findings have significant implications for sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries.
... The veracity of this method has been ensured at each step of index-making. First, the selection of indicators is important to determine the overall quality of the index [76]. Thus, indicators were selected based on relevance, wide range, and variability across the subjects [74]. ...
... Thus, indicators were selected based on relevance, wide range, and variability across the subjects [74]. Second, the distribution of selected indicators can be influenced by outliers [76]. However, a composite index is robust if the presence of extreme value has a minor impact on ranking. ...
... Third, it is difficult to aggregate indicators of different units, ranges, and scales. To ensure comparability [76], normalization (0,1) of winsorized indicators is performed using the min-max method [74]. The min-max method can preserve the shape of the data distribution and did not unduly reward exceptional values in contrast to standardization using Zscores [76]. ...
The occurrence of natural disasters is as old as the history of human beings, thus, the SDG 11.5 target underscores the importance of reducing natural disasters and their corresponding losses. Natural disasters suddenly disturb the inflow of foreign reserves and restrict the purchase of necessary goods, thus, causing welfare loss. Due to limited literature, this research shows the effect of natural disasters on foreign exchange reserves in 24 high, 26 upper-middle, 32 lower-middle, and 16 low-income countries. The two-step generalized method of moments shows that disaster-related loss reduced the level of foreign reserves in all panels, excluding high-income countries. The favorable impact of infrastructure, capital formation, renewable energy, FDI inflow on foreign reserves implies practical implications like (a) infrastructural investment is recommended to strengthen the economy, (b) capital formation is recommended for the production of exportable items, (c) enhance human capital through healthcare, education, employment, training, and skills development, (d) installation of renewable energy systems at discounted rates to tackle energy crisis and reduce import bills, and (e) increase FDI inflow, especially in disaster management and planning. Resilience-building is a vital tool for hazard management and planning. This study encourages countries to follow the Sendai Framework 2015–2030 to increase resilience.
... The effects on the LCOE values (under tier 2) of varying the discount rate were illustrated in Fig. 4a. To study the effect of a country-specific discount rate on the LCOE (Fig. 4b), weighted average capital cost values were calculated 47 with recent input data on equity rate of return and debt interest rate in each country (World Bank/ IMF lending interest rate, 2021) 60 using the methodology described previously 40 . The country-specific weighted average capital cost values (Supplementary Table 5b) were then included in the LCOE location-specific estimates for both the fully renewable and the hybrid PV/ diesel mini-grids 56,57 . ...
An inadequate understanding of the energy needs of forcibly displaced populations is one of the main obstacles in providing sustainable and reliable energy to refugees and their host communities. Here, we provide a first-order assessment of the main factors determining the decision to deploy fully renewable mini-grids in almost 300 refugee settlements in sub-Saharan Africa. Using an energy assessment survey and publicly available traditional and earth observation data, we estimate a total electricity demand of 154 GWh yr–1. This figure includes lighting, air circulation and phone charging for 1.15 million households and the estimated demand of almost 59,000 microbusinesses and around 7,000 institutional loads. Using a set of techno-economic modelling tools, we thus compute a corresponding upper-bound total up-front cost of providing electricity access of just over US$1 billion. Deploying solar photovoltaic mini-grids instead of diesel implies avoiding greenhouse gas emissions for 2.86 MtCO2e over 20 years. Providing reliable, sustainable and clean energy in humanitarian contexts is increasingly important but a lack of data on settlements impedes progress. Here, Baldi et al. present a database and analytical tools for 288 refugee settlements in sub-Saharan Africa that can support renewable energy deployment decisions.
... Given the complex and multifaceted nature of sustainable energy access, composite indicators can help attract investment in decentralized electricity generation. An example of this is the PV Decentralized Energy Investments (PV-DEI) index, 47,48 which covers the environmental, social, political, and financial aspects with over 50 individual indicators. High scores in the social dimension imply that the impacts of investing in decentralized PV are likely to significantly improve various social outcomes. ...
A potential response to the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with long-term benefits is to provide electricity for medical equipment in rural health centers and communities. This study identifies a large gap in the electrification of healthcare facilities in SSA, and it shows that decentralized photovoltaic systems can offer a clean, reliable, quick, and cost-effective solution. The cost of providing renewable electricity to each health facility by a stand-alone PV system is analyzed for a given location (incorporating operational costs). The upfront investment cost for providing electricity with PV to >50,000 facilities (mostly primary health posts) currently without electricity is estimated at EUR 484 million. Analysis of the accessibility and population distribution shows that 281 million people could reduce their travel time to healthcare facilities (by an average of 50 min) if all facilities were electrified.
... In this data article, we present datasets from the construction of a composite indicator, the Photovoltaic Decentralised Energy Investment (PV-DEI) index, presented in detail in [1] . This article consists of a comprehensive energy-related data collected in practice from several sources, and from the outputs of the methodology described in [1] . The PV-DEI was designed and developed to measure the multidimensional factors that currently direct decentralised renewable energy investments. ...
... The description of the data sets are provided in the data tables for the main indicators of each dimension in this article, while raw data are provided in table in the Supplementary Information. The original research article [1] describes the analysis and methodology used to create the PV-DEI Index. ...
... These represent the total amount of investment in solar-PV decentralised technologies per country (if all the mini-grid investments recommended using the analysis of the PV-DEI Index were undertaken). The overall investment costs are calculated by aggregating the costs of each PV mini-grid at national level [1] . In case of private investments approach, the PV-DEI index allowed to estimate the overall investment cost for each country, showing that for three-top PV-DEI countries the overall investment cost were of approximatively EUR 890 million for Ethiopia, EUR 550 million for Kenya and EUR 525 million investments for South Africa. ...
In this data article, we present datasets from the construction of a composite indicator, the Photovoltaic Decentralised Energy Investment (PV-DEI) index, presented in detail in [1]. This article consists of the comprehensive energy-related data collected in practice from several sources, and from the outputs of the methodology described in [1]. The PV-DEI index includes 52 indicators and was designed and developed to measure the multidimensional factors that currently direct decentralised renewable energy investments. The PV-DEI composite indicator was constructed because factors stimulating investment cannot be captured by a single indicator, e.g. competitiveness, affordability, governance [1]. The PV-DEI was built in alignment with a theoretical framework guided by an extensive review of the literature surrounding investment in decentralised Photovoltaic (PV), which led to the selection of its indicators. The structure of the PV-DEI was evaluated for its soundness using correlational assessments and principal component analyses (PCA). The raw data provided in this article can enable stakeholders to focus on specific country indicators, and how scores on these indicators contributed to a countries overall rank within the PV-DEI. The data can be used to weight indicators depending on the specifications of several different stakeholders (such as NGO, private sector or international institutions).
In this article we present datasets used for the construction of a composite indicator, the Social Clean Energy Access (Social CEA) Index, presented in detail in [1]. This article consists of comprehensive social development data related to electricity access, collected from several sources, and processed according to the methodology described in [1]. The new composite index includs 24 indicators capturing the status of the social dimensions related to electricity access for 35 SSA countries. The development of the Social CEA Index was supported by an extensive review of the literature about electricity access and social development which led to the selection of its indicators. The structure was evaluated for its soundness using correlational assessments and principal component analyses. The raw data provided allow stakeholders to focus on specific country indicators and to observe how scores on these indicators contributed to a country overall rank. The Social CEA Index also allows to understand the number of best performing countries (out of a total of 35) for each indicator. This allows different stakeholders to identify which the weakest dimensions are of social development and thus help in addressing priorities for action for funding towards specific electrification projects. The data can be used to assign weights according to stakeholders' specific requirements. Finally, the dataset can be used for the case of Ghana to monitor the Social CEA Index progress over time through a dimension's breakdown approach.
Nowadays, as the electrolization and digitization have become popular evolutions among people, forming developments movements for smart energy systems are known as prevalent trends. This evolution has raised the energy consumption rate in its different carriers such as electricity, heat, and gas. Herein, the significant growth in multi-energy consumption alongside raising concerns in the usage of traditional units for energy generation has motivated the energy world to switch toward dispersed energy generation instead of a centralized one. On the other hand, the call for modern society by developing technologies and increasing the well-being factors has highlighted the need for energy grid modernization. This chapter is structured to provide a beneficial overview of grid modernization and the related topics. The dispersed generation, its various technologies, and especially renewable types of them along with their benefits and challenges are discussed for identifying the importance of decentralization of the system. The trend for 100 percent renewable generation and clean energy production are clarified to describe why future modern energy grids are targeted to be fully equipped with renewable energy sources. The various aspects of modern energy grids also need to be analyzed to give an appropriate overview regarding grid modernization.
This thesis addresses the misalignment of learning with mobiles approaches as they are applied to rural communities of adult learners in East Africa. Most models of learning with mobiles do not work well for rural adult learners: they predominantly focus on the capabilities of the technology and not the available affordances, a crucial oversight in communities where smart phone and internet access is limited. Existing models are also misaligned with dialogic indigenous traditions of learning: they tend to function as derivatives of formal classroom environments and do not account for the pedagogical needs of rural adult learners accustomed to non-formal small group dialogic education rooted in the social sphere. This misalignment frames the key research question at the foundation of this report: Can learning with mobiles approaches adapt to the technological and pedagogical needs of adult learners in rural East Africa and enhance non-formal dialogic education? I approach this question through a Design Based Research methodology involving a mixed-method research design. By utilising the subsistence farmer network of my research partner The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program, I worked with 3,216 rural adults to complete a survey and conduct semi-structured interviews to thematically frame the intersecting dimensions of technological affordances, mobile learning pedagogy, and non- formal dialogic learning. This thematic analysis guided the iterative development of a mobile learning platform used by rural learners across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Four iterative design cycles of this platform provided insights as to how mobile technology can support small group-based dialogic education within a rural East African context. Analyses of these insights using a pre-post survey with 136 learners, learner data from the 640 users of the mobile learning platform, and Kearney and Burden’s iPAC framework for mobile pedagogy ultimately demonstrate that it is possible to adapt a learning with mobiles approach to meet the technological and pedagogical needs of rural learners. These findings are generalised into a series of Design Principles and a corresponding Techno-Pedagogical framework which incorporates a technological affordance and pedagogical perspective on learning with mobiles for non-formal small group dialogic education. The Design Principles and accompanying framework address the identified misalignment of mobile learning platforms in rural communities of East Africa and will assist learning with mobiles researchers and practitioners operating in similar contexts throughout the Global South.
Public developmental institutions are pivotal in shaping the contours of the electricity sector of the developing world and its associated greenhouse gas emissions pathways. However, we have a fragmented and incomplete picture of the evolution of their investments over time and space. This is particularly the case for the recent rise of various Chinese Developmental Institutions (CDIs) for which infrastructure investment estimates range in the trillions under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and for which data is mostly not publicly disclosed. We address this gap in two ways: first, we compile and analyze a novel dataset that draws on commercial data tracking, publicly available datasets, and more than 1,000 supporting documents to match financial transactions by the main CDIs and traditional Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to power plant projects worldwide. This allows us to conduct a quantitative, comparative analysis of the role of CDIs and MDBs to understand the relative size, technology, and country focus of such investments in the period 1999–2020. Second, we complement the quantitative dataset with 39 expert interviews to shed light on the drivers behind the Chinese investments, with a particular focus on coal projects. The analysis shows that CDIs have rapidly emerged as the largest public finance provider for the electricity sector in the developing world. We also find that, in contrast with the increasingly green BRI rhetoric, the technology portfolio of CDI investments in power plants is still heavily dominated by coal plants. Over time, however, CDIs have increasingly supported more efficient coal plants and increased the share of their portfolio supporting non-hydro renewables and supported a growing number of projects jointly with MDBs. Steering China’s bilateral coal finance flows through international efforts into a more sustainable direction to meet climate goals will require careful consideration of a set of drivers and enablers of the involvement of CDIs and recipient countries in coal projects, which we discuss, as well as of the role of other finance providers, including traditional MDBs.
