Rural electrification through mini-grids: Challenges ahead

Recent debates on how to provide electricity to the roughly one billion still unconnected people in developing countries have identified mini-grids as a promising way forward. High upfront costs of transmission lines are avoided, and unlike home-scale solar, mini-grids can provide sufficient electri...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy policy 2019-09, Vol.132, p.27-31
Main Authors: Peters, Jörg, Sievert, Maximiliane, Toman, Michael A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Business
Costs
Developing countries
Electric power demand
Electricity
Electricity consumption
Electrification
Energy access
Energy planning systems
Energy policy
LDCs
Optimism
Projections
Public infrastructure
Renewable energy
Rural areas
Rural communities
Rural electrification
Supply-demand forecasting
Sustainability
Trade
Transaction costs
Transmission lines
Viability
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recent debates on how to provide electricity to the roughly one billion still unconnected people in developing countries have identified mini-grids as a promising way forward. High upfront costs of transmission lines are avoided, and unlike home-scale solar, mini-grids can provide sufficient electricity for productive uses. Indeed, mini-grids play a crucial role in accomplishing the goal of the UN Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative to provide universal access to electricity by 2030. This note outlines the challenges the mini-grid sector faces to achieve that potential. To date, few examples of sustainably working mini-grid programs exist. We identify regulatory issues, low electricity demand in rural areas, high payment default rates and over-optimistic demand projections as among the key challenges. Business models that account for high transaction costs in rural areas and that are based on realistic demand forecasts could considerably increase the commercial viability of mini-grids. •Mini-grids are promising, but many programs have failed.•We identify key challenges for commercially and community operated mini-grids.•Demand projections are often too high, especially regarding productive uses.•Regulatory issues, payment default and lack of skilled staff are further challenges.•Realistic forecasts of demand and transaction costs can increase viability.
ISSN:0301-4215
1873-6777
DOI:10.1016/j.enpol.2019.05.016