Rural electrification can have many benefits-not only bringing lighting, but improving the quality of health care, spreading information and supporting productive enterprises. The extent of these benefits has been questioned, arguing that they may be insufficient to justify the investment costs. This book quantifies these benefits. It finds that the benefits can indeed be high, substantially outweighing the costs, and that consumer willingness to pay is generally sufficient to achieve financial sustainability. However, benefits could be increased further by providing smart subsidies to assist connections for poorer households, promote productive uses and further consumer education.

This open access book presents the proceedings of the 2nd Africa-EU Renewable Energy Research and Innovation Symposium (RERIS 18), held in Maseru, Lesotho in January 2018. The symposium aimed to foster research cooperation on renewable energy between Africa and Europe – in academia, as well as the private and public sectors. Addressing thematic areas such as • Grid-connected renewable energy; • Decentralised renewable and household energy solutions; • Energy socioeconomics; and • Promotion of energy research, innovation, education and entrepreneurship, the book brings together contributions from academics and practitioners from the EU and Africa to enable mutual learning and knowledge transfer – a key factor in boosting sustainable development in the African renewable energy market. It also plays a significant role in promoting African renewable energy research, which helps to secure energy supply in both rural and urban areas and to increase generation capacities and energy system resilience. This book is an invaluable resource for academics and professionals across the renewable energy spectrum.

Energy Analysis and Policy: Selected Works discusses the major aspect of electricity economics, including pricing, demand forecasting, investment analysis, and system reliability. This book provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the diversity of problems in analyzing energy markets and designing sound energy policies. Organized into 14 chapters, this book first discusses the energy economics in developing countries; integrated national energy planning (INEP) in developing countries; energy pricing; practical application of INEP using microcomputers; and energy strategies for oil-importing developing countries. Subsequent chapters describe the energy demand management and conservation; national energy policy implementation; energy demand analysis and forecasting; and energy project evaluation and planning. Other chapters explore non-conventional energy project analysis and national energy policy; rural energy issues and supply options; and bioenergy management policy. Rural-industrial energy and fossil fuel issues, as well as energy R&D decision-making in developing countries, are also presented. As the issues in this book are very important, this book will be helpful to a wide and appreciative audience.

India is a leading developing country in providing electricity to rural and urban populations. By late 2012, the national electricity grid had reached 92 percent of India's rural villages, or about 880 million people. Yet, approximately 311 million people-mostly those in rural areas-still live without electricity. Less than half of all households in the poorest income group have electricity. Even among households with electricity, hundreds of millions lack reliable supply and experience power cuts almost daily. Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is not fi nancially prohibitive for India. The challenge of providing electricity for all is achievable, ensuring that India joins such countries as China and Brazil in reaching out to even its remotest populations. Policies will need to be aligned with the principles followed in other successful international programs. The potential benefi ts of electrifi cation for those without service are quite high. The benefi ts of lighting alone would approximately equal the investments necessary to extend electricity for all. Households with electricity consume more than 100 times as much light as do households with kerosene for about the same amount of money. Without quality energy services, households often face entrenched poverty, poor delivery of social services, and limited opportunities for women and girls. This book will be of interest to a wide audience, including policy makers, experts and managers in the international development community, and those in academia.

Bangladesh has made remar ...

Access to reliable electricity is a prerequisite for the economic transformation of African economies, especially in a digital age. Yet the electricity access rate in Sub-Saharan African countries is often substantially low, households and businesses with access often face unreliable service, and the cost of the service is often among the highest in the world. This situation imposes substantial constraints on economic activities, provision of public services, adoption of new technologies, and quality of life. Much of the focus on how best to provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity service to all has been on mitigating supply-side constraints. However, demand-side constraints may be as important, if not more important. On the supply side, inadequate investments in maintenance result in high technical losses; most state-owned utilities operate at a loss; and power trade, which could significantly lower the cost of electricity, is underdeveloped. On the demand side, the uptake and willingness to pay are often low in many communities, and the consumption levels of those who are connected are limited. Increased uptake and use will encourage investment to improve service reliability and close the access gap. This report shows that the fundamental problem is poverty and lack of economic opportunities rather than power. The solution lies in understanding that the overarching reasons for the unrealized potential involve tightly intertwined technical, financial, political, and geographic factors. The ultimate goal is to enable households and business to gain access, to afford to use, and utilities to recover their cost and make profits. The report makes the case that policy makers need to adopt a more comprehensive and long-term approach to electrification in the region--one centered on the productive use of electricity at affordable rates. Such an approach includes increased public and private investment in infrastructure, expanded access to credit for new businesses, improved access to markets, and additional skills development to translate the potential of expanded and reliable electricity access into substantial economic impact. Enhancing the economic capabilities of communities is the best way to achieve faster and more sustainable development progress while addressing the broad challenges of affordability, low consumption, and financial viability of utilities, as well as ensuring equitable provision between urban and rural areas.

"How does everyday life change when electricity becomes available to a group of people for the first time? Why do some groups tend to embrace this icon of development while other groups actively fight against it? Based on ethnographic fieldwork at different points in time, this book examines the effects of electricity's arrival in a rural community in Zanzibar. The author provides a compelling account of the social implications in question: the rhythm of life speeds up; sexuality and marriage patterns are affected; and a range of social relations, those between generations and genders as well as those between human beings and spirits, become modified. These dynamics highlight the particularities of social life in the region. At the same time, the book invites readers to understand the ways that electricity is implicated in our everyday life."--BOOK JACKET.