How Can Village-level Solar Power Plants Contribute to Universal Electricity Access?

Transcription

1 How Can Village-level Solar Power Plants Contribute to Universal Electricity Access? Workshop, Solar xchange, Bangalore, April 21, 2015 Kirsten Ulsrud, Project Leader, Department of Sociology and Human Geography University of Oslo, Norway

2 Goal: Solar xchange, Study and develop context-sensitive models for village-level solar power plants Study and develop strategies for up-scaling, and knowledge exchange between countries 10 partners from Kenya, India, Sweden and Norway. Social scientists and practitioners Our cases: Kitui, Turkana, Homa Bay, Kirinyaga in Kenya, Chhattisgarh (and West Bengal), India and Thies, Senegal

3 Socio-technical Innovation in Practice Relies on action research similar to participant research The researcher plays an active role, working with others to create real change. Utilizes research for improving processes, documents and analyzes processes and outcomes. Time consuming, unforeseen consequences are highly likely. Controversial because of subjectivity. Must be conducted with carefulness, caring and a self-scrutinizing attitude. Unique opportunity for a deep understanding of underlying causes, nuances, interactions and gradual processes Direct application of research

4 Developing a Local Project in Kitui, Kenya Chose a difficult, sparsely populated place on purpose Representative for Kenya s «Arid and Semi- Arid lands» (ASALs), as well as many areas in Africa Areas where electrification is difficult How can alternative solutions be organized in this context?

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7 Revenues, Costs and Profits Ikisaya Energy Centre

8 Access to Electrical Lights, Ikisaya (Syou sublocation) Better accessibility than other options, however not as good as hoped for About 6 % of 384 households used solar power for light and/or phone charging in About 3 % owned their own solar panels About 4 % have bought LED-lamps with solar charging since then Renting out lanterns: 13 % (incl. school, administration, private nurse, small businesses) About 30 % within a 4 km radius (60 users) Reducing price from 20 to15 Ksh, added a few more users, and some rent them more often Lantern rental in 5 neighboring villages: 160 households, two health stations and three schools (Photo: Christopher Olssøn)

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10 Has Contributed to the Start-up of 20 Pilot Projects Elsewhere in Kenya Agent model lantern rental and phone charging Local businesspeople borrows the equipment, keeping 30% of lantern revenues and 100% of phone charging revenues All charging stations are centrally coordinated Lake Victoria 8nearby village): 162 households rents lanterns after 5 months, often used for night fishing. Represents 8% of village s inhabitants. Revenues covers savings and some additional investments, however not hourly wage and travelling for coordinator. Paradox: Simple organization, while keeping the most important services. However, some things are lost: Flexibility, other services, local learning and leadership, lower access in each location

11 Ongoing Case Study in Chhattisgarh State, India «Top-down», standardized planning, installing and running small solar power plants, «micro-grids» Financed by state and national governments Operational costs are subsidized, enabling low prices (many users are extremely poor) Probably more than 1000 villages, monitored by state government Important factors: Strong political will and involvement from state government, systematic learning, clusters. «Learning by doing» since 2002

12 Local and National Changes in Technology Always are (and Must Be) Processes of Learning and Innovation All cases shows the importance of defining innovation broadly. Social, economic and institutional, anchored in local and national contexts. Emphasize diversity in strategies for organizing society and technology, achieving sustainability and fairness Roadblocks include established systems, economic and political interests, and government priorities.

13 Six Dimensions of Local Infrastructure F Implication/Up-scaling B Local Conditions C Socio technical design D Socio technical system in practice E Access to services Quality of services Reliability of Services A Framework conditions

14 Factors Contributing to Well-functioning, Locally Run Electricity Services Recognizing the inevitability of unforeseen problems and consequences in all forms of innovation (Russell og Williams 2002). Allow for flexibility in models, budgets and time use for following up local actors. Shared learning processes. Draw on expert knowledge and experiences from other places. Adapt «socio-technical design» to local contexts

15 - Low prices - Broad access - Economic sustainability - Profitability

16 Different Strategies for Up-scaling Both local actors and type of model contributes to determining what can be up-scaled NGOs can maintain important aspects of pilot projects and empower local actors; combined with work in water, health, education, and climate change. Pioneer, along with scientists and local actors. Gradual up-scaling. Government major up-scaling of standardized models, based on various local pilot projects (India) Private Sector Mostly emphasize on selling equipment and/or running large scale operations, however village-level pilots exist (Will study PPP and Senegal this year). Private sector as service provider Changing institutions goes slowly, however individual governmental actors can achieve rapid change in structures

17 Translating Into Policy Integrated part of the project Nordic Development Fund (NDF) supports the Kenyan government in establishing 840 charging stations in 420 villages Based on a simple agent model tested in 20 villages Can learn about institutionalization from the Chhattisgarh case, however strategies differ. Issues: Rental price too high? Inflexible?

18 Translating into Policy Exploring dilemmas of up-scaling - Local adaptation - Scope of services - Local freedom to choose - Local responsibility - Quick up-scaling - Standardized models - Less time for following up local officers Cooperation between policy, research and practice? Trials of innovative support structures emphasizing diversity of models, actors and projects? Climate and energy assets utilized by those who cannot document substantial emission reductions?

19 Further Research and Policy Developments How can we develop support structures; For whom and according to what criteria? Engage individual actors, social entrepreneurship? Can we develop tools for evaluation that rely on qualitative components? How can the electricity grid and decentralized solutions complement each other? Links between energy and reduced vulnerability/increased scope of action? How to reach everyone? Need for a deeper understanding of this question.

20 Publications o Ulsrud, K., Winther, T., Palit, D. & Rohracher, H. (2015). Village-level solar power in Africa: Accelerating access to electricity services through a socio-technical design in Kenya. Energy Research and Social Science, 5. o Muchunku, C., Ulsrud, K., Winther, T., Palit, D., Kirubi, G., Saini, A., Mauta, W. & Rohracher, H. (2014). The Solar Energy Center An Approach to Village Scale Power Supply: Report from the Solar Transitions pilot project in Kenya. o Movie from the early stages of the Ikisaya project:

21 Thank You for your Attention!

22 Continuing the Work After the Project: Continued efforts in anew project on gender and energy, led by SUM (Energia, DFID). Learning processes continue, through networks, new ideas. Sout- South-North learning experienced as useful! Follow up operations in current projects, use these to teach others. Continue publishing academic analyses, as well as transdisciplinary research.