Lighting Up Africa: the UK’s plan to expand access to energy

For a man who has only recently started his job, international development minister Nick Hurd seems sure of his priorities.

“Energy Africa makes perfect sense to me,” he says. “In the next few weeks and months we’re going to be shaping what DfID [the Department for International Development] does in the next five, arguably 10 years. But improving access to energy in Africa is my particular focus at the moment.”

After spending four years as minister for civil society under the coalition government, Hurd has been parachuted into the job at DfID to replace Grant Shapps, who resigned in the midst of allegations that bullying in the Tory party had led to the death of one of its activists.

Although his new portfolio covers a range of issues including water, climate change, sanitation, education and health, his immediate priority is to “keep up the momentum” of the Energy Africa campaign launched by Shapps in October.

Hurd has his sights set on the seventh sustainable development goal: universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services by 2030. But sub-Saharan Africa is currently 50 years behind, the only region in the world where the number of people denied access to modern forms of energy is set to rise and, based on current trends, predicted to hit the goal by 2080.

Inspired by Barack Obama’s flagship Power Africa programme, Hurd hopes that Energy Africa can make a key difference. Last month the US and UK projects came together to create a new partnership to address specific issues such as the need for shared power across borders, resources for geothermal power, and to boost the number of women participating in Africa’s solar industry.

But unlike Power Africa, which has been catalysing a wide range of renewable energy projects that will connect to the national grid – from a vast solar farm in Rwanda to the first wind power project in Senegal – Energy Africa has a very specific objective: to accelerate off-grid solar power for households using private investment.

Grid investment will only reach 40% of the population and leave more than 500 million people still without electricity access in 2030,according to the Overseas Development Institute. Critics say that the impact of DfID’s campaign will be only “incremental” because the continent needs large-scale infrastructure and while NGOs push decentralisation, Africans want a grid connection.

But it is well known that these incremental changes can create significant new possibilities in the lives of individuals and communities, from lanterns that enable pupils to study at night, to mobile phone chargers, to lights for huts that keep animals safe from predators.

Hurd is adamant about the need and value of off-grid investment. “The question is: what can we do for the 60% now?” he asks. “It strikes a chord with ministers wrestling with energy access in their countries. On-grid is massively important but most of the projections suggest that’s going to take a long time and won’t reach all the population. That’s why Energy Africa is focused on household solar energy. We think there is huge potential in off-grid particularly, because we see this market developing which we think we, with partners, can turbo charge.”

A host of factors have coalesced to create what Hurd describes as a “pivotal moment” for household solar in Africa. In the past six years, the price of panels has dropped by around 70%, making it as cheap as fossil fuels in some areas. The price and quality of battery technologies is also improving fast while the spread of mobile money systems on the continent is making solar an increasingly feasible prospect for the individual householder.

Six countries have signed up to DfID’s Energy Africa campaign. Ministers from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Somalia were the first to complete an agreement, followed by Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda. Eight other countries have been identified as potential targets, including Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Uganda.

The countries were chosen because they were “biting our hand off” says Hurd. “We are responding to demand.”

Working in fragile states is one of DfID’s explicit objectives, partly driven by national security interests. More than half its budget is committed to work in such regions, but implementing clean energy is a challenge in states grappling with terrorism and conflict, such as Nigeria and Somalia.

Problems vary from country to country, but the industry has been held back by a lack of legal and tax structures. The International Finance Corporation is currently working to establish a new set of product standards. DfID say it is its role to work out how to streamline the bureaucracy, and the specific challenges in each country are still being identified.

It’s a different model. It’s not about a huge chunk of public money. It’s a private-sector solution to this challenge

Nick Hurd

Providing electricity at the household level comes with additional challenges. For rural communities miles from a grid connection, energy poverty is entrenched by lack of access to financial systems. Pay-as-you-go schemes offered by mobile phones are changing this, but penetration fluctuates from country to country. DfID hopes that the campaign will be able to support non-bank financial providers to create mobile payment systems. In places where regulation makes it unfeasible, alternatives such as scratch cards will make up the difference.

The campaign is not a “traditional aid programme” says Hurd. Its aim is to galvanise private investment in countries where DfID has formed a partnership with the government. “It’s a different model,” he says. “It’s not about a huge chunk of public money; it’s not a DfID programme as such. It’s a private-sector solution to this challenge.”

But in a debate where creating clean energy is often pitted against economic development, it does not yet seem to be clear how foreign investment galvanised by the campaign will provide substantial jobs for Africans on the ground.

Although DfID has previously given seed funding to mobile money solar companies in the UK and Africa – such as Azuri Technologies and Persistent Energy Ghana – the majority of investors involved in the campaign will be foreign, with many British companies involved.

“We’re not nationalistic about this. We know it’s going to be private-sector led and we want to support entrepreneurs. At the moment most of the businesses are foreign, but over time my hope and expectation is that this will evolve. There is a hell of a lot going on in trying to increase energy access in Africa. My overriding instinct is to keep asking the question: how does this join up?”

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jan/07/lighting-up-africa-the-uks-plan-to-expand-access-to-energy-solar-power

Promote biogas for cheap and clean energy for rural households of Uganda

Biogas energy typically refers to a mixture of gases produced by the breakdown of any organic matter. It is produced from readily available raw materials such as animal waste, human and recycled waste. It is a renewable energy source with no carbon footprint. 

 Statistics from the Ministry of Energy indicate that there are only about 1,000 biogas digesters in the country which shows that usage of biogas energy is virtually untapped in Uganda.

Most projects are currently in development are either in the planning or demonstration stages around the country, the potential of biogas energy for decentralized small-scale electricity generation is yet to be realized by many especially in villages that remain without access to electricity.Also, biogas energy technology is yet to be promoted at any significant scale by government programmes, national utilities or NGOs active in rural electrification.
 

As government implements the second phase of the rural electrification programme, there’s a need to integrate use of readily available alternative energy sources such as biogas to deliver power to rural households because it’s cheaper and sustainable in the long run.

The rural electrification programme aims at equitable regional distribution of electricity and increasing rural electricity access in Uganda. The target of the recent Rural Electrification Strategic Plan 2013-2022 is to achieve electrification access of 22% (i.e. consumers who will be utilizing electricity in their homes, businesses or institutions) by 2022 from the current level of 5% for rural areas.
 

Electricity access continues to be low and majority of the population in rural Uganda continue to rely on wood fuel which in turn leads to environmental degradation and health hazards.

The Government has continued to favour extension of power to the rural poor with Hydro-power from dams in Jinja which is expensive for the Government and for the rural poor to install and maintain.

Transportation and distribution of Hydro-power over long distances leads to losses that have to be recouped inform of high tariffs.To achieve the ambitious target of the recent RESP2013-2022, government should concentrate on sustainable energy sources such as biogas to deliver power to rural households.
 

Biogas materials are often very much available in rural areas which are beyond the reach of typical grid systems. Animals such as cattle, goats, and produce large amounts of biogas because of billions of micro-organisms living in their digestive system.

Biogas plants can be built on domestic level, which enable most households to own one. These plants treat bio-waste which produces gas for cooking instead of using traditional firewood or charcoal. It also prevents the tendency to throw the waste materials on roads and in public places and reduces landfill waste.

Biogas energy is constant unlike intermittent renewables like wind and solar. It is also often economically viable for power generation and available at low cost and in sufficient quantities.

Biogas technology is already successful in China where almost 90% households and institutions use this energy source.

It has also been used in Rwanda prisons since 2001, about six prisons are saving 50% of cooking costs by using human excreta to produce cooking gas for the prison population of about 30,000.
 Recent increased focus on mini-grid solutions coupled with the potential for making use of locally produced renewable biomass resources means that biogas could provide an important contribution towards rural electrification in Uganda.

Electricity connects rural communities to the world, provides opportunities such as jobs, education and business thus access is very necessary.The Government should increase investments in other sustainable energy sources like biogas so as to increase access in rural areas and also double the share of other renewable energy sources in the energy mix.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/655756-promote-biogas-for-cheap-and-clean-energy-for-rural-households.html

Diana Taremwa Karakire
# Renewable energy in Uganda,Biogas energy.

Solar energy is a more affordable option for Ugandans

The Daily Monitor Newspaper in Uganda recently ran a story about 112-year-old Mzee John Oitamong, to whom a solar power kit worth Shs800,000 was donated by Village Power a non-government organisation. I would like to express gratitude to the Daily monitor and Village power for lighting up this old man’s life with solar power which is a clean and sustainable energy source.

Solar power, while not considered an option among high-intensity electricity consuming rich- households, does meet the immediate needs of low-income rural households and small businesses. Such a solar power kit is enough for a couple of lights and opens business opportunities which can transform lives while providing a cleaner alternative to the widely used conventional lighting methods, such as kerosene lamps.

Kerosene lamps are widely used for lighting in rural areas. Yet using kerosene for lighting is extremely inefficient, dangerous and expensive, and it has extensive health and environmental drawbacks. The World Bank estimates that inhaling kerosene fumes is the equivalent of smoking two packets of cigarettes a day. A number of NGOs such as Village Power are committed to eradicating the use of kerosene lamps by introducing solar power to rural households.

Indeed Uganda’s solar energy resource has the potential to provide off-grid electricity for the current 5 per cent in Ugandan villages who remain without access to power. It has become increasingly clear that hydro-power, as a dominant source of power, remains expensive for these rural poor.

Solar is a one-time investment for the consumer- unlike hydro which comes with regular power bills. They face daily worries like food and education costs. Many of them can barely afford housing, even in urban areas where there is more access to electricity.A one-time investment in solar energy would rid them of the daily worry of energy bills and leave moredisposable income that can be used for other necessities to improve quality of life. While the recurring argument is usually that solar energy systems are expensive, the common person would be able to afford it if it is subsidised and if the government and civil society makes an effort to publicise the benefits of solar energy.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/Solar-energy-is-a-more-affordable-option/-/689364/2334098/-/u6x64vz/-/index.html
Diana Taremwa Karakire
# Renewable energy in Uganda