Abstract
International engagement in sub-Saharan Africa's power sector is increasing rapidly. Aid is used to directly finance a growing number of foreign companies to implement power projects, accompanied by calls for policy and governance reform. This paper argues that while new and much-needed finance is becoming available, the current approach to foreign support poses several new challenges for broad and sustainable long-term development of the African power sector. They include a focus on creating market opportunities for non-African rather than domestic companies, the difficulty of delivering large-scale rural electrification through the externally advocated market-based approach, economic inefficiencies of current aid spending, and the difficulty of tackling complex, country-specific issues with continental electrification initiatives. To address these challenges, we suggest redirecting public funds towards rural electrification, increasing African ownership, individualising policy interventions and easing the current types of neoliberal conditionalities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 139-146 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Energy for Sustainable Development |
| Volume | 44 |
| Early online date | 4 May 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2018 |
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge research assistance by Ivy Langat, Faith Mwachinga, Nathan Nzau and Ladd Steward, as well as the input from audiences at the University of Bath, University of Oxford and the Australasian Agriculture & Resource Economics Society in Adelaide. Philipp Trotter has been funded by the United Kingdom's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of grant EP/M507982/1 .
Keywords
- African energy sector
- Electrification
- Foreign aid
- Power Africa
- Sustainable development
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
