Keywords

1 Introduction

Energy plays an instrumental role in economic development. It supports the emergence of developing countries and the eradication of poverty through the development of new economic value chains. Fossil fuels still account for the largest share of global primary energy supply, with 81% in 2018, including 32% of fuel oil (International Energy Agency, 2020a, b). Different scenarios of the global demand for primary energy predict an increase between 27% and 61% by 2050 (World Energy Council, 2013). Transition to energy sustainability in this context requires not only technology initiatives in both supply and demand within the sector but also in policymaking. Energy policies are of paramount importance in driving sustainability action. At the international level, global commitments to advance the energy sustainability agenda, namely the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Nationally Determined Contributions of countries (NDC), following the climate agreements of COP21 and COP22, are meant to shape the process of this transition. At the national level, innovation in energy legislation should anchor achievements of the last years in terms of renewables penetration into the grid and measures to improve the efficiency of energy use, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa region (Mandelli et al., 2014). These legislations should also open a new era of transition to energy sustainability driven by local communities. Several authors, including Davidson et al., 2007, call for a transition to sustainability using locally available renewable energy resources combined with energy efficiency measures. Energy efficiency is defined as essentially using less energy to provide the same service (Rosen, 2009). However, challenges exist in the way to this transition.

The energy challenges in sub-Saharan Africa are numerous and affect the overall performance of the region’s social and economic indicators. Ganda and Ngwakwe (2014) argue that major problems in promoting sustainable energy in sub-Saharan Africa are: (1) continued fossil fuel subsidies; (2) presence of monopoly structures in the energy sector; (3) lack of seed capital; (4) high transaction costs; and (5) risk on low-carbon finance defined as the vulnerability of investments intended to sustainable energy infrastructure to become reversed or modified. Some of these problems could be alleviated by scaling down the scope of interventions to address the problems in a local context, in particular those related to capital and technology investments in the region.

In this chapter, we analyze different policies and strategies available in the literature as models used to achieve energy sustainability in local communities. From this analysis, we derive a model for local transition to energy sustainability in developing countries within the sub-Saharan Africa region. Our model is a compilation of strategies and pathways that local governments could consider in order to achieve energy sustainability, especially in rural communities. The study’s objective is to advance the reflection on energy sustainability from the status of knowledge and shed light on the perspectives of local action for energy sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa.

2 Methodological Approach

Sustainable energy development requires access to energy services, which are affordable and preserve the environment. Our methodology is the literature review, from which we derive new proposals that should support policymakers in the design of strategies that promote access to energy sustainability in local communities of the sub-Saharan Africa region.

Oyedepo (2012) argues that renewable energy and energy efficiency are two components that should go together to achieve sustainable development in Nigeria. His approach involves the exploitation of locally available renewable energy resources combined with the implementation of energy efficiency measures targeting in priority the sectors of construction, industry, residential and office buildings, and transportation.

The World Energy Council (2020) analyses energy sustainability through 23 indicators, which are related to the following three dimensions relevant at both the national and local levels:

  • Energy security that includes effective management of primary energy supply, reliability of energy infrastructure and ability of energy providers to supply the demand.

  • Equity in the accessibility and affordability of energy supplies across the populations.

  • Environmental sustainability that proceeds from improved efficiency in the supply and demand sides of the energy sector and from the development of energy infrastructure using renewable and other low-carbon sources.

The International Energy Agency (2019) proposes the Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS), which outlines an integrated approach to question the issues of energy and sustainable development. For universal access to modern energy, the scenario proposes a focus on electrification schemes, both on-grid and off-grid, and the promotion of clean cooking facilities in bringing the number of people without access to modern energy down to zero by 2030.

Mainali et al. (2014) propose the Energy Sustainability Index (ESI), which is a tool that helps policymakers and energy planners to evaluate the status and progress of sustainable energy initiatives in rural settlements in developing countries. The index features 13 indicators (techno-economic, environmental and social) that are appropriately designed to capture the dimensions of energy sustainability in rural communities.

3 The New Approach for Local Transition to Energy Sustainability

The methods mentioned above share the core objective of a transition that progressively substitutes fossil fuels with renewable energy resources in the supply side of the energy sector. Therefore, our new approach proposes to start with policies that support investment in locally available renewable energy resources by taxing conventional energy production at rates similar to that applied to other goods. Indeed, by phasing out subsidies on conventional energy production, the amount of subsidies needed to make decentralized renewable energy generation attractive is reduced. In a similar approach, Ouyang and Lin (2014) demonstrated that the negative externalities of China economic growth could be reduced from 4.46% to 0.43% if 10% of fossil fuel subsidies were removed. Another model of tax incentives is waiving taxes on technology imports. In Senegal, this second model of tax incentives has proven efficiency on investments in renewable energies. Indeed, the share of solar photovoltaic in Senegal increased from 0.01% in 2007 to 0.7% of the total installed power in 2012 (Ministere en charge Energies, 2015). In 2019, Senegal fed into the electricity grid solar power plants with a total capacity of 102 MW; another 40 MW solar park and a 150-MW wind power plant are under construction. Still, Senegal and other sub-Saharan Africa countries could go further in tax incentives with a third option similar to the Polish approach in the coal sector. Since 2012, the Polish government introduced an excise on coal where revenues are directed to fund the transition away from coal (Gençsü & Zerzawy, 2017).

Secondly, alongside initiatives that use locally available renewable energy resources as substitutes to fossil fuels, policies should target energy efficiency measures in specific sectors that include transport, industry and the residential sector at the local scale, namely at the scale of cities and rural communities. These measures can range from direct contributions to retrofit electric appliances and devices with more efficient products such as LED in lighting to ban legislations (e.g municipal orders) on inefficient products. The appropriate measures are dependent on the level of development and should primarily target non-vital services. The definition of vital services may vary across regions. However, any service that is not related to the food supply, health or public safety may be considered in the category of non-vital services. The efforts of municipalities can build from the experience of national agencies. In Senegal, the National Agency for Energy Saving and Management efficiently contributed to the ban on incandescent lamps, which targeted savings of a 70 MW power during its pilot phase (Journal Officiel Gouvernenment Senegal, 2011). This agency also implements the Monitoring, Analysis and Reduction of Electricity Expenditures in the Public Sector (SARDEL) programme, which supports local communities in improving the energy performance of their facilities and equipment. The implementation of the recommendations resulting from the energy diagnosis contributed to savings of 31.01 GWh between 2015 and 2018.

Thirdly, the effective promotion of renewable energy policies and efficiency measures at the local level should be supported by an adaptive tool made up of indicators, including social, economic and environmental indicators, which supports local authorities in monitoring their energy agenda. These indicators should include:

  • The share of locally available renewable resources in the energy supply mix; this indicator should be associated with the index of dependency on energy import.

  • The electricity use per capita; average electricity consumption, excluding high income, in sub-Saharan Africa was about 481.2 kWh per capita in 2014, which is relatively low compared to the World average electricity consumption per capita estimated at 3131.3 kWh (World Bank, 2020). This indicator should be associated with the quantities of fuels in the grid supply mix, including renewable energy resources, and the quantity of electricity generated per period.

  • The share of the rural population with electricity access which is already tracked in the majority of sub-Saharan Africa countries and is commonly named rural electrification rate. This indicator should be associated with social and economic criteria such as the regional gross product, the energy intensity and the index of attractiveness to national and foreign investments.

  • GHG emissions from the energy sector; this indicator should be associated with an inventory of pollutants specific to the energy mix of the community (e.g CO2, CH4, NOx).

  • The share of the rural population with access to clean cooking energy; this indicator should be associated with the surface of green areas, the rate of deforestation and the demands of biomass and LPG fuels.

  • The local forest coverage; this indicator should be associated with the annual rate of change in forests and other green areas and to the potential of carbon sink. The monitoring of this indicator should support an afforestation policy that is complementary to the energy agenda.

This adaptive tool, made up of social, economic and environmental indicators, can be designed in a software format, the content of which would be tailored to the needs of each community. This tool should provide functionalities to monitor initiatives for energy sustainability as inputs to the software and the resulting impact on indicators as outputs.

4 Discussion of Findings

In this section, we discuss how the above three-pronged method could complement actions in the sector that promote energy sustainability at the community level, taking the examples of Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique and Senegal.

The Republic of Ghana adopted a Sustainable Development Plan in 2017, which integrates the SDGs with priorities on economic, social and environmental sectors. The Plan integrates, among others, the objective to develop a viable and competitive private sector and to invest in innovative and modern technologies. This objective conceptualized in the energy sector complies with our recommendation to develop policies that promote the development of energy infrastructure, using locally available renewable energy resources, which could be sustained by investment in key segments of the energy market value chain identified with information technologies. The environment component of the Plan also includes the objective to reduce the negative externalities of industrial and small-scale mining activities and to expand the use of clean energy (Government of Ghana, 2019). The adaptation of environmental criteria in the third model axis to account for emissions from the various mines can contribute to creating an integrated monitoring system in communities that host these industries in Ghana.

Similar to Ghana, the Republic of Nigeria mainstreamed SDGs in its National Development Planning (NDP) that includes the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP 2017–2020). The ERGP focuses on economic, social and environmental dimensions of local development (Government Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2020). In addition, Nigeria undertook to realign its National Statistical System (NSS) with the requirements and indicators of the SDGs, which provides an opportunity to define indicators for the energy sector that integrate all dimensions of sustainability. At the local level, the identification of relevant energy indicators is adequately supported by the adaptive tool that makes it possible to monitor social, economic and environmental indicators related to SDGs 7, 11, 12 and 13, and therefore to monitor a sustainable local energy transition.

Mozambique is a net exporter of electricity, with more than 73% of the electricity produced being exported to South Africa (UNEP RISØ, 2013). However, about 67% of the population live in rural areas, and 78% of this population do not have access to electricity (International Energy Agency, 2020a, b). The situation is slightly better in urban areas where 52 of the population have access to electricity from the grid. This paradox is explained by the absence of network infrastructure to connect settlements located far from the grid. The use of locally available renewable energy resources such as hydropower is a competitive alternative to the central grid. Mozambique has a large hydropower potential, estimated at 14,000 MW. Hydropower accounts for more than 99% of the power produced in the country. Over the last decades, the government made sustained efforts to promote the use of other renewable energy resources. The reform of the energy sector opened the electricity sector to new entrants (1997). The reform also established the Conselho Nacional de Electricidade (CNELEC) as the regulator of the sector, and the rural electrification fund (FUNAE). Measures designed to improve the efficiency of energy use should complement these efforts to exploit locally available renewable energy resources. Monitoring the effectiveness of the renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives with the tool indicators of an adaptive could make the energy transition accessible to remote rural communities.

Senegal adopted, in 2013, the legal framework of action in local administrations called Act 3 of Decentralization. Its aim is to organize the sustainable development agenda by 2022 in local territories (Ministere en charge des Collectivites Territoriales, 2013). The Act focuses on two strategic directions that include improving institutional and local governance and supporting partnership and financing mechanisms in local development actions, including in the energy sector. The first and third axes of our model are in line with these two orientations. Act 3 promotes local governance, and the model proposes policies to organize demand and supply in the sector that target local users. Further, our model proposes that each community be given the possibility to define its energy agenda based on the potential of energy resources available, which complies with the objective of participative democracy that the Act ultimately targets. The monitoring tool proposed for the energy sector can easily be integrated into the scope of local development statistics provided by the Decentralization Act.

From the previous examples, it appears that developing countries in sub-Saharan can have innovative pathways for sustainable development, building from what is currently available. The region is endowed with high potential for renewable energy resources, whether it is solar or hydropower. Innovation in the energy sector could consist in designing local energy agendas that are consistent with national ambitions and international commitments. This approach echoes the principles of participative democracy and inclusiveness. As in other sectors, the approach in the energy sector will need methodologies and tools to create consistency of action between the local and supra-local scales. The model proposed with three axes is flexible enough to create this consistent dynamic.

The energy transition driven from local communities should encourage these communities to define their energy agenda independently and to access mechanisms to fund this agenda. In Senegal, the financing of local initiatives is mainly from transfer funds that the central government grants to local communities, through the Endowment Fund for Decentralization (FDD) to support the effectiveness of policy action, and the Equipment Fund for Local Communities (FECL) to support investments in infrastructure (Ministere en charge de l'Environnement, 2015). A subsequent axis of this apparatus should focus on encouraging the private sector to develop mechanisms that leverage from this contribution to create markets for energy products and derivative products such as emissions credit trades (ECTs). The localized governance of the energy sector shaped around the three axes of our model should establish the framework to mobilize this private sector and support profitable investments in technology and institutional capacity building.

5 Conclusion

Sub-Saharan Africa region is home to approximately 1.2 billion people, only 48% of whom have access to electricity (International Energy Agency, 2020a, b). Population growth forecasts predict that the population can reach 2.2 billion people by 2040. The International Energy Agency also foresees a doubling of the primary energy demand of the region by 2040, compared to 2018 levels. These figures call for urgent actions in the energy sector. Access to energy empowers the supply in communities of vital services such as harvesting and food transformation, schooling and medical care. Action for access and transition to energy sustainability in these communities requires national and regional legislation complemented by the financial support of the private sector. Academia can also contribute to addressing the challenge by providing the necessary expertise required to identify indicators of sustainability and participative democracy in the sector.

In this chapter, some strategies developed by governments in order to address energy poverty in different countries of the region were presented. Besides the energy situation in the exemplified countries, theoretical and practical transition models were documented. The analysis revealed some common trends in energy legislation over the last 30 years:

  • Conceptualization of security supply that would use locally available renewable energy resources in the grid

  • Political willingness to keep centralized regulation of the sector, and

  • Investments in rural electrification

The comparison of electrification rates over the years shows a slight improvement of energy access in rural areas, but it is unclear whether the centralized regulation scheme did improve either access or security of supply. Therefore, it appears necessary to review the agenda, at least as far as its mechanisms are concerned. The goals of universal access to electricity and other modern energy supplies set by the current agenda cannot be achieved without addressing the more pressing issues of investment in network infrastructure and technologies that incentivize and support local communities in efforts to transition towards more sustainable energy behaviours. Information technologies can provide this support with readily accessible tools available to communities in planning their energy systems. Participative actions such as survey or public consultations can inform behaviours and provide a solid foundation for an energy agenda that is driven by communities and monitored with adaptive information technologies.