Keyword

1 Introduction

The concept of governance carries a broad shade of meaning. It can refer to the administrative processes and actions initiated by a community of people to respond to their own needs within the framework of a political agenda. Based on this definition, local energy governance can be inferred to mean a combination of measures taken and actions implemented in order to address the populations’ needs to access secure, low-carbon, and to the extent possible, affordable energy by leveraging all resources accessible to the municipality. In the energy sector, like in others, effective governance is predicated on inclusiveness, democracy and community buy-in. As Godinot (2011) argues, meeting energy challenges requires a public service mission.

Unlike many other sectors, energy is cross-cutting in nature, as it forms nexus with all other sectors. However, there are numerous barriers impeding the governance of the energy sector in local communities. More than often, energy generation, transmission and distribution powers are the preserve of central governments, and the literature on good practices is recent; major publications on local energy governance were issued as community grids emerged in countries like Germany and Austria. Our study presents these models of energy for communities, including in urban environments, in order to capture the essence of what could be the way forward for other countries. Until now, the literature on decentralized grids in developing countries has focused on rural, remote communities and has been mainly project-based.

The chapter documents the whys and wherefores of governance in Senegalese communities of locally available renewable energy resources. This literature provides us with core practices that can be harnessed to support the transition to energy sustainability in local communities across sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the diversity of environmental, economic and social conditions of communities exemplified should shape responsive programmes of action designed to spur the implementation by local communities of national and international commitments on energy sustainability, such as the Sustainable Development Goal number 7 (SDG-7).

2 Methodological Approach

The approach used to prepare this chapter is a systematic literature review to document the case studies and to support our argument of the existence of basic practices for implementing the energy transition agenda in local communities.

Jon Pierre (2014) argue that “good” local governance should reflect the dualism of efficiency and legitimacy. Local authorities are efficient when they act to provide services that are responsive to local needs and conditions. Local authorities are legitimate when they act as a local branch of the nation-state administrative apparatus. This dual motivation is not conflicting, especially in the energy sector, where it could be reinforcing.

In our approach, we tried to reconcile knowledge from legitimate actions documented in policy strategies such as the Lettre de Politique de Developpement du Secteur de l’Energie (LPDSE) in Senegal, which is the reference document of public action in the energy sector for the entire country, and knowledge that derives from learning in doing through local projects and programmes. Literature on central government strategies is publicly accessible online. When preparing this chapter, we were able to access documents that detail the change in the governance framework of the energy sector throughout the last decades. We consulted the literature on projects and initiatives undertaken in local communities, which had an impact on the transition to energy sustainability in order to build the bridge of legitimate and efficient actions for transition to energy sustainability in communities of Senegal and beyond across sub-Saharan Africa.

Our study starts with a presentation of the political framework legally vested in municipalities to pulling the levers that can affect the energy situation of local communities. Then, we present some of the limitations and barriers preventing municipalities from effectively implementing a sustainable energy agenda. This presentation is followed by an introduction of some approaches and tools that could help overcome the barriers identified and usher in a new path for tailor-made governance of energy systems in local communities.

3 Discussion of Findings

The decentralization of political competencies from national to local governments started in Senegal in 1996. Since then, nine areas of responsibility have been transferred “for total administration by local governments (…); the central government acting as a controller a posteriori of the regularity of actions” (Ministere en charge des Collectivites Territoriales, 2013). The competencies transferred include land use and waste management. However, the energy supply remains the preserve of the central government. Land use and waste recycling are both critical in the transition to energy sustainability, which creates an overlap of the competencies of local and national authorities. We propose two policy reforms to address this situation:

  • Third-party access to the grid, and

  • Legal provision of community grids

The first has been gradually introduced in the Senegal legislation since 2011 when the legislation governing self-production, consumption and evacuation of excess energy generation throughout the intercommoned grid has been adopted. The process took seventeen (17) years until the energy regulatory agency proposed the feed-in-tariffs for the evacuation of excess energy generation from renewables. Yet, the legal framework is very restrictive as it only considers self-production of individual buildings and one-way evacuation of the excess energy generated. Our proposed concept of third-party access to the grid is broader and includes the possibility of energy trades between buildings. Darghouth et al. (2015) identify two issues that arise with the concept of third-party access to the grid: (1) variability of power flow (load changes over time) and (2) two-way power flow (end-user can take from and export to the grid). Addressing these issues in local communities of sub-Saran Africa requires a combination of local legislations and infrastructure investment that specifically target these communities. Third-party access to the grid is one step of a more protracted process to make energy infrastructure accessible to all citizens. This is a democratic reform in addition to being an instrument for local municipalities to intervene in the energy sector while being efficient and legitimate. In Europe, the process began when countries decided to decouple energy production and the management of power transmission grids (European Union, 2009). This reform in sub-Saharan Africa should provide municipalities with authority to grant concessions to public and private organizations registered in the municipality for management of the energy transmission grids, thus rethinking the concept of land management, including rights-of-ways. The reform should provide municipalities with increased revenues through investment and taxes paid by concession holders.

The second reform, which provides for legal powers to build community grids, is a step further in democratizing governance of the energy sector. It empowers municipalities as decision-makers and as controllers a priori of energy-related initiatives undertaken in their territories. An example of a community grid model is the one being developed in Austria. This process that is pursued in a country under a federalist political system can provide insights into what would appear as the final stage of community grids development after issues related to the devolution of authority in the energy sector have been addressed in countries under a centralized Jacobin political system. In these countries, the decentralization of competencies in the energy sector should necessarily involve the communalization of energy infrastructure and grid access for third parties.

Pending these reforms, planning energy systems with community grids provides local authorities with the levers required to govern their already accessible competencies that include land management and waste management. Once the legitimacy of political action is provided with these reforms, the municipalities should be provided with tools to support planning energy production systems and establishing rules that address community needs and manage collective action problems such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

In Senegal, the latest strategic framework document for the energy sector (LPDSE 2019–2023) sets the objective in terms of transition to energy sustainability at the national level (Ministere en charge des Energies, 2019). The document is unclear on the potential contributions of local communities, especially in terms of renewable energy penetration to the grid. However, communities already have tools available to contribute to the LPDSE effectively. An example is the Covenant of Mayors, which, like the Kyoto Protocol for countries, outlines the local authorities’ objectives in transition to energy sustainability. As part of the Covenant, municipalities are equipped with the tools they need to carry out energy surveys and monitor activities in the field. Municipalities that are members of the Covenant are committed to tracking the amount of energy consumed in their territory along with the corresponding level of CO2 emissions.

Beyond the political opportunity to implement structural reforms empowering local communities, a new agreement on planning energy systems with locally available resources is an opportunity for participatory democracy within communities. It provides a platform for translating policies into choices and mapping out pathways for their implementation and operationalization and, as De Jong (2011) argues, for calling the political establishment and social actors to adopt a new governance policy.

Our proposed approach to planning community-level energy systems is a dynamic, multi-step, time-defined and context-sensitive process with three key moments: preparation, implementation and monitoring.

The Preparation Phase Shall Include the Following

  • Characterization of the legal and regulatory conditions of actions in the energy sector

  • Identification of critical levers of action that takes into account demands and available resources

  • Formulation of energy production and climate change mitigation objectives

  • Definition of implementation strategies and an agenda

The preliminary phase lays out the framework for legitimate action of the local government in the transition to energy sustainability. Senegal still lacks a regulatory platform that brings together national and local governments to define energy agendas. Nonetheless, the requirement for such a platform is laid out in the national governance framework document (Ministere en charge des Finances, 2019). The document highlights the critical roles that local authorities could play in the implementation of local development plans for the energy sector and the creation of a legal framework for energy based on regulatory (conventions), strategic (local energy policy) and operational (local action plan) objectives. The preliminary phase is also an opportunity to identify key stakeholders in the community to be involved in the process of developing a shared vision of the objectives and expected results. We agree with Samb (2014) that planning a participatory local energy agenda is a protracted and critically important process that requires the identification and early involvement of key community stakeholders as advocates of local democracy.

The Implementation Phase Shall Include the Following

  • Setting priorities for action

  • Selection of indicators and monitoring tools among available toolkits

  • Implementation of activities listed in the work plan

The second phase provides information on the effectiveness of local government action in implementing the sustainable energy agenda. During this phase, the municipality should pay closer attention to the stakeholders’ engagement and limitations to define responsibilities, processes and operational methods. During this phase, actions are only legitimate if the work programme is in line with the national energy agenda. Support from international organizations such as the Covenant of Mayors can be directly channelled to local authorities through the provision of demographic, economic and energy development models. However, it is the municipality’s responsibility to ensure that priorities highlighted in these documents are aligned with national priorities and that action complies with the regulatory framework in force at the national level.

The Monitoring, Verification and Evaluation Phase Shall Include Following

  • Periodic evaluation of action effectiveness

  • Public information and consultation with all stakeholders

The third phase provides an opportunity to monitor and report on the human, financial and technical resources deployed for the implementation of the sustainable energy agenda. This phase requires regular communications with the community on results, bottlenecks and projections. The participatory evaluation of energy infrastructure and services should support a continuous improvement of processes. As Bouvier (2003) mentions with respect to the geopolitical challenges of electricity distribution, local authorities and stakeholders (unions) need to re-establish themselves as the “custodians of the public service.”

4 Conclusion

This chapter presents a new approach to defining local energy agendas, drawing on lessons learned in pioneer countries. The countries in sub-Saharan Africa have different legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the energy sector at the local level, but actions carried out over the last decades have progressively supported a transition to energy sustainability driven by local communities. The process for empowering municipalities to take a leading role in the agenda for transition to energy sustainability is irreversible in sub-Saharan Africa as it is in other regions. Our study demonstrates the existence of legal bases for moving forward, as well as tools for supporting action. However, sub-Saharan Africa countries still lack legal frameworks that lay the foundations for a consistent agenda that reconcile local ambitions with national strategies. Additional reforms are required for municipalities to anchor these ambitions with the legitimacy of a public authority delegation and the efficiency of a public service provider for the community.

Wolfgang Streicher quoted by Sinai (2012), defines energy planning in local communities as a mechanism to engage and organize municipalities in the next years to deliver energy transition and create adequacy between the energy demands and supply with locally available resources. We have seen throughout the chapter that countries in sub-Saharan Africa need political reforms to design these islands of energy communities, which would not operate as stand-alone, but would connect to other communities to deliver the greater value of access to modern, reliable and sustainable energy (SDG-7) using local resources.