All too often it is easy to miss the connections between the different issues that we tackle in the energy sector. Kuungana Advisory has recently been working with DFID, through the ICED facility, on a number of projects to tackle this. Kuungana has been working with DFID over the past year and a half to develop a… Read More

There is increasing discussion of the potential for over-supply of utility-scale electricity generation capacity across many of the larger markets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). How significant is this trend and what does it mean for priorities in the sector? The graph below shows analysis of the projected peak capacity surplus or deficit from Power Africa’s… Read More

We know that subsidies and cross-subsidies will be required to achieve SDG7: Universal access to clean and affordable energy. Some of the arguments for this conclusion are presented in a recent paper that I co-authored with Tearfund. Ultimately, a purely private-sector led approach will not deliver universal access. But without the involvement of the private… Read More

Initial reactions to the title of this blog? Surely we can talk about financial sustainability and cost reflectivity interchangeably, right? Why the “vs.”? Well, a lot of the time that might be fair, but in our work we’re seeing cases where this is not always true. Off-grid electricity access solutions are playing an increasingly important… Read More

Significant progress has been made in recent years in increasing the role of renewable energy in Africa. In several countries utility-scale renewables installations have been secured at increasingly competitive prices. The decline in renewable energy technology costs, combined with the progress made in developing more energy efficient lighting and appliances, is catalysing a revolution in… Read More

There are lots of challenges facing mini-grid developers in Africa, and – as yet – their potential remains unfulfilled. At the heart of the challenge are two political issues: Many politicians want to provide electricity access to all citizens at a universal tariff, i.e. reflecting the principal that all citizens should be able to gain… Read More

In European and North American markets consumers (especially large industrial and commercial consumers) are increasingly producing their own renewable power rather than simply importing all of their electricity needs from the grid. Consumers are investing in solar PV and possibly battery storage capacity on the customer side of the meter. The term ‘prosumer’ is commonly… Read More

The rise of the off-grid solar market in sub-Saharan Africa has been a success story for improving energy access in the region. But the latest sales data from GOGLA, the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association, shows the second semi-annual decline in global sales volumes. In sub-Saharan Africa there are, however, some encouraging signs. While sales volumes… Read More

About 18 months ago I posted a blog suggesting that we would need to rethink the design of electricity markets to tackle some of the long-term challenges that will be posed by the future electricity system. The rise of renewables will mean that the electricity price in liberalised markets is low or near-zero for an… Read More

Previously, I’ve published a short report including analysis of the economics of mini-grids, illustrating how the relative merits of Solar Home Systems (SHS), mini-grids, and grid extensions evolve with distance from the grid. New geo-spatial data tools, such as the Open Source Spatial Electrification Tool (OnSSET), allow for more detailed modelling of these economics, to… Read More