Electricity Autonomy and Power Grids in Africa: from Rural Experiments to Urban Hybridizations

Jaglin, Sylvy

doi:10.1002/9781119616290.ch13

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Field evidence reveals that electricity supply and access in sub-Saharan African cities are experiencing a diversification of socio-technical arrangements (both on-and off-grid), the material, spatial and socio-political dimensions of which remain poorly understood (Jaglin 2019). It is therefore now necessary to examine how processes of co-production and socio-technical plurality shape and are shaped by local demands for electricity uses.…”

Section: From Co-production Processes To Electricity Configurations: Analysing Electricity Access In Its Urban and Technological Pluralitmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As electricity shortages have a rising political cost, governments endorse de facto liberalisation, driven inter alia by co-production processes and market mechanisms. Together, both old technologies (like generators) and new ones (like solar panels and batteries) add up in a complex socio-technical mix in urban areas, where they combine with the grid (Jaglin 2019). The outcome of these two dynamics is a tense and contested process of hybridisation of electricity configurations, fuelled by rapid urbanisation and socio-economic differentiation of urban societies.…”

Section: From Co-production Processes To Electricity Configurations: Analysing Electricity Access In Its Urban and Technological Pluralitmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With more than 600 million people without access to electricity out of a population of a billion, sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world with the worst indicators: generation and distribution capacities are insufficient and average per capita consumption is among the lowest in the world (UNEP 2017). To meet the challenge of electrification, off-grid and mini-grid technologies are promoted as a pragmatic solution for rural areas, whereas networked extensions remain the preferred option for urban areas (Desarnaud 2016;Jaglin 2019). Although there is a growing literature characterising the limited capacity and contested socio-technical hegemony of conventional electricity systems in sub-Saharan cities (Silver 2015;Baptista 2016;Monstadt and Schramm 2017;de Bercegol and Monstadt 2018;Smith 2018), co-production has not been discussed as an alternative viable option for electricity services delivery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Co-production of access and hybridisation of configurations: a socio-technical approach to urban electricity in Cotonou and Ibadan

Rateau

Jaglin

2020

International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development

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The article examines the dynamics of access to electricity in two West African cities: Cotonou (Benin) and Ibadan (Nigeria). Due to poor supply from the grid, households are developing varied ways of accessing electricity, based on different socio-technical dispositifs. In this paper we first demonstrate that access to electricity is based on co-production processes that must be approached from a multi-scale perspective (from the household to the urban scale). We then argue that particular attention to the socio-technical and spatial dimension of co-production arrangements makes it possible to interpret urban electrical configurations and their evolution. We thus show that co-production processes, relying on many actors and technologies to meet a growing and diversified demand for electricity in cities, support an ongoing movement of extension-hybridisation of electricity configurations on an urban scale, thus offering an interesting perspective on power changes in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Section: From Co-production Processes To Electricity Configurations: Analysing Electricity Access In Its Urban and Technological Pluralitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: From Co-production Processes To Electricity Configurations: Analysing Electricity Access In Its Urban and Technological Pluralitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Co-production of access and hybridisation of configurations: a socio-technical approach to urban electricity in Cotonou and Ibadan

Rateau

Jaglin

2020

International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development

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“…On this continent, where in 2018 nearly half of Africans did not have access to electricity (IEA, 2019), the pace of urbanisation is such that facilities cannot keep up with it (Blimpo and Cosgrove-Davies, 2019). Meeting the consumption needs of an emerging middle class and universalising services do not seem to be achievable by following the conventional reticular and centralised model (Jaglin, 2014(Jaglin, , 2016(Jaglin, , 2019. The technical electrification options are not limited to the grid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, they turn to market players for electrification or supply-securing solutions (Rateau and Jaglin, 2020). Thus, off-grid and low-cost technologies are markers of the growing integration of urban economies into global trade (Jaglin, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrifying urban Africa: energy access, city-making and globalisation in Nigeria and Benin

Rateau

Choplin

2022

International Development Planning Review

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Electricity access has become a crucial issue in global South cities. While demand is growing, conventional grids are failing or insufficient, especially in Africa. Urban dwellers therefore have to develop a wide range of (in)formal infrastructures to meet their daily electricity needs. Building on recent studies on urban electricity in the global South, this paper aims to contribute to the debates on hybrid forms of electricity provision by analysing the diffusion of solar panels and generators in two cities, Ibadan in Nigeria and Cotonou in Benin. Although neighbouring and relatively similar, these two cities illustrate distinct daily electrical lives. In Nigeria, an electricity-exporting country, people face daily power outages. In Benin, a country that depends on Nigeria for its supply, there is electricity but it is difficult to connect to the grid because of connection costs. Based on an empirical study, the article shows that Ibadan’s inhabitants use generators as a complement to a conventional grid that is almost universal but unreliable. In Cotonou, solar energy is an alternative until they can connect to the grid. Generators and solar panels have become the material markers of urban Africa, providing information on inequalities in access to electricity.

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Off-Grid Enterprise: A Critical History of Small-Scale Off-Grid Solar in Sub-Saharan Africa

Munro

Jacome

Samarakoon

2022

Energy, Climate and the Environment

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Electricity Autonomy and Power Grids in Africa: from Rural Experiments to Urban Hybridizations

Cited by 20 publications

References 15 publications

Co-production of access and hybridisation of configurations: a socio-technical approach to urban electricity in Cotonou and Ibadan

Co-production of access and hybridisation of configurations: a socio-technical approach to urban electricity in Cotonou and Ibadan

Electrifying urban Africa: energy access, city-making and globalisation in Nigeria and Benin

Off-Grid Enterprise: A Critical History of Small-Scale Off-Grid Solar in Sub-Saharan Africa

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