Transforming Access to Clean Energy Technologies in the Global South: Learning from Lighting Africa in Kenya

Ockwell, David; Byrne, Robert; Atela, Joanes; Chengo, Victoria; Onsongo, Elsie; Fodio Todd, Jacob; Kasprowicz, Victoria; Ely, Adrian

doi:10.3390/en14144362

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Transforming Access to Clean Energy Technologies in the Global South: Learning from Lighting Africa in Kenya

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Department of Geography, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SJ, UK

SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), Sussex Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SL, UK

African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), ICIPE Duduville Campus, Kasarani, P.O. Box 45917-00100 Nairobi, Kenya

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Centre for Innovation Research, Centenary House, Block B, 1st Floor, Ring Road Westlands Lane, P.O. Box 2781-00606 Nairobi, Kenya

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editors: Brent S. Steel and Simon Batchelor

Energies 2021, 14(14), 4362; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144362

Received: 25 February 2021 / Revised: 2 July 2021 / Accepted: 8 July 2021 / Published: 20 July 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clean Energy Innovations: Challenges and Strategies for Low and Middle Income Countries)

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Abstract

As SDG7-related interventions seek to transform access to clean energy, this paper presents an analysis of both a previous transformative intervention (Lighting Africa) and a theoretical approach to understanding how such transformations can be achieved in the Global South (socio-technical innovation system, STIS, building). The paper makes four contributions. First, it tests the extent to which the STIS-building concept is useful in understanding and conceptualising how Lighting Africa transformed the market for solar lanterns in Kenya from an estimated market size of 29,000 lamps in 2009 to one where 680,000 Lighting Africa certified lamps were sold in Kenya by the end of the Programme in 2013. Second, it presents the most in-depth analysis of Lighting Africa that we are aware of to date. Third, it presents a conceptual framework that illustrates the Lighting Africa approach, providing a framework for future policy interventions aiming to transform access to clean energy technologies in the Global South. Fourth, it reflects on weaknesses in the STIS approach. In particular, these include a need to better attend to: the gendered implications of interventions (and social justice more broadly); implications of different scales of technologies; value accumulation and the extent to which interventions benefit indigenous actors and local economies; and the political and economic implications of any intervention and its distribution of benefits. View Full-Text

Keywords: energy access; sustainability transformations; solar lanterns; clean cooking; electric cooking

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ockwell, D.; Byrne, R.; Atela, J.; Chengo, V.; Onsongo, E.; Fodio Todd, J.; Kasprowicz, V.; Ely, A. Transforming Access to Clean Energy Technologies in the Global South: Learning from Lighting Africa in Kenya. Energies 2021, 14, 4362. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144362

AMA Style

Ockwell D, Byrne R, Atela J, Chengo V, Onsongo E, Fodio Todd J, Kasprowicz V, Ely A. Transforming Access to Clean Energy Technologies in the Global South: Learning from Lighting Africa in Kenya. Energies. 2021; 14(14):4362. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144362

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ockwell, David, Robert Byrne, Joanes Atela, Victoria Chengo, Elsie Onsongo, Jacob Fodio Todd, Victoria Kasprowicz, and Adrian Ely. 2021. "Transforming Access to Clean Energy Technologies in the Global South: Learning from Lighting Africa in Kenya" Energies 14, no. 14: 4362. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144362

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