Brazil, China, India and South Africa have each worked to improve access to electricity services. While many of the challenges faced by these countries are similar, the means of addressing them varied in their application and effectiveness. This report analyses the four country profiles, determining the pre-requisites to successful rural electrification policies.

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Comparative Study on Rural Electrification Policies in Emerging Economies: Keys to successful policies

Most developing countries include rural electrification programs in their efforts to improve social conditions. There are, however, several obstacles to the evaluation of such programs and therefore of their social, economic, environmental and energy impacts on the target population, particularly on impoverished communities located in remote areas. Evaluation of the efficacy of public policies aimed at rural electrification in South Africa, China, India and Brazil enables such actions to be quantified and re-considered so as to bolster the sustainability of their planning and implementation and also so as to enable comprehension of the significance of access to electricity in relation to other aspects of the drive to improve living standards. The provision of electric energy amounts to more than access to a public service and should be considered an essential right, in a context of social equity and justice, which permits social integration and the access to other equally essential services.

Evaluation of the impact of access to electricity: A comparative analysis of South Africa, China, India and Brazil

The economic and infrastructural disparities between the rural and urban communities of most developing countries in general and in terms of energy access in particular are quite glaring. China presents a good example of a developing country that has successfully embarked on rural electrification and energy projects over the last few decades and achieved a great feat of almost 100% electrification rate (IEA 2009). The purpose of this paper is to find out how China has achieved this feat; how China’s rural energy projects were financed and whether China provides lessons for other countries to follow. The above questions are examined through an extensive literature review and the paper finds that unlike many other countries following the top-down approach to rural electrification, China has preferred to use a phased development through a bottom-up approach where local resources, and village level development and empowerment played an important role. While the state provided the overall guidance and financial support, the integrated rural development approach has produced local-level solutions that are subsequently integrated to produce an alternative development pathway. Strong government commitment, active local participation, technological flexibility and diversity, strong emphasis on rural development through agricultural and industrial activities and an emphasis on capacity building and training have also played an important role in the success. However, despite achieving the universal access objective, China still faces a number of issues related to rural electricity use, especially in terms of regional use patterns, long-term sustainability of supply and commercial operation of the systems. The Chinese model could serve as an inspiration for other developing countries trying to ensure universal electricity access.

/pdf/the-chinese-electricity-access-model-for-rural-4tsfenb75s.pdf

The Chinese Electricity Access Model for Rural Electrification

Roughly two billion people live in areas that regularly suffer from conflict, violence, and instability. Infrastructure development in those areas is very difficult to implement and fund. As an example, electrification systems face major challenges such as ensuring the security of the workforce or reliability of power supply. This paper presents electrification results from an explorative methodology, where the costs and risks of conflict are explicitly considered in a geo-spatial, least cost electrification model. Discount factor and risk premium adjustments are introduced per technology and location in order to examine changes in electrification outlooks in Afghanistan. Findings indicate that the cost optimal electrification mix is very sensitive to the local context; yet, certain patterns emerge. Urban populations create a strong consumer base for grid electricity, in some cases even under higher risk. For peri-urban and rural areas, electrification options are more sensitive to conflict-induced risk variation. In this paper, we identify these inflection points, quantify key decision parameters, and present policy recommendations for universal electrification of Afghanistan by 2030.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/777/pdf

Supporting Electrification Policy in Fragile States : A Conflict-Adjusted Geospatial Least Cost Approach for Afghanistan

Executive Summary Key Challenges A quarter of humanity today lives without access to any electricity and almost one-half still depends on solid fuels such as unprocessed biomass, coal, or charcoal for its thermal needs These people continue to suffer a multitude of impacts detrimental to their welfare Most live in rural villages and urban slums in developing nations Access to affordable modern energy carriers is a necessary, but insufficient step toward alleviating poverty and enabling the expansion of local economies Even among populations with physical access to electricity and modern fuels, a lack of affordability and reliable supplies limits the extent to which a transition to using these can occur Those who can afford the improved energy carriers may still not be able to afford the upfront costs of connections or the conversion technology or equipment that makes that energy useful Beyond the obvious uses of energy for lighting, cooking, heating, and basic home appliances, uses for purposes that might bring economic development to an area are slow to emerge without institutional mechanisms in place that are conducive to fostering entrepreneurial activity and uses of energy for activities that can generate income Without the expansion of energy uses to activities that generate income, the economic returns to energy providers are likely to remain unattractive in poor and dispersed rural markets Significant success has been achieved with small pilot projects to improve energy access in some rural areas and among poor communities in urban areas But subsequently, less thought is focused on how to scale-up from these small pilot and demonstration projects to market development and meeting the needs of the larger population

Pan Jiahua

Papers

Rural Electrification in China 1950-2004: Historical processes and key driving forces