User-value is a determining factor for product acceptance in product design. Research on rural electrification to date, however, does not draw sufficient attention to the importance of user-value ...with regard to the overall success of a project. This is evident from the analysis of project reports and applicable indicators from agencies active in the sector. Learning from the design, psychology and sociology literatures, it is important that rural electrification projects incorporate the value perception of the end-user and extend their success beyond the commonly used criteria of financial value, the appropriateness of the technology, capacity building and technology uptake. Creating value for the end-user is particularly important for project acceptance and the sustainability of a scheme once it has been handed over to the local community. In this research paper, existing theories and models of value-theory are transposed and applied to community operated rural electrification schemes and a user-value framework is developed. Furthermore, the importance of value to the end-user is clarified. Current literature on product design reveals that user-value has different properties, many of which are applicable to rural electrification. Five value pillars and their sub-categories important for the users of rural electrification projects are identified, namely: functional; social significance; epistemic; emotional; and cultural values. These pillars provide the main structure for the conceptual framework developed in this research paper. It is proposed that by targeting the values of the end-user, the key factors of user-value applicable to rural electrification projects will be identified and the sustainability of the project will be better ensured.
This research paper describes the use of a ‘User-Perceived Value Game’ to explore the value of development initiatives as perceived by villagers in 119 interview settings in seven Ugandan villages. ...Based on the findings from the game, a ‘User-Perceived Value Framework’ is developed, consisting of 64 value categories. This is depicted graphically as a ‘User-Perceived Value Wheel’ supported by a ‘Key Phrase Wheel’, both can be modified using computer-assisted software developed by one of the authors. The aim is to understand the reasons why something is perceived by the end user to be important. This will lead to an improved understanding of how a development initiative can be better tailored for lower-income markets. The initiative can then be marketed appropriately, which will result in user acceptance because the initiative will be perceived to have personal value to the user and therefore the user will care for its upkeep. The paper concludes with a brief application of the ‘User-Perceived Value Wheel’ to demonstrate how this tool can be used to better understand the true sustainability drivers behind rural electrification development initiatives.
As the world transitions to net zero, energy storage is becoming increasingly important for applications such as electric vehicles, mini-grids, and utility-scale grid stability. The growing demand ...for storage will constrain raw battery materials, reduce the availability of new batteries, and increase the rate of battery retirement. As retired batteries are difficult to recycle into components, to avoid huge amounts of battery waste, reuse and repurposing options are needed. In this research, we explore the feasibility of using second-life batteries (which have been retired from their first intended life) and solar photovoltaics to provide affordable energy access to primary schools in Kenya. Based on interviews with 12 East African schools, realistic system sizes were determined with varying solar photovoltaic sizes (5-10 kW in 2.5 kW increments) and lithium-ion battery capacities (5-20 kWh in 5 kWh increments). Each combination was simulated under four scenarios as a sensitivity analysis of battery transportation costs (i.e., whether they are sourced locally or imported). A techno-economic analysis is undertaken to compare new and second-life batteries in the resulting 48 system scenarios in terms of cost and performance. We find that second-life batteries decrease the levelized cost of electricity by 5.6-35.3% in 97.2% of scenarios compared to similar systems with new batteries, and by 41.9-64.5% compared to the cost of the same energy service provided by the utility grid. The systems with the smallest levelized cost of electricity (i.e., 0.11 USD/kWh) use either 7.5 kW or 10 kW of solar with 20 kWh of storage. Across all cases, the payback period is decreased by 8.2-42.9% using second-life batteries compared to new batteries; the system with the smallest payback period (i.e., 2.9 years) uses 5 kW solar and 5 kWh storage. These results show second-life batteries to be viable and cost-competitive compared to new batteries for school electrification in Kenya, providing the same benefits while reducing waste.
Renewable energy development can enable climate-compatible growth in low- and middle-income countries, particularly given the substantial opportunities for energy export to high-income countries ...seeking to decarbonise their energy systems. However, this also comes with significant risks, including the potential to trigger a resource curse of adverse social, environmental, and economic effects resulting in paradoxically slowed growth. Here, we propose a novel framework to assess potential risks associated with renewable energy development in low- and middle-income countries rooted in the resource curse literature. Eighteen symptoms of the resource curse are evaluated in terms of relevance to renewable energy, and their potential risks and benefits during renewable energy development are established. We find that context-specific factors are key in determining whether resource developments will provoke adverse impacts or positive opportunities; so, preemptive context-specific risk assessment is needed to implement prevention and mitigation strategies. For example, while fossil fuel development has been seen in some circumstances to increase dependence on external capital and technology, where adequate education and financing strategies are implemented, it can instead enhance autonomy and development. Similar risks can apply to renewable energy development, and must be evaluated. The proposed resource curse risk assessment framework can be applied to individual contexts to help countries, companies, sectors, or projects maximise the positive outcomes of renewable energy development and avoid a renewable energy resource curse.
•We propose a framework to assess resource curse risk in renewable energy.•It is tailored for low- and middle-income countries developing renewable energy.•Negative impacts of the traditional resource curse are identified and analysed.•Using this framework, preventative and mitigating policies can be designed.•This risk is important as global electricity grids decarbonise via energy trade.
This article describes a dataset of perceived values and socioeconomic indicators collected in rural Ugandan communities. The data were collected in interviews which employed: (1) the User-Perceived ...Value game, which solicits verbal data using graphical prompts and ‘why’-probing; and (2) socio-economic surveys, which collected demographic data. The dataset constitutes 119 interviews conducted between 2014 and 2015 in seven rural Ugandan villages. Interviews were conducted in various settings (e.g. individual/group, women/men/mixed) and in seven different local languages (which were subsequently translated into English). These interviews were part of a research project aiming to better understand what is important to rural communities in Uganda, and to investigate decision-making as a function of different demographics. This dataset can be used by researchers and practitioners in various fields such as sustainable development (e.g. to analyze how development initiatives may be designed to match community values) and natural language processing (e.g. to automatically perform perceived value classification from the expert-annotated interviews).
Display omitted
This paper presents GeoH2, a geospatial model that optimizes the cost of green hydrogen production, storage, transport, and conversion. This model calculates the cost of producing ...green hydrogen in a specified location to meet demand in another location by:
•Optimizing hydrogen conversion and transport from production site to demand site•Optimizing green hydrogen production and storage based on spatially-specific wind and solar generation temporal availability
This method allows users to map production costs throughout a region to identify the lowest-cost location of green hydrogen production to meet demand using a specified end-state for transportation and storage (i.e., pressurized hydrogen, ammonia, or liquefied hydrogen). These modeled costs can be compared to current or projected prices for energy and chemical feedstock in the region to assess the cost-competitiveness of green hydrogen. The model is designed to run at a country or regional scale. A case study application is provided for the context of Namibia.
This article describes a dataset of community perspectives on living conditions and disaster risk management in Khan Road, a non-serviced informal settlement, located in Pietermaritzburg, the capital ...of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The data were collected by local community researchers via a structured questionnaire of 159 informal dwellers conducted between August and September 2022, using mobile phones via KoboToolbox. The dataset was analysed using exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques. This household survey is part of a research project aiming to develop an evidence base of opportunities, risks and vulnerabilities related to housing construction and resource management in incremental upgrading of informal settlements in South Africa. This dataset can be used by local practitioners and policymakers involved in decision-making for informal settlement upgrading and help them prioritise resources and upgrading interventions based on what informal dwellers need. Furthermore, this cleaned dataset could support the analysis of further South African data guiding the development of digital platforms as a real-time resource management tool or guide the enhancement of existing theoretical frameworks in the field of participatory design and co-production used by academic scholars.
This dataset presents perceived values and socioeconomic indicators collected in Siaya, a rural county in Kenya in 2022. The data was obtained from 300 household surveys and group interviews ...conducted in six sub-counties across eleven villages. Socioeconomic data were collected with a special focus on climate change vulnerability. Information on housing, health, water accessibility and usage, electricity accessibility and usage, extreme weather events, community service, and information accessibility were mapped across survey questions. The user-perceived value (UPV) game – a perception-based surveying approach – was used to elicit local communities’ needs and perceptions of climate change challenges. The UPV game involves asking interviewees to select which graphically depicted items would be most necessary in different situations and probing them for the reasons behind their choices (why-probing). The data was collected in two languages (Dholuo and English) and then translated into English. These surveys and interviews were conducted to better understand the needs of rural Kenyan communities and their perceptions of climate change, with the aim to identify ways to build resilience. Kenyan policymakers can use the dataset to inform county-level energy and development plans, while researchers and development practitioners can use the dataset to better design their research and programmes to reflect local needs and values.
The aim of this paper is to build on the existing knowledge of the benefits of energy appliances for the off-grid energy market. Rural electrification schemes often focus on generating power for ...electric lighting and, more recently, phone charging. The purpose of this study, however, is to identify the benefits of an array of energy appliances (other than lighting) that rural electrification initiatives rarely take into account. From the literature review, and the user-perceived benefits identified through a ‘User-Perceived Value Game’ conducted in 119 interview settings, it is found that the top-ranked benefits pertaining to energy appliances are business opportunity, elimination of labour intensive tasks, preservation of health, protection from people posing a threat (personal security), operational expenditure, ability to acquire knowledge, feeling comfortable, food security, information access, time savings and productivity improvement. Of these, the benefits pertaining to energy appliances, as perceived by the beneficiaries whose values are often overlooked by the project implementers, are identified and include comfort, security and food security. Furthermore, the study gives a brief account of the user-perceived benefits of modern energy sources (e.g. solar home systems, solar lanterns and generators). Where possible, reference is made to the traditional energy alternatives (e.g. candles), revealing the reasons why villagers sometimes preferred traditional energy sources to more modern ones.
Transport is an integral component of the energy system, and in Sub-Saharan Africa the demand for transport has been increasing due in part to population growth and economic development. To ...demonstrate the extent of this increased demand, emissions from transport in Africa grew by 84% over 6 years last decade 1 until, in 2018 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 15% of final energy consumption was demanded by the transport sector 2. However, a global system change is underway for road passenger transport: a transition from polluting internal combustion engine vehicles to low-emission electric vehicles. Sub-Saharan Africa will not be immune to this transition, especially as a region which currently depends heavily on the import of second-hand vehicles 3; not to mention the emission and air quality benefits electric vehicles can offer. Yet, by 2019 only 500 electric vehicles were on the roads in South Africa 4. In this Viewpoint, we aim to dispel concerns that electric vehicles are always unaffordable and will cripple the already overloaded power systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, we propose that with innovative thinking and context-specific approaches and technologies, different from those in High-Income Countries, electric vehicles could in fact offer benefits to governments, the power systems, and vehicle owner-operators in Sub-Saharan Africa. We lay out how the historically siloed transport and electricity sectors could evolve to support each other in the future.
Display omitted
•The adoption of electric vehicles in Sub-Saharan Africa is inevitable given the global shift to low-emission transport.•In Sub-Saharan Africa paratransit vehicles dominate and a new strategic approach to vehicle electrification is necessary.•The context-specific electric vehicles will need to charge using renewables so as not to burden struggling power networks.•Electric vehicles can improve air quality, offer benefits to the power networks, and aid renewable energy integration.•Benefits to stakeholders are highlighted, which will be pivotal in strategic decision making.
PDF
