IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v99y2021ics0140988321002206.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of off-grid solar home systems in Kenya on energy consumption and expenditures

Author

Listed:
  • Wagner, Natascha
  • Rieger, Matthias
  • Bedi, Arjun S.
  • Vermeulen, Jurgen
  • Demena, Binyam Afewerk

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of solar home systems (SHS) on energy consumption and energy-related expenditures among Kenyan households. Based on a pipeline comparison approach of more than a thousand households, we find that access to a SHS leads to a net increase of 24 to 36 min in daily lighting use due to a 3 h increase in the use of LED lamps, accompanied by a reduction in the use of “dirty” lamps. We also find a one litre reduction in the monthly use of kerosene for lighting. These changes in energy use along with a decline in the cost of charging mobile phones leads to a reduction in overall monthly expenditure of KSh 193 (about EUR 1.60). For the most popular SHS, these economic effects translate into a payback period of about six years. In addition to the economic benefits, we find small positive environmental effects, increased satisfaction from better quality lighting and an increase in time spent watching TV. Setting the costs against the combined benefits of SHS suggests a positive payoff for this particular off-grid electricity option and a viable way forward in providing off-grid energy solutions with a wide range of functionalities in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Wagner, Natascha & Rieger, Matthias & Bedi, Arjun S. & Vermeulen, Jurgen & Demena, Binyam Afewerk, 2021. "The impact of off-grid solar home systems in Kenya on energy consumption and expenditures," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:99:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321002206
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988321002206
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105314?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gunther Bensch & Jochen Kluve & Jörg Peters, 2011. "Impacts of rural electrification in Rwanda," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(4), pages 567-588, December.
    2. Jorg Peters & Colin Vance, 2011. "Rural Electrification and Fertility - Evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(5), pages 753-766.
    3. Taryn Dinkelman, 2011. "The Effects of Rural Electrification on Employment: New Evidence from South Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3078-3108, December.
    4. Barron, Manuel & Torero, Maximo, 2017. "Household electrification and indoor air pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 81-92.
    5. Lenz, Luciane & Munyehirwe, Anicet & Peters, Jörg & Sievert, Maximiliane, 2017. "Does Large-Scale Infrastructure Investment Alleviate Poverty? Impacts of Rwanda’s Electricity Access Roll-Out Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 88-110.
    6. Komatsu, Satoru & Kaneko, Shinji & Ghosh, Partha Pratim, 2011. "Are micro-benefits negligible? The implications of the rapid expansion of Solar Home Systems (SHS) in rural Bangladesh for sustainable development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4022-4031, July.
    7. Michael Grimm & Anicet Munyehirwe & Jörg Peters & Maximiliane Sievert, 2017. "A First Step up the Energy Ladder? Low Cost Solar Kits and Household’s Welfare in Rural Rwanda," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 631-649.
    8. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Pelli, Martino & Ural Marchand, Beyza, 2014. "Does the quality of electricity matter? Evidence from rural India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 228-247.
    9. Grogan, Louise & Sadanand, Asha, 2013. "Rural Electrification and Employment in Poor Countries: Evidence from Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 252-265.
    10. Emanuela Galasso & Martin Ravallion, 2004. "Social Protection in a Crisis: Argentina's Plan Jefes y Jefas," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 18(3), pages 367-399.
    11. Barron, Manuel & Torero, Maximo, 2014. "Electrification and Time Allocation:Experimental Evidence from Northern El Salvador," MPRA Paper 63782, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Vivien Foster & Cecilia Briceno-Garmendia, 2010. "Africa's Infrastructure : A Time for Transformation [Infrastructures africaines]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2692, December.
    13. Shahidur R. Khandker & Douglas F. Barnes & Hussain A. Samad, 2013. "Welfare Impacts of Rural Electrification: A Panel Data Analysis from Vietnam," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(3), pages 659-692.
    14. Bedi, Arjun S. & Sparrow, Robert & Tasciotti, Luca, 2017. "The impact of a household biogas programme on energy use and expenditure in East Java," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 66-76.
    15. Bensch, Gunther & Grimm, Michael & Langbein, Jörg & Peters, Jörg, 2015. "Impacts of access to solar energy on rural households: An evaluation of a Netherlands supported programme in Burkina Faso," RWI Materialien 95, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    16. Michael Grimm & Robert Sparrow & Luca Tasciotti, 2015. "Does Electrification Spur the Fertility Transition? Evidence From Indonesia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(5), pages 1773-1796, October.
    17. Jörg Peters & Maximiliane Sievert, 2016. "Impacts of rural electrification revisited – the African context," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 327-345, July.
    18. Rud, Juan Pablo, 2012. "Electricity provision and industrial development: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 352-367.
    19. Samad, Hussain A. & Khandk, Shahidur R. & Asaduzzaman, M. & Yunus, Mohammad, 2013. "The benefits of solar home systems :an analysis from Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6724, The World Bank.
    20. Molly Lipscomb & A. Mushfiq Mobarak & Tania Barham, 2013. "Development Effects of Electrification: Evidence from the Topographic Placement of Hydropower Plants in Brazil," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 200-231, April.
    21. Shahidur R. Khandker, Douglas F. Barnes, and Hussain A. Samad, 2012. "The Welfare Impacts of Rural Electrification in Bangladesh," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nathanael Ojong, 2022. "Fostering Human Wellbeing in Africa through Solar Home Systems: A Systematic and a Critical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Onu, Uchenna Godswill & Silva, Giuseppe Scabello & Zambroni de Souza, Antonio Carlos & Bonatto, Benedito Donizeti & Ferreira da Costa, Vinicius Braga, 2022. "Integrated design of photovoltaic power generation plant with pumped hydro storage system and irrigation facility at the Uhuelem-Amoncha African community," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 1021-1031.
    3. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Navigating the energy trilemma during geopolitical and environmental crises," Papers 2301.07671, arXiv.org.
    4. Mukisa, Nicholas & Manitisa, Mele Sikimeti & Nduhuura, Paul & Tugume, Erick & Chalwe, Chanda Karen, 2022. "Solar home systems adoption in Sub-Saharan African countries: Household economic and environmental benefits assessment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 836-852.
    5. Jeuland, Marc & Babyenda, Peter & Beyene, Abebe & Hinju, Gabriel & Mulwa, Richard & Phillips, Jonathan & Zewdie, Samuel A., 2023. "Barriers to off-grid energy development: Evidence from a comparative survey of private sector energy service providers in Eastern Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    6. Best, Rohan, 2023. "Assets power solar and battery uptake in Kenya," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    7. Subedi, Mukti Nath & Bharadwaj, Bishal & Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa, 2023. "Who benefits from the decentralised energy system (DES)? Evidence from Nepal’s micro-hydropower (MHP)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Obsa Urgessa Ayana & Jima Degaga, 2022. "Effects of rural electrification on household welfare: a meta-regression analysis," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 69(2), pages 209-261, June.
    2. Gupta, Ridhima & Pelli, Martino, 2021. "Electrification and cooking fuel choice in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    3. Bayer, Patrick & Kennedy, Ryan & Yang, Joonseok & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2020. "The need for impact evaluation in electricity access research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Lenz, Luciane & Munyehirwe, Anicet & Peters, Jörg & Sievert, Maximiliane, 2017. "Does Large-Scale Infrastructure Investment Alleviate Poverty? Impacts of Rwanda’s Electricity Access Roll-Out Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 88-110.
    5. Enrico Nano, 2022. "Electrifying Nigeria: the Impact of Rural Access to Electricity on Kids' Schooling," IHEID Working Papers 03-2022, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    6. Simone Tagliapietra & Giovanni Occhiali & Enrico Nano & Robert Kalcik, 2020. "The impact of electrification on labour market outcomes in Nigeria," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 37(3), pages 737-779, October.
    7. Thomas, Daniel Robert & Harish, S.P. & Kennedy, Ryan & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2020. "The effects of rural electrification in India: An instrumental variable approach at the household level," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Fujii, Tomoki & Shonchoy, Abu S., 2020. "Fertility and rural electrification in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    9. Santosh Kumar & Ganesh Rauniyar, 2018. "The impact of rural electrification on income and education: Evidence from Bhutan," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 1146-1165, August.
    10. Jacopo Bonan & Stefano Pareglio & Massimo Tavoni, 2014. "Access to Modern Energy: a Review of Impact Evaluations," Working Papers 2014.96, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. Michael Grimm & Anicet Munyehirwe & Jörg Peters & Maximiliane Sievert, 2017. "A First Step up the Energy Ladder? Low Cost Solar Kits and Household’s Welfare in Rural Rwanda," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 631-649.
    12. Pradhan Shrestha, Rosy & Jirakiattikul, Sopin & Lohani, Sunil Prasad & Shrestha, Mandip, 2023. "Perceived impact of electricity on productive end use and its reality: Transition from electricity to income for rural Nepalese women," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    13. Michael Grimm & Luciane Lenz & Jörg Peters & Maximiliane Sievert, 2020. "Demand for Off-Grid Solar Electricity: Experimental Evidence from Rwanda," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(3), pages 417-454.
    14. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Navigating the energy trilemma during geopolitical and environmental crises," Papers 2301.07671, arXiv.org.
    15. Adom, Philip Kofi & Nsabimana, Aimable, 2022. "Rural access to electricity and welfare outcomes in Rwanda: Addressing issues of transitional heterogeneities and between and within gender disparities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    16. David Boisclair & Roxane Borgès Da Silva & Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin & Pierre-Carl Michaud & Ingrid Peignier, 2022. "Combien de personnes ont développé des symptômes ou contracté la Covid-19 au Québec ? Une étude exploratoire," CIRANO Working Papers 2022s-05, CIRANO.
    17. Bensch, Gunther & Gotz, Gunnar & Peters, Jörg, 2020. "Effects of rural electrification on employment: A comment on Dinkelman (2011)," Ruhr Economic Papers 840, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    18. Richmond, Jennifer & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2019. "Electrification and appliance ownership over time: Evidence from rural India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    19. Deutschmann, Joshua W. & Postepska, Agnieszka & Sarr, Leopold, 2021. "Measuring willingness to pay for reliable electricity: Evidence from Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    20. Duncan Chaplin & Arif Mamun & Ali Protik & John Schurrer & Divya Vohra & Kristine Bos & Hannah Burak & Laura Meyer & Anca Dumitrescu & Christopher Ksoll & Thomas Cook, "undated". "Grid Electricity Expansion in Tanzania by MCC: Findings from a Rigorous Impact Evaluation, Final Report," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 144768f69008442e96369195e, Mathematica Policy Research.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:99:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321002206. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.