Renewing Energy Access Approaches

When it comes to energy access projects (electrificationand thermal energy), approaches introducing a commons perspective can be distinguished by the fact that users play anactive role. This role is constructed “from the bottom,” basing thelegitimacy of operational rules on the proximity of social relations.These approaches may serve to address the recurring problemsre lating to mini-grid maintenance and to fraud and non-payment, as well as those associated with the sustainable developmentof natural resources. They also offer responses to specificchallenges, such as long-term support for the local community, the structuring of an ad hoc governance model, and recognitionby national authorities of the community capacity to organize itself. Thus considered, a commons dimension can be introduced to energy access projects or to those involving the management of vulnerable primary energy sources, such as water or biomass, in various institutional and contractual formats: rather than running counter to public action and the market,it complements them.