IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp15466.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Evaluating the Impacts of Minigrid Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Ayhan, Sinem H.

    (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg)

  • Falchetta, Giacomo

    (IIASA - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis)

  • Steckel, Jan C.

    (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC))

Abstract

A large share of the population of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) lacks access to modern energy services. To bridge the electricity access gap, distributed power generation systems such as minigrids and stand-alone photovoltaic systems emerge as attractive options in the power supply solution space. In this study, we analyze the impact of minigrid electrification on household welfare and agricultural development across SSA countries. The empirical analysis makes use of a novel geocoded database covering 1,888 minigrid projects from 27 SSA countries, which is merged with various data sources including satellite-based nighttime light data, vegetation health index, and Demographic and Health Surveys. Our results indicate that minigrid electrification is positively associated with households’ electricity uptake, ownership of low-power home appliances, and agricultural employment and productivity, while being effective in changing neither overall labor market outcomes nor the choice of cooking fuels.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayhan, Sinem H. & Falchetta, Giacomo & Steckel, Jan C., 2022. "Evaluating the Impacts of Minigrid Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 15466, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp15466.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Gupta, Eshita, 2019. "The impact of solar water pumps on energy-water-food nexus: Evidence from Rajasthan, India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 598-609.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano & Wang, Haining, 2021. "Energy poverty and entrepreneurship," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    2. Daniella Rodríguez-Urrego & Leonardo Rodríguez-Urrego & Benjamín González-Díaz & Ricardo Guerrero-Lemus, 2022. "Sustainability Analysis and Scenarios in Groundwater Pumping Systems: A Case Study for Tenerife Island to 2030," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Candelise, Chiara & Saccone, Donatella & Vallino, Elena, 2021. "An empirical assessment of the effects of electricity access on food security," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Aurélien Dumont & Stéphanie Leyronas & Olivier Petit & Quentin Ballin, 2021. "Agir en commun pour un usage durable de l’eau agricole. Propositions pour prévenir la dégradation et la surexploitation des eaux souterraines," Post-Print hal-03183610, HAL.
    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. Rahman, Syed Mahbubur & Mori, Akihisa & Rahman, Syed Mustafizur, 2022. "How does climate adaptation co-benefits help scale-up solar-powered irrigation? A case of the Barind Tract, Bangladesh," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 1039-1048.
    7. Stéphanie LEYRONAS & Aurélien Dumont (COSTEA), & Olivier Petit (CLERSÉ, université d’Artois), & Quentin Ballin (AFD),, 2021. "Agir en commun pour un usage durable de l’eau agricole," Working Paper 02545eec-73a8-41ac-a8da-e, Agence française de développement.
    8. Aditi Mukherji, 2022. "Sustainable Groundwater Management in India Needs a Water‐Energy‐Food Nexus Approach," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 394-410, March.
    9. Pelz, Setu & Pachauri, Shonali & Falchetta, Giacomo, 2023. "Short-run effects of grid electricity access on rural non-farm entrepreneurship and employment in Ethiopia and Nigeria," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    10. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Navigating the energy trilemma during geopolitical and environmental crises," Papers 2301.07671, arXiv.org.
    11. Kafle, Kashi & Balasubramanya, Soumya & Stifel, David, 2022. "Solar-powered irrigation in Nepal: Adoption and consequences for fossil fuel use," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322256, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    electricity access; minigrids; household welfare; agriculture; sub-Saharan Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • N57 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Africa; Oceania

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:iza:izadps:dp15466. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.