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SYLFF Forum Narrative Report Outline

 

I. Distributed Electricity Services in Africa

II. June 2-5 of 1999 in Cape Town, South Africa

III. Princeton University

IV. Background of the Forum

Today, two billion people have no access to an electricity grid, and millions more only have recourse to a limited and unreliable supply. Despite the tremendous social and economic benefits of electricity, many nations are unable to maintain their centralized electricity generation stations and distribution grids, let alone extending service to new areas. The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa where a majority of the population lacks grid electricity due to ineffective utility bureaucracies and the high cost of extending electricity service to dispersed rural populations.

DES is a comprehensive approach to meeting energy service needs. It encompasses energy efficiency as well distributed generation technologies. For example, hundreds of thousands of rural households that lack access to an electricity grid use solar panels to provide electricity for lighting, television and radio. DES allows these people to meet their most essential electricity needs without having to rely on often incompetent electric utilities.

There is also growing interest in using environmentally advanced distributed power for grid-connected applications. For example, residential hydrogen fuel cells can provide all the electricity needed for a household, and even power surrounding houses through the grid. Such systems can be targeted to areas with transmission and distribution constraints to avoid costly grid infrastructure upgrades.

Reliable grid power is still the exception rather than the rule for most Africans, especially in rural areas. DES provides an opportunity for these nations to provide electricity cost-effectively to previously inaccessible populations while reducing environmental costs and improving national economic efficiency.

 

V. Objectives

There is an urgent need to promote systematic analysis of how to apply DES in the African context. The principal objective was to facilitate a structured and productive dialogue about these emerging policy issues between interested graduate students and key policy makers.

Among the key questions this Forum addressed were:

・How can developing country governments structure their laws and regulations to facilitate efficient private sector provision of distributed electricity services.

・How can the DES model be used to improve the local and global environment?

・What is the appropriate role of development aid and subsidies in promoting DES?

 

 

 

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