Conference article

Mozambique and Tanzania are countries with very low rural electrification rates – far below 5% percent of the rural population use electricity. The pace of rural grid electrification is slow and for most remote areas access to the national electricity grids will not occur within a foreseeable future. Off-grid (decentralized) electricity grids are seen as a complement and fore-runner to the national grid; making electricity available many years in advance and creating demand and a customer base. Most off-grid systems are supplied by diesel generators which entail unreliable and costly electricity. Alternative off-grid energy sources exist in the region; such as biofuels; wind; micro-hydro and solar PV; but there are significant barriers to adoption; adaptation and diffusion of such RE-based technologies. In this study; the specific drivers and barriers for rural electrification and off-grid solutions in both countries are explored across a stakeholder spectrum. It is part of a larger research effort; undertaken in collaboration between Swedish and African researchers from natural; engineering and social sciences; aiming at an interdisciplinary assessment of the potential for an enhanced utilization of available renewable sources in off-grid solutions. By qualitative methodology; data was collected in semi-structured stakeholder interviews carried out with ten national level energy sector actors. Findings illustrate countryspecific institutional; financial and poverty-related drivers and barriers to grid and off-grid electrification; as perceived by different energy sector stakeholders.

Rural Electrification; Off-grid Systems; Renewable Energy; Africa; Drivers and Barriers