Nexus of Productive Modern Energy Uses: Assessing the Planning, Financing, Policy and Behavioral Imperatives (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781514877753)

The energy challenges within developing countries are vast and varied yet in examining the financing nexus, there is a pervasive line of similarities. Largely, energy policy focus has been skewed towards institutional and human resource capacity building as well as regulatory reforms required to create an enabling environment. There are quite some variations. Nonetheless the eminent obstacle to achieving policy goals has been the issue of cost recovery. The recent increase of oil and gas reserves constitute a structural variable in energy policy and governance. Growing attention to issues of governance as they relate to energy at the regional, national as well as local levels need to be addressed taking into consideration the fact that there are no "easy fix" solutions to the challenges. In order to address this and related challenges, integrated resource and resiliency planning is prerequisite in the generation, transmission, and distribution sectors; transitioning to wholesale electricity markets; distribution and commercial loss reduction; promotion of energy efficiency and demand-side management; and support for the expansion of renewable energy projects. The underlying question remains that what are the required, financing, planning and policy apparatuses? It is vital to recommend that energy producers and distributors like Kenya Power or Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) need to re-evaluate the energy-user threshold in order to develop a viable energy mix that meets the needs of the urban consumer as well as rural catchments like Ngaciuma-Kinyaritha in Kenya. At the household level and in the rural household economy, there are a plethora of variables that are still less understood. This accounts for the inadequate business proof for green mini-grids (GMGs) in Ghana, for instance. Energy-finance modelling LEAP/ETM systems would facilitate the effective deployment of village or district level electrical distribution systems like mini-grids. Mini-grids are becoming increasingly recognised as an essential part of a comprehensive strategy to achieve universal energy access. This is not exactly diametric to the current financing approaches that tend focus on conventional fossil fuel dependent energy sources. As evidenced in its policy context, a part of the energy challenge in Ghana is the overemphasis on accessibility. Like other developing countries, Ghana's current energy challenge is very much of access as it is of reliability, scalability and productivity gains resulting from increasing energy access. These and other imperatives relating to integrative resource planning, financing and environmental behavior constitute the key underpins of the burgeoning debate on the significance of rural energy financing and by extension GMGs deployment in Sub Saharan Africa. A profitable and sustainable deployment of GMGs is highly contingent on capacity for productive energy uses with emphasis on the finance, planning, behavioural and policy imperatives- an expanse that still requires significant research, demonstration and development.

Author: Amos Yesutanbul Nkpeebo Msc
ISBN-10: 1514877759
ISBN-13: 9781514877753
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Language: English
Published: 07/07/2015
Pages: 92
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.19d