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Solar Power and its Discontents: Critiquing Off‐grid Infrastructures of Inclusion in East Africa

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  • Jamie Cross
  • Tom Neumark

Abstract

Since 2010, solar energy companies in North America and Europe have played a pivotal role in delivering clean, reliable and sustainable electricity to millions of people living off the grid across sub‐Saharan Africa. However, today, off‐grid solar energy in Africa is no longer seen as an unmitigated social and economic good. Inflows of private equity investment have led the employees and customers of off‐grid solar companies to question the industry's commercial dynamics. Their critiques address the mis‐selling of solar home systems and the technical limits of off‐grid infrastructures for domestic production, framed both by dominant market paradigms and by relationships to nation, community and family. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in East Africa's off‐grid solar industry, this study assembles these critical perspectives into a wider analysis of off‐grid solar power as an adverse ‘infrastructure of inclusion’.

Suggested Citation

  • Jamie Cross & Tom Neumark, 2021. "Solar Power and its Discontents: Critiquing Off‐grid Infrastructures of Inclusion in East Africa," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(4), pages 902-926, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:52:y:2021:i:4:p:902-926
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12668
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pedersen, Rasmus Hundsbæk & Andersen, Ole Winckler, 2023. "A contested agenda: Energy transitions in lower-income African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Nathanael Ojong, 2022. "Fostering Human Wellbeing in Africa through Solar Home Systems: A Systematic and a Critical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Yunhui Wang & Yihua Chen & Zhiying Li, 2024. "Escaping poverty: changing characteristics of China’s rural poverty reduction policy and future trends," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.

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