IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v153y2022ics1364032121010479.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond customer acquisition: A comprehensive review of community participation in mini grid projects

Author

Listed:
  • Gill-Wiehl, A.
  • Miles, S.
  • Wu, J.
  • Kammen, D.M.

Abstract

Mini grids are increasingly recognized as a solution for the 840 million people globally without access to electricity and for the additional millions of people poorly served by traditional grid infrastructure. Understanding the role and importance of community participation in mini grid inception, design, build, and operations and maintenance will be essential to sustainably achieving universal access. This review analyzes the literature on community participation in private mini grid projects: how community participation is defined, in which phases of the project it arises, and how it affects the project's sustainability. We find that community participation is almost universally invoked as essential to system sustainability. Community participation most often appears in the operations and maintenance phase, leading to a positive social sustainability. We compile best practices, such as initiating participation early, pursuing wide inclusion, investing in community technical capacity, and creating clear governance models. Finally, we provide a framework and accompanying survey tool to gather information on community participation in mini grid systems to attenuate literature gaps. Community participation in mini grid projects should be leveraged to accelerate universal electricity access and green economic recovery, but it must go beyond surface level customer acquisition.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill-Wiehl, A. & Miles, S. & Wu, J. & Kammen, D.M., 2022. "Beyond customer acquisition: A comprehensive review of community participation in mini grid projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:153:y:2022:i:c:s1364032121010479
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032121010479
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2021.111778?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nerini, Francesco Fuso & Broad, Oliver & Mentis, Dimitris & Welsch, Manuel & Bazilian, Morgan & Howells, Mark, 2016. "A cost comparison of technology approaches for improving access to electricity services," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 255-265.
    2. Brent, Alan Colin & Rogers, David E., 2010. "Renewable rural electrification: Sustainability assessment of mini-hybrid off-grid technological systems in the African context," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 257-265.
    3. Deichmann, Uwe & Meisner, Craig & Murray, Siobhan & Wheeler, David, 2011. "The economics of renewable energy expansion in rural Sub-Saharan Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 215-227, January.
    4. Phuangpornpitak, N. & Kumar, S., 2007. "PV hybrid systems for rural electrification in Thailand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(7), pages 1530-1543, September.
    5. Pannathat Rojanamon & Taweep Chaisomphob & Thawilwadee Bureekul, 2012. "Public participation in development of small infrastructure projects," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(5), pages 320-334, September.
    6. Bhattacharyya, Subhes C. & Palit, Debajit, 2016. "Mini-grid based off-grid electrification to enhance electricity access in developing countries: What policies may be required?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 166-178.
    7. Mainali, Brijesh & Silveira, Semida, 2015. "Using a sustainability index to assess energy technologies for rural electrification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1351-1365.
    8. Alfaro, Jose & Miller, Shelie, 2014. "Satisfying the rural residential demand in Liberia with decentralized renewable energy schemes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 903-911.
    9. Fuso Nerini, Francesco & Dargaville, Roger & Howells, Mark & Bazilian, Morgan, 2015. "Estimating the cost of energy access: The case of the village of Suro Craic in Timor Leste," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 385-397.
    10. Sarah Feron & Raúl R. Cordero & Fernando Labbe, 2017. "Rural Electrification Efforts Based on Off-Grid Photovoltaic Systems in the Andean Region: Comparative Assessment of Their Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-23, October.
    11. Narula, Kapil & Nagai, Yu & Pachauri, Shonali, 2012. "The role of Decentralized Distributed Generation in achieving universal rural electrification in South Asia by 2030," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 345-357.
    12. Joshi, Lalita & Choudhary, Deepak & Kumar, Praveen & Venkateswaran, Jayendran & Solanki, Chetan S., 2019. "Does involvement of local community ensure sustained energy access? A critical review of a solar PV technology intervention in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 272-281.
    13. Sarah Feron & Raúl R. Cordero, 2018. "Is Peru Prepared for Large-Scale Sustainable Rural Electrification?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    14. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    15. Hazelton, James & Bruce, Anna & MacGill, Iain, 2014. "A review of the potential benefits and risks of photovoltaic hybrid mini-grid systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 222-229.
    16. Peter Alstone & Dimitry Gershenson & Daniel M. Kammen, 2015. "Decentralized energy systems for clean electricity access," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 305-314, April.
    17. Kirubi, Charles & Jacobson, Arne & Kammen, Daniel M. & Mills, Andrew, 2009. "Community-Based Electric Micro-Grids Can Contribute to Rural Development: Evidence from Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 1208-1221, July.
    18. Pansera, Mario, 2012. "Renewable energy for rural areas of Bolivia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(9), pages 6694-6704.
    19. Yadoo, Annabel & Cruickshank, Heather, 2012. "The role for low carbon electrification technologies in poverty reduction and climate change strategies: A focus on renewable energy mini-grids with case studies in Nepal, Peru and Kenya," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 591-602.
    20. Pigaht, Maurice & van der Plas, Robert J., 2009. "Innovative private micro-hydro power development in Rwanda," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4753-4760, November.
    21. Chaurey, Akanksha & Ranganathan, Malini & Mohanty, Parimita, 2004. "Electricity access for geographically disadvantaged rural communities--technology and policy insights," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(15), pages 1693-1705, October.
    22. Ferrer-Martí, Laia & Garwood, Anna & Chiroque, José & Ramirez, Benito & Marcelo, Oliver & Garfí, Marianna & Velo, Enrique, 2012. "Evaluating and comparing three community small-scale wind electrification projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 5379-5390.
    23. Jafar, M, 2000. "Renewable energy in the South Pacific—options and constraints," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 305-309.
    24. Shakya, Bhupendra & Bruce, Anna & MacGill, Iain, 2019. "Survey based characterisation of energy services for improved design and operation of standalone microgrids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 493-503.
    25. Subhes C. Bhattacharyya, 2018. "Mini-Grids for the Base of the Pyramid Market: A Critical Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, April.
    26. Bernard Tenenbaum & Chris Greacen & Tilak Siyambalapitiya & James Knuckles, 2014. "From the Bottom Up : How Small Power Producers and Mini-Grids Can Deliver Electrification and Renewable Energy in Africa [Quand la lumière vient d'en bas : Comment les petits producteurs d'électric," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16571.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adelhardt, Nora & Berneiser, Jessica, 2024. "Risk analysis for agrivoltaic projects in rural farming communities in SSA," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).

    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. Mandelli, Stefano & Barbieri, Jacopo & Mereu, Riccardo & Colombo, Emanuela, 2016. "Off-grid systems for rural electrification in developing countries: Definitions, classification and a comprehensive literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1621-1646.
    2. Holstenkamp, Lars, 2019. "What do we know about cooperative sustainable electrification in the global South? A synthesis of the literature and refined social-ecological systems framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 307-320.
    3. Trotter, Philipp A. & McManus, Marcelle C. & Maconachie, Roy, 2017. "Electricity planning and implementation in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1189-1209.
    4. Herbert, Caren & Phimister, Euan, 2019. "Private sector-owned mini-grids and rural electrification: A case study of wind-power in Kenya's tea industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1288-1297.
    5. Javadi, F.S. & Rismanchi, B. & Sarraf, M. & Afshar, O. & Saidur, R. & Ping, H.W. & Rahim, N.A., 2013. "Global policy of rural electrification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 402-416.
    6. Domenech, B. & Ferrer-Martí, L. & Pastor, R., 2015. "Hierarchical methodology to optimize the design of stand-alone electrification systems for rural communities considering technical and social criteria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 182-196.
    7. Brunet, Carole & Savadogo, Oumarou & Baptiste, Pierre & Bouchard, Michel A., 2018. "Shedding some light on photovoltaic solar energy in Africa – A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 325-342.
    8. Gómez-Hernández, D.F. & Domenech, B. & Moreira, J. & Farrera, N. & López-González, A. & Ferrer-Martí, L., 2019. "Comparative evaluation of rural electrification project plans: A case study in Mexico," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 23-33.
    9. Duran, Asligul Serasu & Sahinyazan, Feyza G., 2021. "An analysis of renewable mini-grid projects for rural electrification," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Ciller, Pedro & Lumbreras, Sara, 2020. "Electricity for all: The contribution of large-scale planning tools to the energy-access problem," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    11. Mathilde Brix Pedersen, 2016. "Deconstructing the concept of renewable energy-based mini-grids for rural electrification in East Africa," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(5), pages 570-587, September.
    12. Ortega-Arriaga, P. & Babacan, O. & Nelson, J. & Gambhir, A., 2021. "Grid versus off-grid electricity access options: A review on the economic and environmental impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    13. Moner-Girona, M. & Solano-Peralta, M. & Lazopoulou, M. & Ackom, E.K. & Vallve, X. & Szabó, S., 2018. "Electrification of Sub-Saharan Africa through PV/hybrid mini-grids: Reducing the gap between current business models and on-site experience," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1148-1161.
    14. Apfel, Dorothee & Haag, Steffen & Herbes, Carsten, 2021. "Research agendas on renewable energies in the Global South: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    15. Poudel, B. & Parton, K. & Morrison, M., 2022. "The drivers of the sustainable performance of renewable energy-based mini-grids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 1206-1217.
    16. Domenech, B. & Ferrer-Martí, L. & Pastor, R., 2015. "Including management and security of supply constraints for designing stand-alone electrification systems in developing countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 359-369.
    17. Kirchhoff, Hannes & Strunz, Kai, 2019. "Key drivers for successful development of peer-to-peer microgrids for swarm electrification," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(C), pages 46-62.
    18. Sachiko Graber & Tara Narayanan & Jose F. Alfaro & Debajit Palit, 2019. "Perceptions towards solar mini‐grid systems in India: A multi‐stakeholder analysis," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(4), pages 253-266, November.
    19. Alam, Majbaul & Bhattacharyya, Subhes, 2017. "Are the off-grid customers ready to pay for electricity from the decentralized renewable hybrid mini-grids? A study of willingness to pay in rural Bangladesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 433-446.
    20. Boliko, Charles M. & Ialnazov, Dimiter S., 2019. "An assessment of rural electrification projects in Kenya using a sustainability framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

    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:eee:rensus:v:153:y:2022:i:c:s1364032121010479. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    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.