IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v65y2021ics0160791x21000610.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The socio-technical barriers and strategies for overcoming the barriers to deploying solar mini-grids in rural islands: Evidence from Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Nuru, Jude T.
  • Rhoades, Jason L.
  • Gruber, James S.

Abstract

Energy access remains a challenge for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana is no exception as 15% of her population live in remote areas without access to electricity. In 2015, the World Bank Group provided funding for the Ghanaian government to extend electricity to some of her rural island communities. The government of Ghana chose to deploy solar mini-grids. Despite technological breakthrough with solar mini-grids and financial support from the World Bank Group, the deployment of the solar mini-grids still faced significant barriers some of which are embedded in the socio-cultural contexts of the Ghanaian rural island communities. Designed through a socio-technical systems lens, this study explores the sociotechnical barriers and strategies to overcoming the barriers to deploying solar mini-grids in Ghanaian rural island communities. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, focus group discussions, and direct observations. The results show that different categories of barriers affected deployment of the solar mini-grids. The barriers are socio-technical in nature suggesting that the obstacles to renewable energy deployment in sub-Saharan Africa are neither exclusively social nor technical but a combination of both social and technical forces. While the social factors range from land disputes to illegal connections, the technical barriers include limited technical know-how to lack of qualified technicians. In suggesting strategies to address these barriers, the study participants proposed involvement of indigenes, training and transfer of technical expertise, and increased generation capacity. Based on these findings, the study outlines three policy implications on mitigating the barriers in future projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Nuru, Jude T. & Rhoades, Jason L. & Gruber, James S., 2021. "The socio-technical barriers and strategies for overcoming the barriers to deploying solar mini-grids in rural islands: Evidence from Ghana," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:65:y:2021:i:c:s0160791x21000610
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101586
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X21000610
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101586?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. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & D'Agostino, Anthony L. & Jain Bambawale, Malavika, 2011. "The socio-technical barriers to Solar Home Systems (SHS) in Papua New Guinea: "Choosing pigs, prostitutes, and poker chips over panels"," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1532-1542, March.
    2. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2009. "Rejecting renewables: The socio-technical impediments to renewable electricity in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4500-4513, November.
    3. Otte, Pia Piroschka & Vik, Jostein, 2017. "Biochar systems: Developing a socio-technical system framework for biochar production in Norway," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 34-45.
    4. Miller, Damian & Hope, Chris, 2000. "Learning to lend for off-grid solar power: policy lessons from World Bank loans to India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 87-105, February.
    5. Doll, Christopher N.H. & Pachauri, Shonali, 2010. "Estimating rural populations without access to electricity in developing countries through night-time light satellite imagery," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5661-5670, October.
    6. Lukovics, Miklós & Flipse, Steven M. & Udvari, Beáta & Fisher, Erik, 2017. "Responsible research and innovation in contrasting innovation environments: Socio-Technical Integration Research in Hungary and the Netherlands," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 172-182.
    7. Khennas, Smail, 2012. "Understanding the political economy and key drivers of energy access in addressing national energy access priorities and policies: African Perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(S1), pages 21-26.
    8. Fox, Stephen & Griffy-Brown, Charla & Dabic, Marina, 2020. "From socio-technical systems to biosocial technical systems: New themes and new guidance for the field of technology in society," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    9. Marks, Sara J. & Davis, Jennifer, 2012. "Does User Participation Lead to Sense of Ownership for Rural Water Systems? Evidence from Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1569-1576.
    10. Sony, Michael & Naik, Subhash, 2020. "Industry 4.0 integration with socio-technical systems theory: A systematic review and proposed theoretical model," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    11. Luthra, Sunil & Kumar, Sanjay & Garg, Dixit & Haleem, Abid, 2015. "Barriers to renewable/sustainable energy technologies adoption: Indian perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 762-776.
    12. Palit, Debajit & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Cooper, Christopher & Zoppo, David & Eidsness, Jay & Crafton, Meredith & Johnson, Katie & Clarke, Shannon, 2013. "The trials and tribulations of the Village Energy Security Programme (VESP) in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 407-417.
    13. Painuly, J.P, 2001. "Barriers to renewable energy penetration; a framework for analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 73-89.
    14. Üzelgün, Mehmet Ali & Pereira, João Rui, 2020. "Beyond the co-production of technology and society: The discursive treatment of technology with regard to near-term and long-term environmental goals," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    15. Geels, Frank W., 2004. "From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: Insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6-7), pages 897-920, September.
    16. Cubric, Marija, 2020. "Drivers, barriers and social considerations for AI adoption in business and management: A tertiary study," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    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. Matsumoto, Ken'ichi & Matsumura, Yuko, 2022. "Challenges and economic effects of introducing renewable energy in a remote island: A case study of Tsushima Island, Japan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    2. Asante, Dennis & Ampah, Jeffrey Dankwa & Afrane, Sandylove & Adjei-Darko, Peter & Asante, Bismark & Fosu, Edward & Dankwah, Dennis Ampah & Amoh, Prince Oppong, 2022. "Prioritizing strategies to eliminate barriers to renewable energy adoption and development in Ghana: A CRITIC-fuzzy TOPSIS approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 47-65.
    3. Pin, Lantos A. & Pennink, Bartjan J.W. & Balsters, Herman & Sianipar, Corinthias P.M., 2021. "Technological appropriateness of biomass production in rural settings: Addressing water hyacinths (E. crassipes) problem in Lake Tondano, Indonesia," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Al-Shetwi, Ali Q. & Atawi, Ibrahem E. & Abuelrub, Ahmad & Hannan, M.A., 2023. "Techno-economic assessment and optimal design of hybrid power generation-based renewable energy systems," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Sheridan, Steve & Sunderland, Keith & Courtney, Jane, 2023. "Swarm electrification: A comprehensive literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    6. Yuhang Wang & Jingbo Fan, 2023. "Technological Mediation of Photovoltaic System to Improve Rural Sustainability in the Background of Resettlement and Consolidation: Evidence from the Rural Community and Villages in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Sesan, Temilade & Uduka, Unico & Baker, Lucy & Ugwu, Okechukwu & Eleri, Ewah & Bhattacharyya, Subhes, 2024. "Exploring the connections between mini-grid market regulation and energy access expansion: The case of Nigeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    8. Nesari, Mohammad & Naghizadeh, Mohammad & Ghazinoori, Soroush & Manteghi, Manoochehr, 2022. "The evolution of socio-technical transition studies: A scientometric analysis," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(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. Chaiyapa, Warathida & Esteban, Miguel & Kameyama, Yasuko, 2018. "Why go green? Discourse analysis of motivations for Thailand's oil and gas companies to invest in renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 448-459.
    2. Batinge, Benjamin & Musango, Josephine Kaviti & Brent, Alan C., 2019. "Sustainable energy transition framework for unmet electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1090-1099.
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & D'Agostino, Anthony L. & Jain Bambawale, Malavika, 2011. "The socio-technical barriers to Solar Home Systems (SHS) in Papua New Guinea: "Choosing pigs, prostitutes, and poker chips over panels"," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1532-1542, March.
    4. Aparna Katre & Arianna Tozzi, 2018. "Assessing the Sustainability of Decentralized Renewable Energy Systems: A Comprehensive Framework with Analytical Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Nazareno, Luísa & Schiff, Daniel S., 2021. "The impact of automation and artificial intelligence on worker well-being," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Ghimire, Laxman Prasad & Kim, Yeonbae, 2018. "An analysis on barriers to renewable energy development in the context of Nepal using AHP," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 446-456.
    7. Eleftheriadis, Iordanis M. & Anagnostopoulou, Evgenia G., 2015. "Identifying barriers in the diffusion of renewable energy sources," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 153-164.
    8. Mouter, Niek & de Geest, Auke & Doorn, Neelke, 2018. "A values-based approach to energy controversies: Value-sensitive design applied to the Groningen gas controversy in the Netherlands," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 639-648.
    9. Asante, Dennis & He, Zheng & Adjei, Nana Osae & Asante, Bismark, 2020. "Exploring the barriers to renewable energy adoption utilising MULTIMOORA- EDAS method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    10. Punia Sindhu, Sonal & Nehra, Vijay & Luthra, Sunil, 2016. "Recognition and prioritization of challenges in growth of solar energy using analytical hierarchy process: Indian outlook," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 332-348.
    11. Oryani, Bahareh & Koo, Yoonmo & Rezania, Shahabaldin & Shafiee, Afsaneh, 2021. "Barriers to renewable energy technologies penetration: Perspective in Iran," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 971-983.
    12. Zhou, Dequn & Wu, Changsong & Wang, Qunwei & Zha, Donglan, 2019. "Response of scale and leverage of thermal power enterprises to renewable power enterprises in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Javier Muro & Leo Zurita-Arthos & José Jara & Esteban Calderón & Richard Resl & Andreas Rienow & Valerie Graw, 2020. "Earth Observation for Settlement Mapping of Amazonian Indigenous Populations to Support SDG7," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-17, August.
    14. Karatayev, Marat & Hall, Stephen & Kalyuzhnova, Yelena & Clarke, Michèle L., 2016. "Renewable energy technology uptake in Kazakhstan: Policy drivers and barriers in a transitional economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 120-136.
    15. Zhao, Zhen-Yu & Chang, Rui-Dong & Chen, Yu-Long, 2016. "What hinder the further development of wind power in China?—A socio-technical barrier study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 465-476.
    16. Mahmud I Imam & Tooraj Jamasb & Manuel Llorca, 2019. "Political Economy of Reform and Regulation in the Electricity Sector of Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers EPRG1917, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    17. Edsand, Hans, 2016. "Technological Innovation Systems and the wider context: A framework for developing countries," MERIT Working Papers 2016-017, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    18. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2017. "Contestation, contingency, and justice in the Nordic low-carbon energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 569-582.
    19. Hasan Mahmud & Joyashree Roy, 2021. "Barriers to Overcome in Accelerating Renewable Energy Penetration in Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-28, July.
    20. Müller, Simon C. & Welpe, Isabell M., 2018. "Sharing electricity storage at the community level: An empirical analysis of potential business models and barriers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 492-503.

    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:teinso:v:65:y:2021:i:c:s0160791x21000610. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    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.