IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i19p6037-d640853.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards Sustainable Energy Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Justyna Tomala

    (Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Cracow University of Economics, ul. Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Kraków, Poland)

  • Mateusz Mierzejewski

    (Department of Organization Development, Cracow University of Economics, ul. Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Kraków, Poland)

  • Maria Urbaniec

    (Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Cracow University of Economics, ul. Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Kraków, Poland)

  • Sergio Martinez

    (Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa is considered a region with enormous economic and demographic potential. One of the main challenges it faces, included in the “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, implemented by the African Union”, is to provide access to electricity. Currently, 600 million inhabitants of the African continent do not have access to electricity, which is a significant limiting factor for further economic growth and socio-economic development. Moreover, the measures taken by individual Sub-Saharan African countries appear insufficient in the face of rapid population growth. The aim of the article is to analyse the opportunities and challenges of the development of Sub-Saharan Africa’s energy sector. This raises the following research question: to what extent can a sustainable energy transition be achieved in sub-Saharan African countries to ensure access to electricity? The study used Ward’s hierarchical clustering method, classification and regression tree analysis, and the distance-weighted least squares method. The results show that the level of development of the energy sector in the individual countries of Sub-Saharan Africa varies greatly. Moreover, the Sub-Saharan African region is exposed to the effects of climate change, which also affects the development of the energy sector and whether or not access to electricity can be ensured. The study contributes to assessments of the adaptive capacity and transformative potential of the energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is particularly important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 7, which relates to building more robust and efficient systems, as well as implementing diversified energy sources. This research is crucial to bridge the energy access gap and build a resilient and sustainable economy in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Justyna Tomala & Mateusz Mierzejewski & Maria Urbaniec & Sergio Martinez, 2021. "Towards Sustainable Energy Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6037-:d:640853
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6037/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6037/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chirambo, Dumisani, 2018. "Towards the achievement of SDG 7 in sub-Saharan Africa: Creating synergies between Power Africa, Sustainable Energy for All and climate finance in-order to achieve universal energy access before 2030," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 600-608.
    2. Surroop, Dinesh & Raghoo, Pravesh, 2017. "Energy landscape in Mauritius," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 688-694.
    3. Surroop, Dinesh & Raghoo, Pravesh & Bundhoo, Zumar M.A., 2018. "Comparison of energy systems in Small Island Developing States," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 46-54.
    4. Williams Ebhota & Pavel Y. Tabakov, 2017. "Hydropower Potentials and Effects of Poor Manufacturing Infrastructure on Small Hydropower Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 60-67.
    5. Surroop, Dinesh & Raghoo, Pravesh, 2018. "Renewable energy to improve energy situation in African island states," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 176-183.
    6. Senatla, Mamahloko & Nchake, Mamello & Taele, Benedict M. & Hapazari, Innocent, 2018. "Electricity capacity expansion plan for Lesotho – implications on energy policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 622-634.
    7. Coutinho, Gabriel Leuzinger & Vianna, João Nildo & Dias, Maria Amélia, 2020. "Alternatives for improving energy security in Cape Verde," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Sakiru Adebola Solarin & Muhammad Shahbaz & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad, 2016. "Revisiting the Electricity Consumption-Economic Growth Nexus in Angola: The Role of Exports, Imports and Urbanization," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 6(3), pages 501-512.
    9. D'Adamo, Idiano & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Morone, Piergiuseppe, 2020. "A New Socio-economic Indicator to Measure the Performance of Bioeconomy Sectors in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    10. Brijesh Mainali & Jyrki Luukkanen & Semida Silveira & Jari Kaivo-oja, 2018. "Evaluating Synergies and Trade-Offs among Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Explorative Analyses of Development Paths in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-25, March.
    11. Solarin, Sakiru Adebola & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2013. "Trivariate causality between economic growth, urbanisation and electricity consumption in Angola: Cointegration and causality analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 876-884.
    12. Ilskog, Elisabeth & Kjellström, Björn, 2008. "And then they lived sustainably ever after?--Assessment of rural electrification cases by means of indicators," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2674-2684, July.
    13. Suberu, Mohammed Yekini & Mustafa, Mohd Wazir & Bashir, Nouruddeen & Muhamad, Nor Asiah & Mokhtar, Ahmad Safawi, 2013. "Power sector renewable energy integration for expanding access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 630-642.
    14. Pueyo, Ana, 2018. "What constrains renewable energy investment in Sub-Saharan Africa? A comparison of Kenya and Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 85-100.
    15. Muhammad Ikram, 2021. "Models for Predicting Non-Renewable Energy Competing with Renewable Source for Sustainable Energy Development: Case of Asia and Oceania Region," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 22(2), pages 133-160, December.
    16. Adedoyin, Festus Fatai & Ozturk, Ilhan & Agboola, Mary Oluwatoyin & Agboola, Phillips O. & Bekun, Festus Victor, 2021. "The implications of renewable and non-renewable energy generating in Sub-Saharan Africa: The role of economic policy uncertainties," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    17. Friedman, Jerome H., 2002. "Stochastic gradient boosting," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 367-378, February.
    18. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Smyth, Russell, 2005. "Electricity consumption, employment and real income in Australia evidence from multivariate Granger causality tests," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1109-1116, June.
    19. Chakamera, Chengete & Alagidede, Paul, 2018. "Electricity crisis and the effect of CO2 emissions on infrastructure-growth nexus in Sub Saharan Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 945-958.
    20. Ozcan, Burcu & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2019. "Renewable energy consumption-economic growth nexus in emerging countries: A bootstrap panel causality test," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 30-37.
    21. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Smyth, Russell, 2009. "Multivariate granger causality between electricity consumption, exports and GDP: Evidence from a panel of Middle Eastern countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 229-236, January.
    22. Collen Zalengera & Long Seng To & Richard Sieff & Alison Mohr & Aran Eales & Jon Cloke & Hannah Buckland & Ed Brown & Richard Blanchard & Simon Batchelor, 2020. "Decentralization: the key to accelerating access to distributed energy services in sub-Saharan Africa?," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 10(3), pages 270-289, September.
    23. Valeriia Denisova & Alexey Mikhaylov & Evgeny Lopatin, 2019. "Blockchain Infrastructure and Growth of Global Power Consumption," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(4), pages 22-29.
    24. Aliyu, Abubakar Kabir & Modu, Babangida & Tan, Chee Wei, 2018. "A review of renewable energy development in Africa: A focus in South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2502-2518.
    25. Kumar, Ronald Ravinesh & Stauvermann, Peter Josef & Loganathan, Nanthakumar & Kumar, Radika Devi, 2015. "Exploring the role of energy, trade and financial development in explaining economic growth in South Africa: A revisit," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1300-1311.
    26. Olanrewaju, Busayo T. & Olubusoye, Olusanya E. & Adenikinju, Adeola & Akintande, Olalekan J., 2019. "A panel data analysis of renewable energy consumption in Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 668-679.
    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. Dastan Bamwesigye, 2023. "Willingness to Pay for Alternative Energies in Uganda: Energy Needs and Policy Instruments towards Zero Deforestation 2030 and Climate Change," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Francisco García-Lillo & Eduardo Sánchez-García & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Pedro Seva-Larrosa, 2023. "Renewable Energies and Sustainable Development: A Bibliometric Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Jeetoo, Jamiil, 2022. "Spatial interaction effect in renewable energy consumption in sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 148-155.

    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. Hamisu S. Ali & Solomon P. Nathaniel & Gizem Uzuner & Festus V. Bekun & Samuel A. Sarkodie, 2020. "Trivariate Modelling of the Nexus between Electricity Consumption, Urbanization and Economic Growth in Nigeria: Fresh Insights from Maki Cointegration and Causality Tests," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/010, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    2. Jeetoo, Jamiil, 2022. "Spatial interaction effect in renewable energy consumption in sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 148-155.
    3. Dakpogan, Arnaud & Smit, Eon, 2018. "The effect of electricity losses on GDP in Benin," MPRA Paper 89545, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Zhang, Chi & Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin & Shao, Zhen, 2017. "On electricity consumption and economic growth in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 353-368.
    5. Raghoo, Pravesh & Surroop, Dinesh, 2020. "Price and income elasticities of oil demand in Mauritius: An empirical analysis using cointegration method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Mohamed El Hedi Arouri & Adel Ben Youssef & Hatem M'Henni & Christophe Rault, 2014. "Energy use and economic growth in Africa: a panel Granger-causality investigation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(2), pages 1247-1258.
    7. S. Nyasha & N.M. Odhiambo, 2022. "Energy consumption and economic growth in Zambia: A disaggregated approach," Journal of Economic Policy and Management Issues, JEPMI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-11.
    8. Odhiambo, Nicholas M, 2020. "Energy consumption and economic growth in Botswana: Empirical evidence from disaggregated data analysis," Working Papers 27659, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    9. Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2021. "Energy consumption and economic growth in Botswana: empirical evidence from a disaggregated data," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 3-24, January.
    10. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-481 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Jing Gao & Lei Zhang, 2014. "Electricity Consumption–Economic Growth–CO2 Emissions Nexus in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Evidence from Panel Cointegration," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 359-371, June.
    12. Adedoyin Isola Lawal, 2023. "Determinants of Renewable Energy Consumption in Africa: Evidence from System GMM," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, February.
    13. Abdul Rehman & Magdalena Radulescu & Laura Mariana Cismaș & Cristian-Mihai Cismaș & Abbas Ali Chandio & Smaranda (Toma) Simoni, 2022. "Renewable Energy, Urbanization, Fossil Fuel Consumption, and Economic Growth Dilemma in Romania: Examining the Short- and Long-Term Impact," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-18, September.
    14. Villanthenkodath, Muhammed Ashiq & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar, 2021. "Does economic growth respond to electricity consumption asymmetrically in Bangladesh? The implication for environmental sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    15. Solomon P. Nathaniel & Festus V. Bekun, 2020. "Electricity Consumption, Urbanization and Economic Growth in Nigeria: New Insights from Combined Cointegration amidst Structural Breaks," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/013, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    16. Wesseh, Presley K. & Lin, Boqiang, 2016. "Can African countries efficiently build their economies on renewable energy?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 161-173.
    17. Muhammad Shahbaz & Mete Feridun, 2012. "Electricity consumption and economic growth empirical evidence from Pakistan," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 46(5), pages 1583-1599, August.
    18. Sheilla Nyasha & Yvonne Gwenhure & Nicholas M Odhiambo, 2018. "Energy consumption and economic growth in Ethiopia: A dynamic causal linkage," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(8), pages 1393-1412, December.
    19. Lema, Rasmus & Bhamidipati, Padmasai Lakshmi & Gregersen, Cecilia & Hansen, Ulrich Elmer & Kirchherr, Julian, 2021. "China’s investments in renewable energy in Africa: Creating co-benefits or just cashing-in?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    20. Al-Mulali, Usama & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2014. "Are energy conservation policies effective without harming economic growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 639-650.
    21. Shahateet, Mohammed Issa & Al-Majali, Khalid Ali & Al-Hahabashneh, Fedel, 2014. "Causality and Cointegration between Economic Growth and Energy Consumption: Econometric Evidence from Jordan," MPRA Paper 59067, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Oct 2014.

    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:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6037-:d:640853. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.