IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i17p9708-d625051.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Impact of Solar Home Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Fernando Antonanzas-Torres

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of La Rioja, 26006 Logroño, Spain)

  • Javier Antonanzas

    (Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, 430 University Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA)

  • Julio Blanco-Fernandez

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of La Rioja, 26006 Logroño, Spain)

Abstract

Solar home systems (SHS) represent one of the most promising technologies for a rapid and independent electrification in those areas of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) without access to electricity. This study addressed the environmental impact of SHS in SSA through updated life cycle inventories and five impact categories: greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, fossil fuels, metal and water depletion and human toxicity. Sixteen scenarios were considered, including manufacturing, transportation, recycling and user-related variables, such as the installation site, adequacy of SHS user operation and battery lifespan. The results showed that lead-acid batteries were the largest contributor to environmental impact among the SHS components, accounting for up to 36–76% of the environmental impact indicators. Apart from the components, user training for SHS operation, with the goal of maximizing usable energy and battery lifetime, proved to be critical to achieve improvements in the energy payback time and GHG emissions, which (under scenarios of high solar resources) can reach the range of 5.3–7.1 years and 0.14–0.18 kgCO 2 eq/kWh, respectively. In addition, SHS GHG emission factors were benchmarked with those of other electrification approaches, such as national grids, 100% PV and hybrid PV-diesel off-grid mini grids and off-grid diesel generators. SHS achieved GHG emission factor values equivalent to PV-based mini grids in most scenarios and was strikingly lower compared to SSA national grids and diesel generators.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando Antonanzas-Torres & Javier Antonanzas & Julio Blanco-Fernandez, 2021. "Environmental Impact of Solar Home Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9708-:d:625051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9708/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9708/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhandari, Khagendra P. & Collier, Jennifer M. & Ellingson, Randy J. & Apul, Defne S., 2015. "Energy payback time (EPBT) and energy return on energy invested (EROI) of solar photovoltaic systems: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 133-141.
    2. 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.
    3. Thamer Alquthami & Karim Menoufi, 2019. "Soiling of Photovoltaic Modules: Comparing between Two Distinct Locations within the Framework of Developing the Photovoltaic Soiling Index (PVSI)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Narayan, Nishant & Chamseddine, Ali & Vega-Garita, Victor & Qin, Zian & Popovic-Gerber, Jelena & Bauer, Pavol & Zeman, Miroslav, 2019. "Exploring the boundaries of Solar Home Systems (SHS) for off-grid electrification: Optimal SHS sizing for the multi-tier framework for household electricity access," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 907-917.
    5. Fuentes, M. & Vivar, M. & Hosein, H. & Aguilera, J. & Muñoz-Cerón, E., 2018. "Lessons learned from the field analysis of PV installations in the Saharawi refugee camps after 10 years of operation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 100-109.
    6. López-Vargas, Ascensión & Fuentes, Manuel & Vivar, Marta, 2021. "Current challenges for the advanced mass scale monitoring of Solar Home Systems: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 2098-2114.
    7. Brecl, Kristijan & Bokalič, Matevž & Topič, Marko, 2021. "Annual energy losses due to partial shading in PV modules with cut wafer-based Si solar cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 195-203.
    8. Narayan, Nishant & Papakosta, Thekla & Vega-Garita, Victor & Qin, Zian & Popovic-Gerber, Jelena & Bauer, Pavol & Zeman, Miroslav, 2018. "Estimating battery lifetimes in Solar Home System design using a practical modelling methodology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1629-1639.
    9. Babatunde, A.A. & Abbasoglu, S. & Senol, M., 2018. "Analysis of the impact of dust, tilt angle and orientation on performance of PV Plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1017-1026.
    10. Azimoh, Chukwuma Leonard & Wallin, Fredrik & Klintenberg, Patrik & Karlsson, Björn, 2014. "An assessment of unforeseen losses resulting from inappropriate use of solar home systems in South Africa," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 336-346.
    11. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    12. Chowdhury Akram Hossain & Nusrat Chowdhury & Michela Longo & Wahiba Yaïci, 2019. "System and Cost Analysis of Stand-Alone Solar Home System Applied to a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-13, March.
    13. Posorski, R & Bussmann, M & Menke, C, 2003. "Does the use of Solar Home Systems (SHS) contribute to climate protection?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1061-1080.
    14. Ellegård, Anders & Arvidson, Anders & Nordström, Mattias & Kalumiana, Oscar S & Mwanza, Clotilda, 2004. "Rural people pay for solar: experiences from the Zambia PV-ESCO project," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1251-1263.
    15. Fernando Antonanzas-Torres & Javier Antonanzas & Julio Blanco-Fernandez, 2021. "State-of-the-Art of Mini Grids for Rural Electrification in West Africa," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, February.
    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. Fernando Antonanzas-Torres & Ruben Urraca & Camilo Andres Cortes Guerrero & Julio Blanco-Fernandez, 2021. "Solar E-Cooking with Low-Power Solar Home Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Kinally, Christopher & Antonanzas-Torres, Fernando & Podd, Frank & Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro, 2024. "Life cycle assessment of solar home system informal waste management practices in Malawi," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(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. Conceição, Ricardo & González-Aguilar, José & Merrouni, Ahmed Alami & Romero, Manuel, 2022. "Soiling effect in solar energy conversion systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    2. Kinally, Christopher & Antonanzas-Torres, Fernando & Podd, Frank & Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro, 2024. "Life cycle assessment of solar home system informal waste management practices in Malawi," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    3. Thomas, P.J.M. & Sandwell, P. & Williamson, S.J. & Harper, P.W., 2021. "A PESTLE analysis of solar home systems in refugee camps in Rwanda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    4. Rebekka Besner & Kedar Mehta & Wilfried Zörner, 2023. "How to Enhance Energy Services in Informal Settlements? Qualitative Comparison of Renewable Energy Solutions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Nishant Narayan & Ali Chamseddine & Victor Vega-Garita & Zian Qin & Jelena Popovic-Gerber & Pavol Bauer & Miroslav Zeman, 2019. "Quantifying the Benefits of a Solar Home System-Based DC Microgrid for Rural Electrification," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, March.
    6. Vivien Kizilcec & Priti Parikh & Iwona Bisaga, 2021. "Examining the Journey of a Pay-as-You-Go Solar Home System Customer: A Case Study of Rwanda," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-26, January.
    7. Schmid, Fabian & Behrendt, Frank, 2023. "Genetic sizing optimization of residential multi-carrier energy systems: The aim of energy autarky and its cost," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    8. Shalu Agrawal & Abhishek Jain, 2019. "Sustainable deployment of solar irrigation pumps: Key determinants and strategies," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), March.
    9. 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.
    10. Chaurey, Akanksha & Kandpal, Tara Chandra, 2010. "Assessment and evaluation of PV based decentralized rural electrification: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(8), pages 2266-2278, October.
    11. Nishant Narayan & Victor Vega-Garita & Zian Qin & Jelena Popovic-Gerber & Pavol Bauer & Miro Zeman, 2020. "The Long Road to Universal Electrification: A Critical Look at Present Pathways and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Paulina Schiappacasse & Bernhard Müller & Le Thuy Linh, 2019. "Towards Responsible Aggregate Mining in Vietnam," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, August.
    13. Pina Puntillo, 2023. "Circular economy business models: Towards achieving sustainable development goals in the waste management sector—Empirical evidence and theoretical implications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 941-954, March.
    14. Schlör, Holger & Venghaus, Sandra & Hake, Jürgen-Friedrich, 2018. "The FEW-Nexus city index – Measuring urban resilience," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 382-392.
    15. Jean-Louis Combes & Alexandru Minea & Pegdéwendé Nestor Sawadogo, 2019. "Assessing the effects of combating illicit financial flows on domestic tax revenue mobilization in developing countries," Post-Print halshs-02315734, HAL.
    16. Nelson, Ewan & Warren, Peter, 2020. "UK transport decoupling: On track for clean growth in transport?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 39-51.
    17. Mollik, Sazib & Rashid, M.M. & Hasanuzzaman, M. & Karim, M.E. & Hosenuzzaman, M., 2016. "Prospects, progress, policies, and effects of rural electrification in Bangladesh," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 553-567.
    18. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    19. R. Ebrahimi & S. Choobchian & H. Farhadian & I. Goli & E. Farmandeh & H. Azadi, 2022. "Investigating the effect of vocational education and training on rural women’s empowerment," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    20. Benjamin Nölting & Bettina König & Anne B. Zimmermann & Antonietta Di Giulio & Martina Schäfer & Flurina Schneider, 2022. "Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic: an opportunity to reflect on sustainability research," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 11-27, December.

    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:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9708-:d:625051. 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.