IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v8y2023i2d10.1038_s41560-022-01103-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards a repair research agenda for off-grid solar e-waste in the Global South

Author

Listed:
  • Paul G. Munro

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Shanil Samarakoon

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Ulrich E. Hansen

    (Technical University of Denmark)

  • Matthew Kearnes

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Anna Bruce

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Jamie Cross

    (University of Edinburgh)

  • Sarah Walker

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Collen Zalengera

    (Mzuzu University)

Abstract

There has been a boom in the sale of small-scale off-grid solar products across the Global South over the past decade. A substantial portion of this boom has been driven by international investment in off-grid solar start-up companies, and a formalized off-grid solar sector has been established, with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association acting as a key representative body. Although this boom has aided in extending electricity access to many energy-poor households and businesses, an emerging concern is the short (three to four years) working life that these off-grid solar products typically have. This has led to a growing issue of solar e-waste. Here we examine how the structure of the off-grid solar sector results in substantial barriers to addressing solar e-waste in the Global South. We consider how practices of repair might contribute to addressing the issue, and set out a research agenda to facilitate new approaches to the issues of solar e-waste.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul G. Munro & Shanil Samarakoon & Ulrich E. Hansen & Matthew Kearnes & Anna Bruce & Jamie Cross & Sarah Walker & Collen Zalengera, 2023. "Towards a repair research agenda for off-grid solar e-waste in the Global South," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(2), pages 123-128, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:8:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1038_s41560-022-01103-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-022-01103-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-022-01103-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-022-01103-9?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. David Ockwell & Joanes Atela & Kennedy Mbeva & Victoria Chengo & Rob Byrne & Rachael Durrant & Victoria Kasprowicz & Adrian Ely, 2019. "Can Pay-As-You-Go, Digitally Enabled Business Models Support Sustainability Transformations in Developing Countries? Outstanding Questions and a Theoretical Basis for Future Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Grimm, Michael & Peters, Jörg, 2016. "Solar off-grid markets in Africa: Recent dynamics and the role of branded products," Ruhr Economic Papers 619, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Munro, Paul & van der Horst, Greg & Healy, Stephen, 2017. "Energy justice for all? Rethinking Sustainable Development Goal 7 through struggles over traditional energy practices in Sierra Leone," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 635-641.
    4. Mamadou Saliou Barry & Anna Creti, 2020. "Pay-as-you-go contracts for electricity access: bridging the « last mile » gap? A case study in Benin," Working Papers 2006, Chaire Economie du climat.
    5. Ulrich Elmer Hansen & Ivan Nygaard & Mirko Dal Maso, 2021. "The dark side of the sun: solar e-waste and environmental upgrading in the off-grid solar PV value chain," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 58-78, January.
    6. Bensch, Gunther & Grimm, Michael & Huppertz, Maximilian & Langbein, Jörg & Peters, Jörg, 2018. "Are promotion programs needed to establish off-grid solar energy markets? Evidence from rural Burkina Faso," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1060-1068.
    7. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mukisa, Nicholas & Manitisa, Mele Sikimeti & Nduhuura, Paul & Tugume, Erick & Chalwe, Chanda Karen, 2022. "Solar home systems adoption in Sub-Saharan African countries: Household economic and environmental benefits assessment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 836-852.
    2. Wong, Jason Chun Yu & Blankenship, Brian & Harish, S.P. & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2022. "Increasing microsolar technology adoption: Efficacy of vouchers, cash transfers, and microfinance schemes," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    3. Michael Grimm & Luciane Lenz & Jörg Peters & Maximiliane Sievert, 2020. "Demand for Off-Grid Solar Electricity: Experimental Evidence from Rwanda," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(3), pages 417-454.
    4. Girardeau, Hannah & Oberholzer, Alicia & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K., 2021. "The enabling environment for household solar adoption: A systematic review," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    5. Keim, Jan & Müller, Susan & Dey, Pascal, 2024. "Whatever the problem, entrepreneurship is the solution! Confronting the panacea myth of entrepreneurship with structural injustice," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    6. Jeuland, Marc & Fetter, T. Robert & Li, Yating & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K. & Usmani, Faraz & Bluffstone, Randall A. & Chávez, Carlos & Girardeau, Hannah & Hassen, Sied & Jagger, Pamela & Jaime, Mónica , 2021. "Is energy the golden thread? A systematic review of the impacts of modern and traditional energy use in low- and middle-income countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Bensch, Gunther & Grimm, Michael & Huppertz, Maximilian & Langbein, Jörg & Peters, Jörg, 2018. "Are promotion programs needed to establish off-grid solar energy markets? Evidence from rural Burkina Faso," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1060-1068.
    8. Mekonnen, Alemu & Hassen, Sied & Jaime, Marcela & Toman, Michael & Zhang, Xiao-Bing, 2023. "The effect of information and subsidy on adoption of solar lanterns: An application of the BDM bidding mechanism in rural Ethiopia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    9. Cantoni, Roberto & Skræp Svenningsen, Lea & Sanfo, Safiétou, 2021. "Unattainable proximity: Solar power and peri-urbanity in central Burkina Faso," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    10. Shan Zhou & Douglas S. Noonan, 2019. "Justice Implications of Clean Energy Policies and Programs in the United States: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    11. Zaman, Rafia & Das, Debasish Kumar & van Vliet, Oscar & Posch, Alfred, 2021. "Distributional inequality in market-based solar home system programs: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Weisser, Christoph & Lenel, Friederike & Lu, Yao & Kis-Katos, Krisztina & Kneib, Thomas, 2021. "Using solar panels for business purposes: Evidence based on high-frequency power usage data," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 428, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    13. Blimpo, Moussa P. & Postepska, Agnieszka & Xu, Yanbin, 2020. "Why is household electricity uptake low in Sub-Saharan Africa?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    14. Moniruzzaman, Md & Day, Rosie, 2020. "Gendered energy poverty and energy justice in rural Bangladesh," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    15. Alessandra Santini & Antonella Di Fonzo & Elisa Giampietri & Andrea Martelli & Orlando Cimino & Anna Dalla Marta & Maria Carmela Annosi & Francisco José Blanco-Velázquez & Teresa Del Giudice & Filiber, 2023. "A Step toward Water Use Sustainability: Implementing a Business Model Canvas for Irrigation Advisory Services," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, May.
    16. Ogundiran Soumonni & Kalu Ojah, 2022. "Innovative and mission‐oriented financing of renewable energy in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A review and conceptual framework," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), January.
    17. Mu-Xing Lin & Hwa Meei Liou & Kuei Tien Chou, 2020. "National Energy Transition Framework toward SDG7 with Legal Reforms and Policy Bundles: The Case of Taiwan and Its Comparison with Japan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, March.
    18. Doroteja Vidmar & Marjeta Marolt & Andreja Pucihar, 2021. "Information Technology for Business Sustainability: A Literature Review with Automated Content Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, January.
    19. Jayapalan, C. & Ganesh, L.S., 2019. "Environmentalists and their conflicts with Energy Justice – Concept of “Power-Environ” in the Athirappilly HEPP in Kerala," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 215-229.
    20. Montoya-Duque, Laura & Arango-Aramburo, Santiago & Arias-Gaviria, Jessica, 2022. "Simulating the effect of the Pay-as-you-go scheme for solar energy diffusion in Colombian off-grid regions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PB).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nat:natene:v:8:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1038_s41560-022-01103-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.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.