Renewable Energy Penetration: Expanding Functional Infrastructure Through Technology Adoption and Meeting Gender Needs in Kenya

Benjamin McIntosh-Michaelis[1]

Issues of climate change and diminishing energy resources have pushed discussions of renewable energy to the forefront of global energy discourses. Transitions and expansion of infrastructure are key elements of these discussions.

Renewables in Kenya and dominance of off-grid access to meet energy needs

At a macro-level, large scale renewable generation can supply the grid with an abundance of “green” and “clean” energy, with most electrical generation already coming from renewable sources (Oludhe 2013) (MoE 2018). Focusing solely on macro generation does not tell the whole story around renewable penetration in Kenya. 75% of the population has access to the grid (MoE 2019) however the grid is not their only, or indeed main source of energy. Lack of access to the grid does not mean no energy access. The 25% that do not have a grid connection, and indeed many with a grid connection, access energy through other energy carriers and devices (Kowsari & Zerriffi 2011) framed as technologies or products. Amongst these other technical objects, further penetration of renewables is present.

One renewable technology in particular has taken off in rural Kenya and this is the solar lighting system (Byrne & Mbeva 2017) where people pay for systems in instalments sold by the M-KOPA company and others making payments through the M-PESA mobile money system widely used in Kenya for many other financial transactions (Chengo et al 2019). An example being in Pundo, Kisumu where this is the most common primary lighting system.

 

Pundo Case Study – Lighting technology present but gender needs not fully met in lighting or cooking

Figure 1 Lighting technologies in Pundo Village, Kisumu County

Considering a village in its entirety cannot tell the whole story around renewable penetration. This type of off-grid energy consumption by a household is often considered to be a women’s issue because they are undertaking the activities associated with running the household day to day (Fingleton-Smith 2018). It is important to consider differences in access along gendered lines within the village.

Figure 2 Female and Male Headed Lighting Technologies in Pundo

 

Experience of renewable penetration, when considering technologies, varies household by household. High penetration does not mean universal experience of benefits. This differs from a grid supply where all generation sources aggregate. Renewable penetration benefits are shared across all those connected to the grid by way of the pool created by the grid interconnections and centralised regulation. In addition to the impact of gender roles on women’s experiences in accessing energy, this disparity shows a further nuance in off-grid access to renewables where female headed households do not have the same access as male headed.

Despite the consistent prevalence, outright ownership of the solar lighting system appears to be more prevalent amongst male headed households. However, most households in the village with a solar light report that they do not think the system is affordable, indicating that affordability is an issue for everyone save for a few male headed households. Many households continue to rely on the non-renewable Tin Lamp on a regular, even daily basis, indicating that the solar light does not fully meet their needs.

Having a solar lighting system does not mean that renewables are penetrating deeply amongst off-grid energy systems. There are cases where these technologies are having some impact, however they have not eliminated non-renewable technologies. Whilst having the system may mean a reduced cost in the long term, short term debts are incurred by households that they cannot afford, failure to repay resulting in the system being turned off remotely (Chengo et al 2019). Lack of sufficient energy supply and high costs means that reliance on non-renewables persists despite high levels of adoption of renewable tech. This continued reliance on the tin lamp means that the negative health and environmental impacts associated with the use of this lamp (Chengo et al 2019) persist without alleviation from the introduction of solar lights.

The stacking of energy systems evident in Pundo extends beyond other lighting systems to include cooking systems. Firewood and charcoal remain the dominant cooking fuels here. As unimproved cooking technology this contrasts with the relatively high renewables penetration for lighting. As a result, the health and environmental impacts associated with cooking are not mitigated in any way using a solar light. These health impacts are known to affect women the most, however household heads, two thirds of whom are male, in the case of Pundo, make the decisions around what money is spent on and which energy systems are adopted (Fingleton-Smith 2018). Firewood or charcoal are used on a regular basis even by those few households that have gas. Again, showing how cleaner technologies, that even when present, do not fully meet the need and do not address other closely related problems present in places where the technologies are being implemented.

 

Conclusion: Importance of, and frameworks for avoiding single issue focus

The persistence of the issues that have been highlighted and contrast between progress in lighting against cooking technologies highlights the need to focus on issues holistically, beyond technology.

Technical objects take on mystic characteristics, whereby having this will solve many problems, a common narrative amongst development and humanitarian products (Scott-Smith 2013). There is recognition that these systems do play a part in poverty reduction (Chengo et al 2019) but a lack of focus on how these objects fit with others to form holistic understandings of energy access.

Considering multidimensional profiles (Kowsari & Zerriffi 2011) that place objects in relation to different uses and other objects can be used to gain a better understanding of how people are accessing energy and the true effects the penetration of a certain type of product is having on the users overall experience in accessing energy. Using this understanding within a systems approach (McIntyre & Pradhan 2002) can then allow for the processes and functions of the technologies to be demystified by modelling the specific impacts they have and construct detailed theories of change (Prinsen & Nijhof 2013).

The issues around lighting and cooking present in Pundo are considered by the Energy Act (GoK 2019) and the Gender Policy (MoE 2019) in principle, with many links between them being made particularly by the Gender Policy. The progress made around these policies can be enhanced using a systems approach to resolve persisting issues, avoiding focus on single solutions to solve multiple problems.

 

References

 

[1] Benjamin is completing his MSc in International Development at the University of Edinburgh, UK and has been on placement at ACTS under the Sustainable Partnerships – Energy Project