The quiet (energy) revolution: Analysing the dissemination of photovoltaic power systems in Kenya

doi:10.1016/0301-4215(95)00112-3

Energy Policy

Volume 24, Issue 1, January 1996, Pages 81-111

https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-4215(95)00112-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

The widespread introduction and adoption of renewable energy technologies remains high on virtually every national development policy agenda; renewable energy systems can assist national energy autonomy, decentralize resource management, promote environmental conservation, and serve as a means to reduce global warming. The track record of efforts to turn this noble ideology into successful technology transfer and dissemination, however, remains very mixed. It is a story of a few successes amid many failures. Here we document and examine the diffusion of small-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems in Kenya. At the same time that integrated energy plans and top-down models championing renewable energy futures are becoming increasingly common, a new power base, divorced from these grand schemes, has begun to emerge. Over the past decade, some 20 000 to 40 000 small PV systems, essentially all privately financed, have been installed in Kenya. Many valuable lessons for renewable energy research can be found here. The Kenyan case richly illustrates the dramatic role that actors on every scale, from grassroots to international, can have in accelerating — or when mismanaged, impeding — technology transfer and the elevation of renewable energy systems from niche applications to a prominent role in household empowerment, and decentralized and sustainable development initiatives.

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PaperThe quiet (energy) revolution: Analysing the dissemination of photovoltaic power systems in Kenya

Abstract

Energy Policy

The Case for a Solar Initiative

The world PV market: 1993 status report and future prospects

Prospects for the Expansion of Solar PV Technology in the Developing World: Financial Mechanisms and Transfer Optimization

Economic Survey

PV industry worldwideadding sime 154 MW of new manufacturing capacity by 1995

Photovoltaic Insider's Report XI

Energy Assistance Revisited

The growing role of solar electric power production in developing countries

Power Generation Technology

Optimizing Performance of Small Solar Electric Lighting Systems in Rural Kenya: Technical and Social Approaches

Small Solar Electric Systems for Africa: A Guide for Planning and Installing Solar Electric Systems in Rural Africa

A profile of the Kenya solar electric industry

Solar Rural Electrification in the Developing World. Four Case Studies: Dominican Republic, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe

Photovoltaic Power to the People: The Kenya Case

Draft East and Southern Africa Wind and Solar Survey

Energy, food preparation and health in Africa: the roles of technology, education, and resource management

African Technology Forum

From energy efficiency to social utility: improved cookstoves and the Small is Beautiful model of development

Cookstoves for the developing world

Scientific America

Paper
The quiet (energy) revolution: Analysing the dissemination of photovoltaic power systems in Kenya