A multidimensional high-resolution assessment approach to boost decentralised energy investments in Sub-Saharan Africa

There are over 650 million people in Africa who have no access to electricity; this is in sharp contrast to the continent's vast untapped renewable energy potential and due largely to the historical lack of investments in energy infrastructure. New investments in decentralised power generation within Sub-Saharan Africa play a progressively important role in increasing energy access and addressing the continent's electricity supply shortages. Tracking the performance of Sub-Saharan African countries along various socio-political and economic axes can spur the mobilisation of private, public and international sectors in investing in decentralised energy technologies. An increasing amount of high-resolution global spatial data are available, and used for various assessments. However, key multidimensional indicators are mainly still provided only at the national level. To this end, we present a comprehensive and consistent analysis of the attractiveness for decentralised photovoltaic technologies at an unprecedented level of detail using both high-resolution spatial data and national reports. We develop and build a new composite indicator that considers the interplay between social, political, environmental and financial factors at a granular regional level for Sub-Saharan Africa and embeds within it the importance of the local production costs at high-spatial resolution.

Automated summary

There are over 650 million people in Africa without access to electricity, despite the continent's vast untapped renewable energy potential. New investments in decentralised power generation in Sub-Saharan Africa are crucial for increasing energy access and addressing electricity shortages. Tracking the performance of Sub-Saharan African countries along various socio-political and economic axes can stimulate investment in decentralised energy technologies by private, public, and international sectors.