CESET Co-Investigator Joshua Kirshner and his colleague have published a new open access article entitled "Harnessing the sun – addressing sociotechnical barriers to off-grid solar power deployment in Mozambique" in Innovation and Development, 1–20.
The research was done as part of a project funded by UK Aid - FCDO which overlapped with the early part of CESET. The paper draws on work done in CESET, including by Lorraine Howe and Carlos Shenga from CPGD on the new off-grid energy regulation.
Mozambique has substantial solar power potential (23,000GWe) yet only 83MWe of installed capacity (representing 2% of the total 3623MWe generation capacity). Meanwhile, 44% of the population has electricity access, making Mozambique one of the least-electrified countries. Efforts to scale-up off-grid solar photovoltaics and improve rural electrification face key sociotechnical challenges. Using interview data from 33 national stakeholders, we identify the key policy, inter-agency coordination, socio-cultural development, and institution-driven actions needed to overcome these challenges. We introduce the concept of a ‘social multiplier effect’ to explain how small-scale electricity access improvements increase public demand for grid-based electrification, demonstrating how this can drive socioeconomic benefits to rural and peri-urban areas. We call for coordinated actions from policy and market actors, advocating for policy coherence and increased private sector involvement to boost investment, regulation and innovation in off-grid solar technologies, ultimately achieving universal electricity access and improving social development outcomes in Mozambique.
