Navigating pathways for community renewable electricity in rural areas: stakeholders' perspectives on the shape community project, Nigeria.

Butu, Ahmed Ibrahim; Strachan, Peter

Abstract

The transition to community-scale renewables is recommended as a panacea for the energy infrastructure challenges encountered by off-grid rural communities. Government and development agencies are encouraging the acceleration of the transition process through pilot community projects. While relative success has been recorded in some of these projects, the transition pace is quite slow in developing countries. This raises several questions on various aspects of such an energy transition. Of relevance to this paper is the governance approach through which community projects are developed. This paper draws on Strategic Niche Management (SNM) to investigate the planning and implementation of such a project in Shape, a rural community in Nigeria. Data was gathered using face-to-face semi-structured interviews from 24 key actors. Results reveal non-involvement of many important actors with potentially negative implications for future investments in community renewables. The findings highlight fragmentation in the efforts of transition actors and raises questions on their knowledge of transition management. The paper also raises questions on the level of awareness of local citizens and their impact on transition projects. Findings reveal passive involvement and limited opportunities for skilled employment. The paper concludes by recommending further research on how poverty-ridden rural communities can get more involved in what is generally termed as a socially inclusive, transparent, and participatory model of energy provision.

Citation

BUTU, A.I. and STRACHAN, P. 2022. Navigating pathways for community renewable electricity in rural areas: stakeholders' perspectives on the shape community project, Nigeria. International journal of sustainable energy planning and management [online], 33, pages 19-33. Available from: http://doi.org/10.5278/ijsepm.6813

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 24, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 14, 2022
• Publication Date: Mar 31, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 14, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 14, 2022
• Journal: International journal of sustainable energy planning and management
• Electronic ISSN: 2246-2929
• Publisher: Aalborg Universitetsforlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Pages: 19-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5278/ijsepm.6813
• Keywords: Community renewables; Energy transition; Off-grid rural community; Socio-technical transition; Solar photovoltaic; Strategic Niche Management (SNM)
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1599018
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aau.dk/index.php/sepm/article/view/6813