Sub-Saharan Africa : introducing low-cost methods in electricity distribution networks
Karhammar, Ralph | Tulloch, John | Davies, Ian | Sanghvi, Arun | Aissa, Moncef | Fernstrom, Eric | Bergman, Sten | Mathur, Subodh | Arthur, Jabesh
The level of electrification in sub-Saharan Africa is low, with less than 10 percent of the rural households having access to electricity. One of the key barriers to accelerating access is the high cost of connections, arising, inter alia, from the use of outdated, unsuitable, high-cost methods in electricity networks. A second key barrier is the small and dispersed nature of electricity demand, arising from low density of population and low income levels, which lead to high average costs of providing electricity service. The objective of this report is to help in reducing the high costs of electrification by documenting proven, low-cost methods and techniques in electricity networks that have not yet become widely used in sub-Saharan Africa. The report is based on studies related to innovations in Tunisia, Ghana, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and field visits by an expert group of technical specialists to Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. The group found that these countries had very similar norms and standards for electricity networks, based on concepts imported during colonial times, with very little adaptation to local conditions having taken place. For example, existing technical standards allow for snow and ice loading in places that have never experienced such weather conditions.
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