Collective systems include mini-grids and battery charging stations. Mini-grids
distribute electricity to households with electrical wires, and battery charging
stations rely on individuals charging batteries at a central point and using in their
house. Mini-grids are more suitable for larger systems for ease of use and greater
energy availability. Battery charging stations is a common model for areas with
sparsely populated households.
Indicative costs for some RETs used for electrification have been included in Table
1Table 4; costs are quoted in kilowatt hours (kWh), a unit of energy. Price ranges
are significant due to market conditions, different types of technologies and the
local natural resource.
2.1.
Biomass energy technologies
Biomass is a general term which covers a wide variety of material of plant or animal
origin, such as wood and wood residues, agricultural residues, animal and human
faeces, all of which can yield useful fuels either directly or after some form of
conversion to improve fuel properties. The conversion process can be physical
including drying (eliminating moisture) and size reduction (compacting or
densification), thermal (as in carbonization) or chemical (as in biogas production).
The end result of the conversion process may be a solid, liquid, or gaseous fuel.4
Technology name
Location
Initiation date and duration
Financial report
Project initiator
Beneficiaries
Case study resources
Sustainable charcoal production
Nyanza Province, Kenya
2002 – 2008
Embassy of Finland and the Christian Agricultural and
Related Professional Association (CARPA)
Youth to Youth Action Group and Thuiya Enterprises
Ltd.
Farmers, Household energy users, Community based
organizations
Policy Innovation Systems for Clean Energy Security
(PISCES), FAO, World Agroforestry Centre, GTZ.
Background and project description
Although potentially renewable, depleted
forest resources in many African countries
continue to be exploited at a higher rate than
their supply is renewed. Natural forests
dramatic decline is having increasingly
negative effects on women and children who
are tasked with providing household fuel,
and leading to rapid local environmental
degradation. Whereas rural people rely on wood for fuel, charcoal is a mainly urban fuel.
Charcoal made from wood and produced by rural people as a source of income, meets
80% of urban households’ energy needs in Eastern Africa. Through historic neglect and the
perceived negative environmental impact, many market actors in the charcoal value chain
do not engage openly in the charcoal industry. The Youth to Youth Action Group and
Renewable Energy to Reduce Poverty in Africa
8