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Why Renewable is Not Always Sustainable?
Challenges relating to donor-driven RE projects
Hanna KaistiFinland Futures Research CenterConference on Development, Justice and Governance, in Helsinki 24-25 April,
2008
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Research interest
Why donor-driven RE projects often fail to provide long-term energy services that are
• environmentally and socially sustainable
• economically and technically viable after the project ends?
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Material
• Interviews in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos
•RE project visits:
Biogas (Cambodia and Laos)Wood gasification
(Cambodia)Improved cooking stoves
(Cambodia)Sustainable charcoal
(Cambodia)Solar home system (Laos)
• Previous reseach
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Renewable and sustainable
• Renewable – energy flows which are replenished at the same rate as they are usedE.g. solar energy, biomass, hydro, wind..
• Sustainable energy – renewable but also social and economic considerations
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Shifts in donor argumentation• Productive uses of energy and direct impact on economic growth •Energy as a cross-cutting theme contributing of all MDGs:Basic services like lighting, cooking, refridgeration, communication, transport.. But also education, health, gender equality…
• Climate change
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Increasing interest in RE
-> MDGs & climate change has increased donors’ interest to fund RE projects
• Other reasons;Energy demand increasing Increasing oil prices High investment costs & long-term impactDecline in the costs of RE technologyTechnology more efficient & reliable
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Power over power
-> Donors may have significant power on the way in which energy structure is organized in the aid-dependent countriesLoans & grantsTechnical assistanceDefining governanceDefining prioritiesTraining …
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Energy project failure?
• Total failure: ending of energy service due to technical, maintenance or financial reasons
• Relative failure: does not provide significant energy services, has only small climate impacts
-> High expenses, small results: money could have been used better to alleviate poverty and mitigate climate change in the same site
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Reasons for failure
• Technical problems, unreliability
• Technology-driven projects
• Focus on output instead of outcome
• RE projects often do not alleviate poverty unless they combined with other projectsElectricity does not turn into education or gender equity
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• Insufficient long-term planning: what are the needs, preferences, resources and capacity of the end-users to finance and maintain the service
• Wrong scale – too small or too big
• Vulnerable• Difficult to adapt for
the growing needs
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• Not enough energy for productive uses or the energy supply is unreliableE.g. constant power cuts or failures to produce electricity at all
• Benefits those who already better-off
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A successful project(at least)
• Demand- rather than technology -driven
• Links technical and financial considerations with social aspects (outcome rather than output)
• Has inclusive and participatory planning processUnderstands the power issues that relate to the power issues: inclusion of marginal groups & women
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• Long-term approach: maintenance & financing considerations-> capacity-building needed
• Combination with other projects?• Public service approach to energy
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Conclusions
• Changes in donor arguments due to MDGs and climate change
-> energy seen a cross-cutting issue in poverty alleviation
-> more emphasis on RE especially in rural electrification
But renewable not necessarily sustainable
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• RE projects still technology –driven, superficial participatory elements
• Projects have a variety of impacts, positive and negative, on different stakeholder groups
• May not benefit marginal groups, or e.g. women – understanding of power relations needed
• May not in every situation be the best way to alleviate poverty or mitigate climate change – the arguments mostly used in donor-driven projects
• May end with only short term benefits without long-term planning on maintenance & finance
