Africa in Perspective (Part 1): Energy Communities in Informal Settlements
Emerging technologies for energy generation and distribution and how they can incentivise community engagement
Urban areas have been attractive for many over the past two decades. In view of this urbanisation trend, much of the projected urban population growth is expected to be absorbed by informal settlements in the developing world. For example. this is true in Accra where close to half of the city’s population live in informal settlements. [1] Globally, almost one billion people live in informal settlements, and this is expected to increase to 1.5 billion by 2020. [2] Briefly, informal settlements can be described as lacking security of tenure, not having durable housing, and being short of basic services. [3]
Within this series of articles, we will outline emerging technologies and introduce possible solutions for governance models to incentivise pro-social behaviour changes. In this article, we will have a look at emerging technologies that would improve how energy is generated and distributed within a community and how this can contribute to incentivising desired behaviours. Finally, the article gives an outlook on how the experiences with emerging technologies for energy distribution in informal communities can be transferred to a developed city.
Tackling the energy challenges in informal settlements is of foremost importance because many other improvements, directly and indirectly, depend on the availability of electricity. Frequent power outages and voltage fluctuations harm people’s livelihoods and the productivity of businesses. Stable and affordable electricity supply makes small businesses and services possible; for example, more light expands business hours, productive time and security. Usually, it is considered a government task to guarantee electricity access. However, central grid connection is not available for most areas in informal settlements. Even if grid lines are available, the connections to the shacks are not affordable for the inhabitants.
Solar electricity generation as a local energy source
So, what emerging technology to bring electricity access is the most feasible? From an economic point of view, no source will work as the inhabitants simply are too poor to repay the investments.
Therefore, it is necessary to find feasible energy sources in accordance with local resources for informal communities.
Some of the options include government investments development aid programs and non-profit organizations.
Taking the economic, resource, and environmental constraints of Ghana and many other African countries into account, solar electricity generation is promising. It gets increasingly cheaper, and the energy source is itself free. With electricity, local people can earn money for services, and part of it can be used to repay the investment cost over its long lifespan. There is no need to integrate solar power modules into the building structure and tenants can take the modules with them if they are forced to leave by homeowners. This also brings the challenge that the modules will not be robbed.
New technology developments like solar nanotubes are promising to increase the electricity output, but efficiency is not of foremost importance in informal settlements. Affordability, robustness, long lifetime without necessary maintenance of the technology is greatly needed in the system — and these attributes are valid for conventional solar power cells.
Modular microgrids for reliable electricity supply
The next challenge is to offer a reliable electricity supply. This can be reached with microgrids that are not connected to the main grid. As Accra’s informal settlements are already significantly polluted, planned interventions should focus on sustainable options and not support polluting diesel generators as another option for electricity. Relying on solar with batteries comes with the trade-off that connecting devices with constant and high demand (e.g. refrigerators) are challenging to operate continuously. Electricity consumption is then too high for the unsteady sun as the electricity source and battery storage capacity is too limited to power demanding devices at the night. Designing the microgrid for high electricity demand will increase the cost as higher installed PV and storage capacities are needed.
Decentral electricity systems like solar power systems in microgrids bring the advantage of lower investment costs as the system can be small-scale and modular and subsequently be updated. It can be upgraded step-by-step which also keep investment cost feasible for local communities.
Electricity sharing in peer-to-peer networks and tokenisation
For electricity supply, decentral solutions can be established with electricity sharing in peer-to-peer networks as a possible solution. With the prevalence of smartphones and the use of open-source software, the community-centred basic electricity supply can be designed for easy use. Microgrids will also physically connect houses as communities. Rules for consumption to share the available electricity are necessary because the capacity of the solar-powered grid can be limited depending on the weather and time.
Thinking about tokenisation to incentivise pro-social behaviour, this system could be expanded to peer-to-peer microgrids to share electricity production within a local community. With the implementation of blockchain technology, peer-to-peer energy trading will be possible with smart contracts. This is a promising practical application for decentralised and localized energy production as systems have been developed open source and the application is easy to handle for the end-user on every smartphone. Picking up the example of connecting fridges to the microgrid, the energy consumption could be autonomously optimised for times of high supply taking into account the weather forecast, thermal inertia and battery storage capacity.
Application in developed countries
You can apply decentral energy solutions in dense areas in developed countries as well as in suburban dwellings. In developed countries, decentral energy solutions are broadly discussed as the future for energy supply. Consumers becoming prosumers is the leading mindset. Solutions usually cannot be applied 1:1 in a developed country as immediate challenges are too varied. However, technologies of the discussed electricity system for informal settlements are transferable in many parts to developed countries. The suggested solution is sustainable from the energy source (solar power), which is a basic requirement, connect neighbourhoods (microgrid), and enhanced engagement in local communities (peer-to-peer, smart contracts, energy tokenisation). The difference to microgrids in informal settlements is that microgrids in developed countries would be only virtual since everybody is usually connected to the centralised grid, which provides system security when needed. In developing countries, the decentralised system substitutes the absence of a centralised grid connection, whereas in developed countries it can be used for decentral energy trading.
A very promising option is also the implementation of blockchain technology to make peer-to-peer energy trading possible with smart contracts. This could be a technology very beneficial for the isolated microgrids in informal settlements. The successful application could be transferred afterwards to developing countries as the electrical systems and regulations are much more complex. Developed countries can learn from practical experiences of implementation in informal settlements. In contrast to using developing countries as testbeds for medicine, amongst other things, the field of energy supply is ethically justifiable as bringing advanced open-source technology to developing countries improves the electricity access in informal settlements in any case.
Stay tuned for part 2!
Sources:
[1] Accra’s informal settlements are easing the city’s urban housing crisis, (October 7, 2019). Accra’s informal settlements are easing the city’s urban housing crisis (theconversation.com)
[2] Taubenböck, H., Kraff, N.J. The physical face of slums: a structural comparison of slums in Mumbai, India, based on remotely sensed data. J Hous and the Built Environ 29, 15–38 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-013-9333-x
[3] State of the world’s cities 2010/2011 — Bringing the urban divide, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) (2010). 11143016_alt.pdf (un.org)
[4] EU-Africa cooperation in research and innovation, High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation. EU-Africa cooperation in research and innovation | European Commission (europa.eu)
