electricity costing workshop june 11-16 2007
In June 2007, the Energy Group at Columbia University, led by Vijay Modi, held a week-long workshop to train counterparts from sub-Saharan African electric utilities and governments in using an Energy Group-designed methodology for planning the expansion of rural electrification. Teams from Senegal, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia attended, along with energy experts from the World Bank. This decision-support and modeling tool is now well developed and has been thoroughly tested with data from Kenya contributed by several sources including the Kenya Lighting and Power Company (KPLC). The methodology was vetted by the Ministry of Energy in Kenya and the Rural Electrification Agency in Senegal.
Currently, the methodology requires three separate tools: GIS tools for spatial representation, a programming tool such as JAVA for algorithmic computations and a spreadsheet tool such as Microsoft Excel for input/output and arithmetic. Our next step will be to make the methodology more user-friendly and begin to apply the methodology to district and regional scales where it will be equally applicable.
The methodology has become the basis for a larger project announced by the World Bank for electrical expansion in Rwanda and Senegal. Our reports were attached in the World Bank RFP. The methodology is also being used by the governments of Rwanda and Senegal as a basis for national investment/financing plans.
Contact list of 2007 Electricity Costing Workshop attendees
CU Energy Group report to the World Bank on Senegal
CU Energy Group report to the World Bank on Kenya