Rural Electrification
Rural electrification is critical to poverty reduction and underlies the achievement of many of the Millennium Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa including goals related to education, health, and gender equality. In many countries, rural electrification rates have remained in the single digits. Plans to extend the electricity grid have often not accounted for population distribution or the needs of social institutions such as schools and health centers. Decentralized options such as solar PV, which may be cost-effective in remote and sparsely populated areas – have been marginalized. Coordination across sectors, a national perspective, and a longer planning horizon (e.g. 10 years or more) are needed to rapidly and cost-effectively scale-up rural access to electricity.
The Earth Institute has developed an electricity planning and investment costing model to supposrt national efforts to expand electricity access. The model is a set of inter-linked tools including a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet model, ArcGIS for spatial processing and analysis, and Java programs to algorithmically generate an extended grid and process results. The model has been applied in Senegal and Kenya, and has generated interest among energy planners in ministries, utility companies, and international organizations. The project is supported by the World Bank's Africa Energy Group.
The project team consists of graduate students and staff with expertise in economic development and energy policy, as well as skills in spreadsheet modeling, GIS analysis, and computer programming.
Info. on the Columbia Electricity Costing Workshop, hosted June 11-16, 2007
Contact researchers: Susan Kum, sk2804@columbia.edu
Selin Kocaman, ask2170@columbia.edu
Alex Zvoleff, zvoleff@rohan.sdsu.edu
Dana Pillai, dsp2001@columbia.edu
Lily Parshall, llp15@columbia.edu
Aly Sanoh, as3047@columbia.edu
Roy H. Han, rhh2109@columbia.edu
Sudeep Moniz, sm2716@columbia.edu
