Barriers and prospects of solar mini-grids deployment in North-Kivu/DRC

Abstract

As solar mini-grids and other renewable energy resources are now viewed as the least expensive alternative for electrifying remote areas away from the national grid, there is growing recognition that they will play a crucial contribution to obtaining global access to power. The main objective of this thesis was to investigate and identify the most potential barriers and prospects to solar mini-grid deployment in North-Kivu/DRC. The specific objectives were to identify barriers and prospects to solar mini-grid deployment in urban and remote areas in the context of North-Kivu/DRC; to assess the prioritisation of these barriers to the deployment of solar mini-grids in North Kivu/DRC; to formulate recommendations on how to deal with those barriers and prospects identified for a better solar mini-grid deployment in North-Kivu/DRC. A descriptive research design was used in three studies with three target populations respectively of 17 experts from 7 solar enterprises for the first and the second studies and 168 drawn from the customers connected to NURU solar mini – grid within Goma City in order to identify prospects of solar mini grid deployment in the region. Eighteen barriers were identified and validated by combining field research with literature reviews, dimensioned into political and regulatory, economic and financial, technical, socio-cultural, and environmental categories, and finally prioritized using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique. The study on prioritization of barriers in North Kivu revealed that “Ineffective institutional arrangements” is the most important political barrier to the deployment of solar mini-grids; the “Access to finance” is the most significant financial barrier; the most important technical barrier is “Poor maintenance and technical support culture”; the Socio-cultural one is the “Land disputes” etc. This prioritization could help our investor readers to know by what barriers to begin to improve in the energy sector in the DRC in general and in North Kivu in particular. The study on prospects concluded that the use of Nuru's electricity has raised the standard of living of the customers, the services obtained have met the expectations of more than 50% of the subscribers, and the subscribers think that the mini grid is competitive. The study recommended that the Government should discourage administrative burdens and facilitate access to exploitation permits in a fair manner. It should also look at mechanisms to facilitate investors' access to long-term loans and subsidies to enable them to stabilize and vi provide energy at an affordable price. It recommend that investors should promote regular maintenance of equipment and the installation of fault detection systems to ensure the smooth running of the mini grids and to avoid untimely outages that discredit them in the eyes of customers