What will be covered?
- To introduce the issue of energy access in rural areas and the importance of energy for the achievement of the MDGs.
- To outline the basic energy needs in rural areas and some of the barriers preventing increased energy access to rural populations.
- To provide some examples of policy instruments for improving energy services in rural areas.
- To outline business models and private sector participation schemes for increasing access to energy in rural areas.
“Financing is one of the largest barriers to the development of sustainable energy in Africa and this is true for both renewable energy and energy efficiency. This module will consider and evaluate the impact finance and the banking sector has on the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
In terms of renewable energy projects, particularly for rural electrification, a large amount of work has been conducted on financing models for the delivery of energy services to rural populations. A similar situation exists for energy efficiency in Africa, where the lack of access to finance impedes the uptake and development of more energy efficient methods of industrial production, despite projects being identified where considerable savings in both energy and cash are realizable.
This module examines what kind of laws, policies, regulations, and incentives could better facilitate or convince these financial institutions to actively partici- pate and support the renewable energy/rural electrification sector and energy efficiency improvement projects in their countries.”