The evolving role of finance in renewable electricity systems in Senegal

MIASA Virtual Public Lecture Series with guest speaker Lucy Baker (University of Sussex)

The lecture is part of the MIASA IFG 4 Virtual Public lecture Series, which is organized in cooperation with the Institute for Statistical and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana.

Abstract

According to the IEA, in 2018 75 per cent of Senegal’s electricity was generated from diesel generators. Until recently, the country suffered from regular and prolonged electricity blackouts and load-shedding, accompanied by rising electricity tariffs. However, electricity security and access have started to improve since 2012 following the government’s commitment to achieve 100 per cent electrification and overhaul the generation mix, with the promotion of renewable energy as a core objective. 

Thus far, however, limited critical thinking has been dedicated to how these emerging systems of renewable electricity systems are being financed and owned. With this in mind, Baker asks the following questions:

• What are the evolving configurations and processes of finance and investment in different scales of renewable electricity generation in Senegal?
• Through which regulatory mechanisms have they been facilitated?
• How are they interacting with national and local territorial realities?

Analytically the research builds on emerging concepts of ‘geographies of electricity capital’ (Luke and Huber 2020) in order to understand evolving interactions between finance, technologies and infrastructure and the role of the state and other public and private actors in setting the terms for new configurations of electricity generation, transmission and distribution.

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