Energy Democracy and the Politics of Energy Transition in African Countries

从历史上看，发展中国家的电气化一直是由提供集中、大规模发电的努力主导的，就像发达国家的情况一样。最近，促进能源向低碳发电转型的政策法规总体上是为工业国家设计的，然后转移到主要发展中国家，在主要新兴国家（如南非）取得了一些成功。迄今为止，这些办法在最不发达国家和低收入国家收效甚微。这主要是由于它们的机构和相应的监管架构相对薄弱，以及缺乏适当的治理结构来实施它们。此外，就许多非洲国家而言，由于增加获得现代能源服务的竞争优先次序，以及中央集权的庇护主义国家之间的政治经济竞争，以及不同程度的权力下放和向地方治理结构下放权力的倡议，能源转型的规划变得更加复杂。在大规模工业化的背景下，ret的生产和部署在全球范围内大幅增加，随后成本降低了80%。在许多中低收入和中等收入的发展中国家，问题是，如何才能改变这些国家的战略政治理解，以纳入大量分散的、离网的规定，这将是实现有效的外展和低碳转型所必需的？如果在电力市场较小的非洲国家，通过引入RETs可以打破集中式垄断的习惯，这是否必然导致更分散的系统，或者相反，集中式系统是否会与同样有限的参与者一起延续下去？在分散的RETs正在实施的情况下，这将导致能源系统的民主化还是加强非民主的地方当局？该研究将调查与权力下放和能源供应地方治理相关的当前做法，考虑已建立的良好做法，并寻求与更广泛的利益相关者社区建立前进的路线。它还将考虑与非洲国家能源转型相关的社会想象的演变，从国家政府到地方社区。能源部门的决策者如何将RETs纳入他们的思维方式？他们是否认识到与传统能源技术的差异——不仅是技术上的差异，而且在社会影响方面的差异，他们是否了解通过正式和非正式结构以及任何现有的政治权力下放倡议对地方治理的影响？如何才能最好地改变观点，以实现RET部署和增强能源获取？草根组织是否有能力提出、发展、运作和维持另一种愿景？他们是否认为retts有潜力赋予当地社区权力，或者是“二手电力”？社区的需求是什么？不仅是在能源方面，而且在满足这些需求方面，以及在与供应商合作以最有效地满足这些需求方面，他们可以发挥什么作用？什么样的融资模式最能实现这一点？监管的其他要素能帮助实现这一切吗？为了实现从集中式模型到分散式模型的转变，治理组织之间需要发生什么？

Historically, electrification in developing countries has been led by efforts to provide centralised, large-scale generation, as was the case in developed countries. Latterly, policies and regulations to facilitate energy transition toward low-carbon generation of energy have on the whole been designed for industrial countries, and then transferred to major developing countries with some success in major emerging countries (for instance in South Africa). These approaches have so far achieved little impact in Least Developed and low-income countries. This is mainly due to the relative weakness of their institutions and of attendant regulatory architectures, and a lack of adequate governance structures to implement them. In the case of many African countries, moreover, planning for energy transitions is made more complicated by the competing priority of increasing access to modern energy services, as well as by the political economy competition between centralised, clientelist states and varying degrees of initiatives towards decentralization and devolution of powers towards local governance structures. RETs production and deployment have risen substantially globally, on the back of huge industrialisation and subsequent cost reductions in the order of 80%. In many low-middle and middle-income developing countries the question is, how can the strategic political understanding of many of these countries which is dominated by grid outreach be changed to incorporate the substantial decentralized, off-grid provision that will be necessary to achieve both effective outreach and low carbon transition? If the habit of centralized monopoly can be broken in African countries with small electricity markets by the introduction of RETs, will this lead necessarily to more decentralised systems or, on the contrary, will centralised systems be perpetuated with the same limited number of players? And in the case that decentralised RETs are being implemented will this lead to a democratisation of the energy systems or to the reinforcement of non-democratic local authorities?The research will survey current practices associated with decentralization and local governance of energy supplies, consider established good practice and look to build routes forward with wider stakeholder communities. It will consider also the evolution of social imaginaries linked to energy transition in African countries, from national governments down to local communities. How can policy-makers in the energy sector integrate RETs in their way of thinking? Do they perceive differences with conventional energy technologies - not just technical differences but also differences in terms of social implications, and do they understand the implications for local governance through formal and informal structures, and any existing political decentralization initiatives? How might perspectives best be changed to enable both RET deployment and enhanced energy access? Are grass roots organisations capable of proposing, developing, operating and maintaining an alternative vision? Do they perceive RETs as having the potential to empower local communities, or as 'second-hand electricity'? What are the needs of communities not just in terms of energy, but also in terms of the role they can take in meeting those needs and in working with providers to enable access which meets those needs most effectively? What financing models would best enable this? What other elements of regulation can help to enable all of this? What is required to happen amongst governance organisations to enable a shift from the centralised to a decentralised model?