Pathways to Sustainable Rural Electrification in Uganda: A Holistic Analysis of Techno-Economic, Socio-Technical, and Political Dimensions

Abstract

Decision-making about sustainable energy development often constitutes not only choices about which technology to adopt but also the dependencies of these technological choices on the social, economic and political helms within the context they are applied. For Uganda, juggling some of the country’s innate challenges like poverty and lack of energy access whilst managing limited resources magnifies the complexity of its development efforts. Thus, crafting actionable policies and strategies to achieve the country’s development goals requires a harmonious interplay of the country’s social, technical, economic and political perspectives. Literature on sustainable energy development encompassing the different perspectives is growing. However, there is a knowledge gap in research that covers all the mentioned perspectives for Uganda.

This research focuses on rural electrification because rural communities comprise 74% of the country’s total population and hold the key to attaining the country’s sustainable energy development goals. From this, we derive the main research question: What are the plausible pathways for rural electrification development in Uganda, considering the techno-economic, socio-technical, and political perspectives, using a serious game? The main aim for including a serious game in this research is to study the tool's potential in streamlining the multi-faceted decision-making process. A pre-existing game was selected and adapted to the Ugandan context to include institutional roles, the choice of suitable rural electrification technology and other subsidy measures. The information needed for the adaptations was gathered using a mixed methods analysis approach. The information included Uganda’s feasible energy generation alternatives, the criteria for analysis of the different generation alternatives and the main actors in the arena. This was done through reviews of relevant policies, surveys and interviews with relevant stakeholders. The findings from the game, which constitute adapting institutional roles, the choice of suitable rural electrification technology and other subsidy measures, were then proposed. The game also proved to be a beneficial tool to foster learning and collaboration amongst relevant energy stakeholders.