scholarly journals Transition towards a full self-sufficiency through PV systems integration for sub-Saharan Africa: a technical approach for a smart blockchain-based mini-grid

2022 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Sebastian Finke ◽  
Michele Velenderić ◽  
Semih Severengiz ◽  
Oleg Pankov ◽  
Christof Baum
Keyword(s):  
Power Systems ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Electricity Grid ◽  
Solar Systems ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Independent Subsystem ◽  
Grid Solution ◽  
Sub Saharan

Access to affordable, reliable and clean energy is an important sustainability goal of the United Nations. In areas where the public electricity grid is unreliable or unavailable, photovoltaic systems can be a solution. However, they are cost-intensive, mainly because of the energy storage systems. Mini-grids can be an answer for reducing upfront investment and overall system lifetime costs while increasing electricity availability. The mini-grid technology is mature, nevertheless, there are downsides when it comes to integrating existing solar systems of different manufacturers. The system topology is usually predefined and a central instance controls the mini-grid. Thus, the integration of existing power systems is difficult due to the communication constraints of these systems with the mini-grid controller. Including existing power systems into a decentralized mini-grid, can highly increase cost-efficiency. In a decentralized approach payments for the consumed energy between mini-grid actors are required. Accounting is, however, a complex administrative procedure, if the respective power systems are owned by different individuals and organizations. A transparent blockchain-based temper-proof approach can be a solution to automate metering and billing, allowing automatic payments between independent subsystem owners using smart contracts. In order to further optimize the smart mini-grid, an artificial intelligence learning algorithm for a dynamic electricity price needs to be developed. This smart and decentralized approach for building Mini-Grids is a novelty bringing solar systems one step closer to self-sufficiency. This paper describes how a smart mini-grid solution can be implemented using the Don Bosco Solar & Renewable Energy Center campus mini-grid in Tema, Ghana as a case study.

scholarly journals Microfinance institutions’ operational self-sufficiency in sub-Saharan Africa: empirical evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laxmi Remer ◽  
Hanna Kattilakoski
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Cost Management ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Return On Assets ◽  
Industry Development ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThe topic of financial sustainability in microfinance institutions has become more important as an increasing number of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) seek operational self-sufficiency, which translates into financial sustainability. This study aims to identify factors that drive operational self-sufficiency in microfinance institutions. To accomplish this, 416 MFIs in sub-Saharan Africa are studied and several drivers for operational self-sufficiency are empirically analyzed. Results indicate that these drivers are return on assets, and the ratios total expenses/assets and financial revenues/assets. The results imply that MFIs should encourage cost-management measures. They also reveal that there may not be a significant tradeoff in self-sufficiency and outreach. These findings will enable microfinance institutions worldwide to sharpen their institutional capabilities to achieve operational self-sufficiency and also provide policymakers with more focused tools to assist industry development.

scholarly journals Towards the attainment of sustainable development goal 7: what determines clean energy accessibility in sub-Saharan Africa?

Green Finance ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-286
Author(s):  
Paul Adjei Kwakwa ◽  
◽  
Frank Adusah-Poku ◽  
Kwame Adjei-Mantey ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Random Effect ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Sub Saharan

<abstract> <p>Access to clean energy is necessary for environmental cleanliness and poverty reduction. That notwithstanding, many in developing countries especially those in sub-Saharan Africa region lack clean energy for their routine domestic activities. This study sought to unravel the factors that influence clean energy accessibility in sub-Saharan Africa region. Clean energy accessibility, specifically access to electricity, and access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, were modeled as a function of income, foreign direct investment, inflation, employment and political regime for a panel of 31 sub-Saharan countries for the period 2000–2015. Regression analysis from fixed effect, random effect and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares show that access to clean energy is influenced positively by income, foreign direct investment, political regime and employment while inflation has some negative effect on its accessibility. The policy implications from the findings among other things include that expansion in GDP per capita in the sub-region shall be helpful in increasing accessibility to clean energy. Moreover, strengthening the democratic institutions of countries in the region shall enhance the citizens' accessibility to clean energy. Ensuring sustainable jobs for the citizens is necessary for access clean energy.</p> </abstract>

scholarly journals Conclusions and Policy Recommendations

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-150
Author(s):  
Bruno Michoud ◽  
Manfred Hafner
Keyword(s):  
Clean Energy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThis chapter aims at synthesising the conclusions of the preceding chapters and it presents specific policy recommendations to foster the redirection of financial flows towards clean energy access solutions in sub-Saharan Africa.

scholarly journals Integrating active learning and crowdsourcing into large-scale supervised landcover mapping algorithms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie R Debats ◽  
Lyndon D Estes ◽  
David R Thompson ◽  
Kelly K Caylor
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Field Patterns ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Computational Resources

Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions of the world are dominated by smallholder farms, which are characterized by small, heterogeneous, and often indistinct field patterns. In previous work, we developed an algorithm for mapping both smallholder and commercial agricultural fields that includes efficient extraction of a vast set of simple, highly correlated, and interdependent features, followed by a random forest classifier. In this paper, we demonstrated how active learning can be incorporated in the algorithm to create smaller, more efficient training data sets, which reduced computational resources, minimized the need for humans to hand-label data, and boosted performance. We designed a patch-based uncertainty metric to drive the active learning framework, based on the regular grid of a crowdsourcing platform, and demonstrated how subject matter experts can be replaced with fleets of crowdsourcing workers. Our active learning algorithm achieved similar performance as an algorithm trained with randomly selected data, but with 62% less data samples.

Ensemble Model for the Risk of Anemia in Pediatric Patients With Sickle Cell Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-59
Author(s):  
Jeremiah Ademola Balogun ◽  
Adanze O. Asinobi ◽  
Olawale Olaniyi ◽  
Samuel Ademola Adegoke ◽  
Florence Alaba Oladeji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Ensemble Model ◽  
Multi Layer Perceptron ◽  
Vector Machines ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Cell Disorder

Anemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality of SCD patients in many parts of the world with the burden much higher in Sub Saharan Africa. This study developed an ensemble of machine learning algorithm for the prediction of the risk of anemia in pediatric SCD patients. Data for this study was collected from 115 pediatric SCD outpatients receiving treatment at a tertiary hospital in South-Western Nigeria. This study adopted a stack-ensemble model composed of deep neural network (DNN), multi-layer perceptron (MLP), and support vector machines (SVM) as base and meta-classifiers using the WEKA software. The ensemble models were compared following the stack-ensemble developed using SVM as a meta-classifier had the best performance with an accuracy of 72.7%. The study concluded that information about socio-demographic and clinical data can be used to assess the risk of anemia among SCD patients.

Leapfrogging to Solar

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-175
Author(s):  
Gökçe Günel
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Renewable Energy Resources ◽  
Energy Infrastructure ◽  
Electricity Grid ◽  
Electricity Rates ◽  
Electricity Crisis ◽  
Sub Saharan

Discussions of energy in sub-Saharan Africa tend to focus on leapfrogging, theorizing how some non-Western countries might be able to avoid carbon-intensive fuels, such as coal and oil, and directly start using renewable energy infrastructure, mainly solar. While theories of leapfrogging have been attractive, there has been limited research on how exactly renewable energy resources are adopted in sub-Saharan Africa, especially at times of unreliable access. Drawing on fieldwork with energy professionals in Accra and Tema, Ghana, this article analyzes the transformations in energy infrastructure in Ghana during the period following its 2012–16 electricity crisis, known as dumsor. It argues that an increasing volume of rooftop solar panels installed by affiuent individuals and institutions in the aftermath of the crisis has led to declining participation in the electricity grid, and thereby higher electricity rates for everyone else with no choice but to remain on the grid. In response to such growing inequality, decision-makers searched for innovative business models, appealing to green loans as ways of expanding this class of solar consumers. As a result, while a select few have managed to leapfrog to renewables, others continue to endure the grid, struggling with unsteady electricity provision and increasing tariffs.

Sensitivity analysis of using solar cells in regional electricity power supply of off-grid power systems in Iran

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1849-1866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Jahangiri ◽  
Ahmad Haghani ◽  
Shahram Heidarian ◽  
Ali Mostafaeipour ◽  
Heidar Ali Raiesi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Power Systems ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fuel Price ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electricity Grid ◽  
Fuel Prices ◽  
Self Sufficiency

Purpose Rural areas are one of the effective regions in economy and self-sufficiency field especially in agricultural and livestock section. Planning in the rural section and the effort in solving the problems of farmers lead to increase their interest in farming and manufacturing in the villages and decrease their migration to the cities and metropolitans. Therefore, the present study aimed at feasibility of electricity to a rural household in Iran using off-grid solar-based hybrid system. Design/methodology/approach In renewable energy projects, a successful evaluation requires suitable criteria so that one can properly analyze the operational behavior of all feasible scenarios. In the present paper, HOMER software has been used for this purpose for a village with no access to electricity grid (Bar Aftab-e Jalaleh, Iran). Due to drastic fluctuation of fossil fuel prices and varied solar radiations in various years because of climate change, sensitivity analysis has been performed using HOMER. Findings In the optimum status economically, 70% of needed energy is provided by solar cells at the price 0.792 $/kWh. The comparison between the optimum condition economically and the condition that only use fossil fuels revealed that the return on investment will occur after less than 2 years and have remained profitable over 23 years. Social implications The authors hope that the results of this study can be used in planning of the authorities to realize the interests of people in this village. Originality/value According to the surveys, despite Iran being the first country in terms of providing solar power to the villages, so far no socio-economic-environmental assessment has been done for a solar cell-based micro-grid in an off-grid mode for a remote village that is deprived of electricity from a national electricity grid. In addition, for the first time in Iran, the effect of the fuel price and solar radiation parameters variability on the performance of system have been investigated.

Energy–Water–Food Nexus and Recommendations for Security

2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaufui Vincent Wong
Keyword(s):  
Geothermal Energy ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Major Factors

The clean, renewable sources of energy are the wind, water, and the sun. Geothermal energy from the Earth is a good source of energy for electricity generation that has not been fully utilized. Sustainable energy sources must have “respect for environment” in the center of the 4-cornered diamond. Respect for the environment is very critical for the energy sources to be long lasting and thus sustainable. Respect for the environment needs to be the central philosophy of keeping the three components of the environment clean and healthy. These components—air, water and the land, overlap three of the four sources of clean energy. Mankind has to be responsible custodians of these three natural resources. One main cause of the energy–water nexus is that about 90% of the world's electricity is manufactured following the Rankine cycle for power generation, and water is used for the removal of heat from the condenser. The energy–water–food nexus arise in some parts of the world mainly because of the local climatic conditions. High population density involved mainly with agriculture and adverse climatic events (floods from melting glaciers owing to climate change) are the major factors that cause these energy–water–food nexus problems. Areas identified to have these energy–water–food problems include several parts of Saharan Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Japan, and the Punjab.

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