Solar power and its discontents: critiquing off-grid infrastructures of inclusion in East Africa

Cross, J. and Neumark, T. (2021) Solar power and its discontents: critiquing off-grid infrastructures of inclusion in East Africa. Development and Change, 52(4), pp. 902-926. (doi: 10.1111/dech.12668)

Abstract

Since 2010, solar energy companies in North America and Europe have played a pivotal role in delivering clean, reliable and sustainable electricity to millions of people living off the grid across sub-Saharan Africa. However, today, off-grid solar energy in Africa is no longer seen as an unmitigated social and economic good. Inflows of private equity investment have led the employees and customers of off-grid solar companies to question the industry's commercial dynamics. Their critiques address the mis-selling of solar home systems and the technical limits of off-grid infrastructures for domestic production, framed both by dominant market paradigms and by relationships to nation, community and family. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in East Africa's off-grid solar industry, this study assembles these critical perspectives into a wider analysis of off-grid solar power as an adverse ‘infrastructure of inclusion’.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cross, Professor Jamie
• Authors: Cross, J., and Neumark, T.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Development and Change
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 0012-155X
• ISSN (Online): 1467-7660
• Published Online: 22 June 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Development and Change 52(4):902-926
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license