When we look at the development of energy access related to electricity access we see big regional differences around the world.  What you can see from this graph is that most of the new access is within India (with moderate population growth) while new connections in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are smaller while population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is relatively higher. This means that the net effect of people gaining energy access was negative for 2000 – 2015 for the SSA region.

Source: International Energy Agency, (2017): World Energy Outlook. All rights reserved. 

The International Energy Agency expects that, in 2030, 90% of the worldwide population without energy access will live in Sub Saharan Africa.  Although the access rate for electricity will increase from 43% in 2016 to 59% in 2030, this pace is not fast enough to compensate for rapid expected population growth. As energy access is crucial in achieving many of the other development goals related to health, food security, gender equality, education, economic development the challenge is what can be done to change the current expected trajectory for the SSA-region.

Source: International Energy Agency, (2017): World Energy Outlook. All rights reserved. 

As we see above, the current trajectory does not deliver Energy Access to all by 2030. To provide electricity for all by 2030 would require significant annual investments, mostly direct to the SSA region. Most of the electricity access shall be achieved by mini-grids and off-grid solutions (stand-alone). Besides the financial investments that are needed we also need to think about how we can implement these solutions in the social, legal and political context.

Source: International Energy Agency, (2017): World Energy Outlook. All rights reserved.