Making the energy transition in rural East Africa: Is leapfrogging an alternative?

There is renewed optimism about the potential for leapfrogging in the rural energy sector of East Africa. By adopting highly efficient and renewable t echnologies many believe the region can rapidly bypass the conventional pat h of energy development and skip directly into the use of more efficient an d environmentally friendly technologies. This study explores the potential for energy leapfrogging by examining three technological approaches targete d at rural households in East Africa: conventional grid expansion, renewabl e energy technologies supplying electricity, and improved cookstoves. The s tudy identifies economic, social, political, and cultural factors limiting the ability of rural people to rapidly switch into using and/or supplying t hese technologies. The potential for leapfrogging may be overstated by plan ners and experts who focus on the technical and economic viability of the t echnologies while insufficiently considering the social conditions and econ omic realities of daily life in the region. Moreover, energy leapfrogging i tself is considered a misconception. Energy transitions in rural areas are incremental processes-not leaps-dependent upon household and regional accum ulations of technological capabilities. These capabilities have technical, organizational, and institutional components and are manifest in individual s' capacity to adapt to new technologies, their ability to take economic ri sks, and in their desire to modify their behavior. In designing technology dissemination or energy supply projects, planners must thoroughly account f or the capabilities existing in rural areas. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.