OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Over 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa currently lack reliable and affordable access to energy and the achievement of SDG 7 by 2030 – Universal Access to Energy – seems currently out of reach. Rural electrification in developing countries faces numerous and complex challenges on various levels. As a consequence, most mini- or microgrids (island solutions that are detached from the main electrical grid) face sustainability issues. Studying these systems by applying an interdisciplinary approach that considers the energy systems in the context of the local and national environment and by integrating technical, legal, social and financial perspectives reveals challenges, opportunities and strategic implications on various levels. This lecture will discuss these challenges based on the comprehensive research findings generated by the research projects ‘RISE – Renewable, Innovative and Scalable Electrification‘ and, ‘Mumuni Singani’. The presentation will discuss major challenges and opportunities for rural electrification in Africa incorporating three perspectives: local communities, the private sector as well as the policy-level and focusses on the question of what is needed to develop sustainable decentralised renewable energy solutions for the region.
