Heart of light: an assessment of enhanced electricity access in Africa

A large part of the population in many African countries lacks access to electricity, in contrast to the ambition of reaching universal energy access as expressed in the Sustainable Development Goals. Off-grid electricity technologies have been proposed as an important means to solve this challenge. It is uncertain, however, at what rate these technologies can be deployed, to what extent they can help to increase electricity access, and how global climate policy might affect their impact. We propose an approach to address these questions, combining insights from geographic information system analysis (GIS) with integrated assessment modeling (IAM). We find that off-grid renewable energy technologies are essential to substantially increase electricity access in Africa, and - unlike other recent publications - we conclude that targeted investment incentives can lead to near-universal access by 2050, including in countries in the center of the continent.