Review Peer-Reviewed
Implications of Non-technical Factors for Off-grid Electrification Initiatives in Cameroon: A Review of the Esaghem Village Solar PV Project
Ambe J. Njoh 1,* ,
Ijang B. Ngyah-Etchutambe 2,
Fri C. Soh-Agwetang 2,
Pascar T. Tah 2,
Mah O. Tarke 2 and
Fotoh J. Asah 2,3
1
School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33635, USA
2
University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
3
University of Bamenda, Bambili, Cameroon
*
For correspondence.
Academic Editor:
Received: 4 May 2022 Accepted: 2 August 2022 Published: 8 August 2022
This article is part of the Special Issue Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Abstract
Ensuring access to clean energy for all—Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #7—remains one of the most elusive SDGs in developing countries. This study reviews efforts to meet this goal in a developing community, namely Esaghem Village, Manyu Division in Cameroon. The efforts involved the use of a micro-off-grid solar PV system. The study employed primary data collected in-situ and from the project documents, and secondary data from electronic as well as conventional sources. The review is intended to highlight the impact of political, eco-nomic, social, technological, ecological, cultural and historical (PESTECH) factors on renew-able energy (RE) initiatives in a developing country. These are important but oft-ignored historio-cultural factors in the energy domain. The review reveals how one feature of indigenous African tradition, namely the self-help ethos can be harnessed to improve clean energy access in a developing country. It also showed how factors commonly associated with developing countries such as war, administrative centralization, bureaucratic corruption and ineptitude as well as poverty, thwart RE initiatives. The review underscores the importance of non-technical dimensions of RE projects and holds many lessons for the development, manage-ment and sustainability of such projects in developing countries writ large.
Figure in this Article
Keywords
Cameroon; clean energy; off-grid electrification; sustainable renewable energy; self-help energy supply projects; solar PV
Copyright © 2022
Njoh et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use and distribution provided that the original work is properly cited.
Cite this Article
ACS Style
Njoh, A.J.; Ngyah-Etchutambe, I.B.; Soh-Agwetang, F.C.; Tah, P.T.; Tarke, M.O.; Asah, F.J. Implications of Non-technical Factors for Off-grid Electrification Initiatives in Cameroon: A Review of the Esaghem Village Solar PV Project. Highlights Sustain. 2022, 1, 159–170. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain1030012
APA Style
Njoh, A. J., Ngyah-Etchutambe, I. B., Soh-Agwetang, F. C., Tah, P. T., Tarke, M. O., & Asah, F. J. (2022). Implications of Non-technical Factors for Off-grid Electrification Initiatives in Cameroon: A Review of the Esaghem Village Solar PV Project. Highlights of Sustainability, 1(3), 159–170. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain1030012
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