برق پیوندی : برق خورشیدی و تغییرات اجتماعی در کنیا

Market-based rural electrification with solar energy is increasingly common in developing countries. This article revolves around three main claims about solar electrification in Kenya’s unsubsidized market: (1) The benefits of solar electrification are captured primarily by the rural middle class. (2) Solar electricity plays a modest role in supporting economically productive and education-related activities, but “connective” applications such as television, radio, and cellular telephone charging often receive a higher priority. (3) Solar electrification is more closely tied to increased television use, the expansion of markets, more rural–urban communication, and other processes that increase rural–urban connectivity than to poverty alleviation, sustainable development, or the appropriate technology movement.

Solar electrification has emerged as a leading alternative to grid-based rural electrification in many developing countries. This may seem like a victory for appropriate technology advocates, but my research in Kenya indicates that solar electrification is, at best, only loosely linked to Schumacher’s classic “small is beautiful” vision of building small scale, locally self-reliant alternatives to global capitalism (1973). Instead, the social uses of solar electricity in Kenya are more closely tied to increased rural TV use, expansion of consumer goods markets, more rural–urban communication, and other processes that increase social and economic interconnection between rural people and their counterparts in national and international urban centers.

The growing use of solar PV for rural electrification in Kenya and elsewhere, along with its international reputation as a key element in efforts to promote sustainable development, make it increasingly important to understand the socio-economic significance of the technology. This article includes three central claims about solar electrification in Kenya’s unsubsidized markets: (1) The benefits of solar electrification are captured primarily by the rural middle class. (2) Solar PV plays a modest role in supporting economically productive and education-related activities, but “connective” applications such as television, radio, and cellular telephone charging often receive a higher priority. (3) Solar electrification is more closely tied to increased rural TV use, expansion of consumer goods markets, more rural–urban communication, and other processes that increase rural–urban connectivity than to poverty alleviation, sustainable development, or the appropriate technology movement.