Decentralised renewable power generation and distribution systems such as mini-grids, are important tools for providing power to the roughly 600 million Africans currently living without access to modern energy services.

For African Governments to meet the Sustainable Energy for All Goal of Universal Access to Energy By 2030, it is estimated that 40 percent of new power connections will need to be provided by mini-grids. Several changes to mini-grid deployment strategies, policy infrastructure, and financing facilities, will be needed to meet this goal.

This paper (PDF 272kb) presents the Africa Mini-grid Developers Association’s (AMDA) perspective on barriers to the utilisation of Smart Mini-Grids and proposes changes that would help to eliminate these barriers. It further describes what it will take to make these changes a reality.