Thesis supervisors: Sylvy Jaglin and Pascal Ughetto
Over the past few decades, the range of electricity services available on the African continent has diversified considerably, particularly through decentralized solutions (solar lamps, solar home kits, mini-grids) (Guillou, 2022; Cholez & Trompette, 2022). These solutions are set to play a central role in providing access to electricity, particularly in rural areas (IEA, 2023). However, even though increasing amounts of investment are being made in the development of renewable energies, a significant proportion of solar projects in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly mini-grids, are failing, with equipment deteriorating and struggling to last more than ten years (Etienne, 2022; Cholez & Trompette, 2019; ENEA & Practical Action, 2023).
Investors, mini-grid developers and operators, and suppliers of domestic solar kits face many challenges in ensuring the sustainability of decentralized electricity infrastructure. The lack of data and knowledge is a major obstacle to the productive use of electricity generated by mini-grids, even though such use is an important condition for their profitability (ESMAP, 2022; UNIDO, 2022). The organization of stable maintenance and repair chains is another obstacle. Based on these observations, the thesis examines decentralized electrical infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and the obstacles to its sustainability, focusing on solar workers and their activities. The suggestion is that the sustainability of decentralized electrical infrastructure fundamentally depends on the existence of ecosystems of workers or professionals rooted in local areas. This leads to an analysis of the conditions for the emergence of such localized professional ecosystems capable of adapting this infrastructure to local contexts over the long term. Two contrasting case studies were selected for fieldwork: Cameroon, where 26% of the rural population has access to electricity, and Madagascar, where less than 15% has access (World Bank, 2023). What local maintenance and repair skills are necessary for the sustainability of decentralized electrical infrastructure? What conditions are needed to support or even encourage the emergence and structuring of an ecosystem of specialized actors? The thesis hypothesizes that skills must be examined within their territorialized professional ecosystems in order to understand the diversity of actors, the complexity of their relationships, and the vitality of local maintenance economies. The approach we propose to adopt here will allow us to focus on a wide variety of workers beyond engineers alone, including professionals of all skill levels and types. It is in line with sociological approaches that, in recent years, have encouraged attention to be paid to the less visible work of those who are referred to as "little hands" and who nevertheless participate in the ecosystem of actors ensuring the technical mastery of an infrastructure. In the context of the proposed thesis, technicians and repair craftsmen will therefore be among the populations specifically studied. Through the analysis of work "in progress " (Ughetto, 2018), the aim will be to explore the role they play in the functioning and sustainability of decentralized electrical infrastructure, particularly through the many "DIY" solutions and innovations that ensure the normal functioning of electrical infrastructure in a context of failing conventional network services (Rateau, 2022; Olivier de Sardan, 2023).
Year of enrollment: 2024
Doctoral school: City, Transportation, and Territories – VTT