Catholic Organisation for Development and Solidarity (Ocades), the Association de la gestion des ressources naturelles et de la faune de la Comoé-Leraba (Ageref/CL), and the Centre écologique Albert-Schweitzer (CEAS Burkina) have called for improvement in the access of populations to quality renewable energy products and services after conducting an environmental analysis of renewable energy (RE) in Burkina Faso.

The analysis was done as part of the Voice for Change Partnership project aimed at strengthening the capacity of CSOs in advocacy and lobbying in Burkina Faso. The three CSOs worked in partnership with the Netherlands Development Organisation in Burkina Faso (SNV-BF) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

In a statement by the CSOs, they said, ‘In the market for renewable energy goods and services in Burkina Faso, the low level of knowledge of equipment by households and technicians means that low-quality products and services are the most in-demand, as they are generally low priced’. According to the CSOs, that was an aberration, adding that ‘it is precisely the low-quality products that are the most expensive, given that they have a speed of renewal and an unnecessarily higher maintenance cost’.

Through the project, it was revealed that barely 14.37 percent of the samples analysed in Burkina Faso use renewable energy services, 6.62 percent use energy such as improved stoves, 4.32 percent use solar kits and lanterns for lighting and 1.18 percent use equipment with a productive application (solar motor pump, solar freezer/fridge, solar water pumping).

It was also noted that 37.10 percent of the respondents said that they were willing to acquire solar lamps and kits (for lighting and for recharging telephones) and 2.48 percent stated their intention to acquire equipment for productive use (solar incubator, motor pump, biodigesters, etc.). It was also observed that Burkina Faso has at least 25 percent of very vulnerable people who would not have access to renewable energy and would not wish to acquire related equipment.

They concluded that the results of the project on the willingness and financial capacity of populations in rural and peri-urban areas to afford quality renewable energy services and products will be used to convince the government of Burkina Faso, local authorities, the private sector and investors of the need to promote quality renewable energy equipment and services in urban and rural areas.

Source: Afrik 21

Photo source: Dankulpinski