Urban Energy Technical Note 15: Feed-in Tariff Policy

Energy has been described as the missing Millennium Development Goal (MDG), the catalyst without which other goals for issues such as health, education and gender equality cannot be achieved. Studies indicate that access to modern energy services and particularly electricity has a positive effect on local economic development and closely correlates to a country’s UN Human Development Index (UNDP, 2012).

According to the World Bank, access to electricity for households in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) is less than 25%, with the majority relying on traditional biomass and kerosene. Insufficient electricity supply hampers economic development. Indeed, a survey of businesses across SSA shows that access to reliable and affordable electricity is their biggest obstacle