The political economy of energy transitions in sub-Saharan Africa: contributions to an analytical framework

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have set targets for non-hydro renewable energy but lag in implementation. The dominant approaches to analysing energy transitions have largely been developed based on European experience and provide a limited understanding of such developments in African countries. This paper combines a review of recent energy transition literature with a broader range of relevant energy-related literatures, each of which can contribute to a better understanding of the role of coalitions, politics and power in energy transitions in lower-income countries. The paper points to the decisive influence of a country's resource endowments on the potential for an energy transition. It further argues that resource endowments affect the type of finance that can be mobilised for energy sector development with implications for potential coalitions between international and domestic actors. Finally, the access agenda provides a window of opportunity for promoting non-hydro renewable energy, but there is no unambiguous relation between the two agendas. More empirical research is needed to further analyse these dynamics.