Jones, P. (2016). The transition to 100% renewable energy societies in Central Africa : a Kasese District case-study [Master Thesis, Technische Universität Wien; Diplomatische Akademie Wien]. reposiTUm. https://doi.org/10.34726/hss.2016.36982
This dissertation examines the pathways to 100% renewable energy communities, including both electrical and cooking energy sources. By focusing in Sub-Saharan Africa, where only a tiny fraction of the population has access to electricity and biomass is still the overwhelming source of energy, the paper concerns itself with the concept of 'leap-frogging' carbon-based development. It outlines and assesses the existing literature on 100% renewable communities, before introducing a tailored model focused on Kasese District in south-west Uganda. Kasese District has set itself the bold target of using 100% renewable energy by 2020. By utilising the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) software, two scenarios (`Business-as-usual- and `potential-) are constructed to model progress in Kasese District from today through to 2025. These scenarios are outlined and their findings combined with knowledge found in the literature to produce a set of recommendations and identify bottle-necks in the process. Whilst the target of reaching 100% renewable energy in Kasese by 2020 is deemed highly unlikely, a set of policies theoretically implemented in 2016 to form the 'potential' scenario show how 100% renewable energy is possible in Kasese by 2025. These policies include maintaining the $5.5 USD per watt subsidy on solar panels, increasing access to finance for pico-power suppliers, investment in the harvesting of agricultural residues for use in cooking and the targeted afforestation of 10,000 hectares of deforested land in Kasese District. The results show that Kasese District has the potential to become an example of sustainable growth for the entire region, attracting both tourism and investment as it successfully decouples growth from carbon emissions and leap-frogs the `traditional- carbon-based development model.