واقعیت های تجربی و مدیریت پایدار شکست پروژه های انرژی تجدید پذیر RE

ABSTRACT The empirical reality & sustainable management failures of renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (part 1 of 2)

One of the reasons for the deteriorating nature of publicly funded renewable energy (RE) projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the absence of a sustainable management method and more specifically, the inability to appropriately trace the designation of responsibilities. It is without doubt that publicly funded projects require dedication, planning and a transparent partnership with the implementing organization. Nonetheless, the sustainable management of these projects is commonly exasperating for the stakeholders involved in the project because the aim of implementation and responsibilities are not distinctly clarified. Consequently, it makes the projects multitudinously uncertain to manage effectively within Sub-Saharan Africa.

Generally, publicly funded projects possess characteristics such as prolonged durations, substantial budgets, multiple stakeholders and apprehension which are difficult to model, implement and manage effectively [1]. It is important to indicate the differences in objectives of privately-funded projects and publicly-funded projects. Oftentimes, privately funded projects are mainly focused on the objective of maximizing profits, return on investments and minimizing losses. Publicly funded projects are “thought” to have multiple objectives within the development of social values and provision of basic necessities within the concept of fundamental human rights.1 It is expected that private organizations that invest in renewable energy projects in SSA, will execute a suitable management method in order to maximize their corresponding profit and return on investment. Hence, it is important to note that this study focuses mainly on publicly funded projects and, to partial extent, on projects founded on public-private partnership within the renewable energy field. Although a public-private partnership is considered beneficial to the provision of better public services via innovation and technology, this is not usually the case in “actual” renewable energy projects in SSA. The reason for a partial focus on public-private partnership (PPP) is that a clear path to the agreement within the PPP is not usually provided and as such, private organizations that participate in PPPs focus on acquiring a return on their investment even prior to the commencement of the project by bloating the total cost of the project.

In a study done on RE in Nigeria and Ghana, it was found that “So many projects fail because, when we talk about solar parks in Africa, most of the time people think this is just about finding an empty plot of land and implementing a project” [2]. Clearly, little thought is given to how projects will be managed once they are established, which largely contributes to their failure. In many countries within West Africa for example, many small and medium-sized photovoltaic (PV) projects have been implemented, ranging from solar boreholes to lighting thousands of street lights and powering the emergency department of hospitals. However, despite the potential of these projects, most of them have been left to deteriorate with no maintenance, no cleaning, no repairs and more importantly no sustainable management method that encompasses them all. Some of these projects are precipitously discontinued during planning and sometimes during implementation leading to the dissipation of limited resources such as funding and time. This situation has created a negative attitude towards the acceptance of sustainable and clean energy usage within the minds of the masses making it difficult for governments of these developing countries to adopt RE technology. Because most public projects are funded from taxpayers’ money, these projects are frequently reviewed [3]. However, within developing countries in Africa, more often than not, these scrutinies do not provide solutions to the existing problem of sustainably managing RE projects.

Multiple studies have been conducted on the different aspects of managing public projects within different sectors of the economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nonetheless, some of these studies [4], [5], [6] are more in a generic form covering the entire aspect of project management within specific countries in SSA. This research differentiates itself from other studies carried out on the management of projects by pitting a direct focus on renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our study investigates the failures of past projects in SSA by analyzing the linkages within the overall system encompassing the implementing government, the organization implementing the projects and more importantly, the public expected to benefit from the implementation of the project. By investigating the connections and the responsibilities of each stakeholder defined within the system, this research presents several points that require concentration to effectively manage publicly implemented RE projects. Understanding the principal concept provided in this paper of the overall system from project awarding to its implementation and finally to its sustainable management will enhance the sustainability of future projects and will provide the governments awarding the projects with methods on managing such projects. In addition, this study focuses mainly on publicly funded projects whilst partially focusing on public-private partnership as earlier indicated. Generically, this research aims to provide applicable solutions to the management of RE projects in Sub-Saharan Africa so as to enhance its sustainable development and technological acceptance.

The rest of this paper is outlined as follows. In Section 2 we describe related work from literature. In Section 3 we analyze the current state of affairs. In Section 4 we present our findings and conclusion.