Failures & generic recommendations towards the sustainable management of renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (Part 2 of 2)

Renewable energy (RE) generation is expected to become the main source of energy in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the next century. However, more often than not, the sustainability aspect of these projects is a characteristic that is not clearly defined in terms of projects implemented in SSA. The rate at which projects fail is creating a negative impact towards the full acceptance of renewable energy technologies (RETs). The aim of this paper is to comprehensively explore the reasons of failures and provide recommendations towards the sustainable management of RE projects in SSA. We accomplish this by combining findings from past literature on the failures of RE projects in SSA with an ethnographic approach and practical experience in the implementation of RE projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. We propose the following solutions: (i) transparency, (ii) ownership, (iii) shared responsibility and (iv) community involvement. We further present hermeneutic recommendations that should be taken into account by stakeholders towards implementation of any sustainable renewable energy project.