At the Margins of the Grid: The Politics of Off-Grid Electrification in Senegal
Résumé
This chapter examines the role of public policies in the organization of the off-grid electrification market in Senegal. It focuses on the last two decades (1998–2021), during which successive proactive policies have resulted in one of the largest mini-grid portfolios in Sub-Saharan Africa, to which can be added the thousands of individual solar solutions provided by public or private suppliers. The chapter examines how the negotiated implementation of market-based reforms has led to the coexistence of policies and counter-policies, resulting in a territorial patchwork in the supply of electricity services. It describes these plural landscapes of rural, off-grid electrification involving a diversity of actors: transnational and local small- and medium-size enterprises, alongside the national electricity leader, Société Nationale d’Électricité du Sénégal (Senelec). It shows how the politics of off-grid electrification in Senegal raise issues of energy justice in different ways, including political controversies concerning the implementation of neo-liberal reforms, power asymmetries between energy suppliers resulting from market regulations, and territorial and social disparities in terms of price and service quality. Finally, the chapter considers how energy justice issues have recently been put on the agenda of public authorities and given rise to new forms of regulation.