Powering the Slum II: Alternative Sources of Energy in Accra’s Informal Settlements

In a new policy digest published by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, Penn IUR Co-Director Eugénie Birch and Penn IUR Fellow James Kwame Mensah explore efforts to introduce renewable energy to informal settlements in Accra, Ghana. It builds on previous studies, Powering the Slum: Meeting SDG 7 in Accra’s Informal Settlements and "Electricity and Informal Settlements: Towards Achieving SDG 7 in Developing Countries.”

Ghana’s electrical system is not only highly reliant on fossil fuels (66 percent of the total) but also does not meet demand due to rapid population growth, especially in the country’s urban informal settlements. This widespread lack of affordable and reliable energy severely limits informal settlers’ capacity to leap out of poverty and live safe, healthy, and productive lives.

How can the energy generation mix be diversified to yield the most affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy in informal settlements? The digest explores how solar and biogas technologies are fit for adoption in informal settlements, but have limited adoption due to many barriers, including cost, knowledge, technical expertise, and financial support. Transitioning to broader use of alternative energy in informal settlements will require a coordinated multi-stakeholder approach. The digest concludes with recommendations for the private, public, and civic sectors to advance this energy transformation.

Read the policy digest here.