Accessible decision support for sustainable energy systems in developing countries

authored by
Maria C.G. Hart, Sarah Eckhoff, Michael H. Breitner
Abstract

With rising electricity demand through digitization and innovation, the urgency of climate change mitigation, and the recent geopolitical crisis, stakeholders in developing countries face the complex task to build reliable, affordable, and low-emission energy systems. Information inaccessibility, data unavailability, and scarce local expertise are major challenges for planning and transitioning to decentralized solutions. Motivated by the calls for more solution-oriented research regarding sustainability, we design, develop, and evaluate the web-based decision support system NESSI4Dweb+ that is tailored to the needs and capabilities of various stakeholders in developing countries. NESSI4Dweb+ is open access and considers location-specific circumstances to facilitate multi-energy planning. Its applicability is demonstrated with a case study of a representative rural village in southern Madagascar and evaluated through seven interviews with experts and stakeholders. We show that NESSI4Dweb+ can support the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and enable the very prerequisite of digitization: reliable electrification.

Organisation(s)
Institute of Computer Science for Business Administration
Type
Article
Journal
Energy Informatics
Volume
5
Publication date
20.12.2022
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Information Systems, Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Computer Networks and Communications
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 13 - Climate Action
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1186/s42162-022-00255-y (Access: Open)