Modern energy access in peri-urban areas of West Africa: the case of Dakar, Senegal

This article focuses on the status of peri-urban zones of Dakar, Senegal with respect to access to clean energy services for household use and also for productive purposes. To explore this issue we have conducted surveys covering 280 households and 70 businesses from 7 peri-urban areas of Dakar. We also relied on secondary data collection and stakeholder interviews to obtain information. Our results indicate that the main barriers to modern energy access in peri-urban Dakar are: the lack of a proper understanding of the characteristics of peri-urban areas, creating an institutional gap and an energy policy vacuum; land tenancy issues; the prohibitive connection policy for households located far from the grid (more than 30 m) and finally the progressive withdrawal of the governmental subsidy on LPG for the peri-urban poor.