Journal of Energy and Natural Resources

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A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Received: 29 October 2019    Accepted: 18 November 2019    Published: 06 December 2019
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Abstract

Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.

DOI 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
Published in Journal of Energy and Natural Resources (Volume 8, Issue 4, December 2019)
Page(s) 146-154
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Quantitative Review, Bibliometric Mapping, Renewable Energy, Sub-Saharan Africa

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Author Information
  • Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

  • Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

  • Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

  • Department of Anthropology, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Bernabas Wolde, Neeraj Vedwan. (2019). A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources, 8(4), 146-154. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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    ACS Style

    Sydney Oluoch; Pankaj Lal; Bernabas Wolde; Neeraj Vedwan. A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. J. Energy Nat. Resour. 2019, 8(4), 146-154. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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    AMA Style

    Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Bernabas Wolde, Neeraj Vedwan. A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. J Energy Nat Resour. 2019;8(4):146-154. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13,
      author = {Sydney Oluoch and Pankaj Lal and Bernabas Wolde and Neeraj Vedwan},
      title = {A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa},
      journal = {Journal of Energy and Natural Resources},
      volume = {8},
      number = {4},
      pages = {146-154},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jenr.20190804.13},
      abstract = {Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa
    AU  - Sydney Oluoch
    AU  - Pankaj Lal
    AU  - Bernabas Wolde
    AU  - Neeraj Vedwan
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
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    T2  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
    JF  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
    JO  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
    SP  - 146
    EP  - 154
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-7404
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
    AB  - Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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