Delivering on the Promise of Distributed Renewable Energy Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa

Purpose of Review: This review of distributed renewable energy (DRE) entrepreneurship analyzes the market demand and unique market characteristics in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that drive technology-enabled DRE entrepreneurial solutions through innovative business models. It further examines how policy and regulatory challenges need to be overcome for scale and impact. Findings: The unmet energy demand in SSA provides significant opportunities for DRE entrepreneurs to complement and/or substitute grid-based systems through renewable energy solutions. The characteristics of DRE solutions such as affordability, modularity, flexibility, and sustainability endow competitive advantages in small-scale price-sensitive market segments especially in rural and remote settings. The viability and scalability of business models in the DRE sectors are highly dependent on a conducive policy and regulatory-enabling environment. Summary: DRE entrepreneurs are disrupting energy markets by combining technologies in renewable energy, energy efficiency, mobile payment, and data management systems to meet energy demand especially in price-sensitive, rural and remote markets. © 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.