SOCIO-ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY OF BLOCKCHAIN BASED PEER-TO-PEER ENERGY SYSTEM IN RURAL AFRICA: Case Study Algeria

Abstract

Algeria is the Saharan Africa is still very far behind in terms of access to modern energy. 548 million people, which is 47% of the population still lack access to electricity in 2018 and unreliability of electricity supply is a major problem in the region. Furthermore, high disparity also occurs between urban and rural situation. The lack of investment in rural electrification is mainly due to the lack of financial resources allocated to the sector and also to the technical feasibility since many African villages are in remote area, far from the national grid and highly dispersed which make difficult the investment in grid extension. In order to address this challenge, decentralized energy systems harnessed from local available energy resources has been identified as one of the most promising approach. However, the implementation of mini-grid systems in the region is facing many challenges such as the lack of sustainability due to the low purchasing power of the population. In order to respond to that issue, the emergence of new digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT) and particularly blockchains can have a very promising considerable impact in energy access finance. Besides, the development of those various smart energy has allowed the promotion of effective management of the energy demand. At the heart of this innovative energy management system is the Peer-to-peer energy sharing concept which is a decentralized electricity trade between prosumers and consumers. The International Renewable Energy Agency emphasized that trading based on P2P models makes renewable energy more accessible, empowers consumers and allow them to make better use of their energy resources. The integration of the blockchain in the P2P mechanism can lead to the creation of new innovative marketplaces more transparent, secured and tamper resistant. In the recent years, the P2P trading platforms has been developed considerably in the world and many projects has already been implemented. However, such technology is just at its very early stage in SSA although it is a great potential to improve the electricity access. In addition, the descent on the ground is useful in order to know case by case the economic, social and environmental situations of the population which allows the validity of this project. Therefore, this research aims at conducting a socio-economic feasibility study of blockchain based peer-to-peer energy off-grid system in a rural Sub-Saharan Africa