Abstract In this this Vignette, leading experts advocate for a resurgence of interest in energy efficiency, placing a renewed emphasis on its strategic importance within energy transitions. In the current context of geopolitical instability, efficiency assumes heightened urgency as a rapid, cost-effective means to reduce exposure to energy price shocks and enhance energy security. By lowering demand, increasing system flexibility, and supporting more resilient and diversified energy systems, energy efficiency is a critical ‘first fuel’ in managing both short-term disruptions and long-term transitions. Energy efficiency has the potential to push transformative change through dynamic and systems-oriented strategies across research, policy, and practice. Such strategies must embed efficiency within broader societal goals – encompassing planetary boundaries and wellbeing – while ensuring that measures deliver synergies including energy security, public health, affordability, competitiveness, and responsible growth. New experiments and scenarios are needed to advance knowledge on potential efficiency pathways. Participatory methods in relation to energy poverty, justice, and sufficiency can help ensure its central role remains legitimate, accountable, and socially grounded. Alongside these societal dimensions, sections of the Vignette also emphasise new potentials enabled through greater electrification, AI, and material resource management, while recognising associated rebound effects or efficiency-induced growth. Energy efficiency provides critical buffering against systemic disruptions in future societal transitions. Strategic policy interventions and financing mechanisms are required to align efficiency with both energy-system goals and wider societal objectives to foster enhanced resilience and wellbeing within ecological limits.
Abstract This article takes stock of energy transition developments in India at different governance levels to offer examples and draw lessons-learned that can enhance our understanding of India’s potential role in the low-carbon energy transition, with particular focus on how to make transitions more inclusive of opportunities and address challenges in global South contexts. Being the world’s most populated country and the third-largest energy user and greenhouse gases emitter, India is key to the global transition from fossil to renewable energy. Energy efficiency, energy access, just transition, and renewable energy expansion are core objectives in India’s climate policies, but reaching climate, energy, and development goals simultaneously is challenging and often entails trade-offs. This article analyses the complexity of factors that influence opportunities and challenges to energy transition in India, and shows how India’s diversity and strong development-first emphasis is mirrored in energy developments around coal use and renewable energy expansion projects. The article further demonstrates a duality in India’s energy transition, from the local to the international level. One the one hand postponing the economic and societal costs of reducing coal, while on the other hand benefitting from the opportunities of new renewables, also connected to aspirations for a broader global role. As an experimental ground for renewable energy deployment and related international networks, India has shown the way in achieving co-benefits from early new renewable expansion, but several challenges remain to moving beyond low-hanging fruits and ensuring a transition that incorporates needed social redistribution of wealth and rights.
Abstract Parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) are among the most mature and widely deployed technologies in concentrated solar power systems, providing reliable medium- to high-temperature thermal energy for industrial and power generation applications. This review presents a comprehensive assessment of PTC research from 1968 to 2025, covering advances in system design, thermal performance, and advanced integration strategies. The study uses a combined chronological–methodological framework, classifying the literature into experimental, analytical, numerical, and system-level investigations to ensure a structured and consistent evaluation. The analysis shows that early studies established the feasibility of solar steam generation and fundamental design principles, while later research focused on system integration, numerical modeling, and performance optimization. Recent advances emphasize internal heat-transfer enhancement using nanofluids and inserts, as well as hybrid systems that integrate PTCs with photovoltaics, thermoelectric generators, and thermal energy storage. Despite these developments, significant gaps remain in weather-normalized experimental validation, unified thermo-hydraulic performance metrics, and long-term system reliability under real operating conditions. Future research should prioritize integrated experimental–numerical approaches, standardized performance evaluation criteria, and the development of robust, climate-adaptive PTC systems to support sustainable energy applications.
Abstract Transforming energy systems is a whole-of-society challenge. To mobilize the resources and political will to meet their Paris Climate Agreement obligations, the governments of Europe increasingly recognize the need for participation by their populations. Local governments are particularly involved in this shift from a centralized and top–down model toward a decentralized and co-created one. Diverse forms of engagement in multiple transitions, such as energy communities, participatory planning groups, shared mobility initiatives, and new approaches to self-consumption, are emerging throughout Europe. This review studies co-creation of sustainable energy transitions between local public actors and their populations through the lens of opportunity spaces composed of structural factors and acted on by agency. Taking a pragmatic approach, we search the literature for key factors, assisted in screening by an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) tool. We synthesize these pieces of actionable information into a set of seven issues of interest for anyone engaged in participatory planning or energy initiatives, with lessons for policymakers and practitioners. These issues are: legitimacy; diversity and representativeness; social networks/social capital; local knowledge; territorial values, discourses, and identity; and the physical resources of the territory and how to access them. We rank these issues in terms of their relative malleability to change agency and discuss what it means to navigate the evolving opportunity space. By focusing on cross-border and cross-type analysis, we hope to deliver broadly applicable insights that can serve as a starting point for further study and implementation.
Abstract Rapid growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based services has accelerated data center development, creating new pressures on electricity systems, water resources, land use, and local governance. Largely ignored by citizens and policymakers in the past, data centers are now highly visible, energy-intensive facilities whose siting and operation raise significant community and policy challenges. Yet existing research remains fragmented across technical and disciplinary silos, limiting its usefulness for decision-makers. Employing an integrative literature review methodology, this paper synthesizes interdisciplinary scholarship to examine how data center facility types, siting criteria, and operational demands translate into localized impacts on energy infrastructure, environmental systems, and public finances. It highlights how rapid industry evolution, limited transparency, and uneven regulatory capacity complicate oversight at the municipal and state levels. Drawing on infrastructure and governance theory, the paper reframes data centers as critical energy infrastructure sitting at the intersection of public and private interests and proposes a conceptual framework to support anticipatory planning, transparency, and coordinated governance as AI-driven demand continues to grow.
Bangladesh is facing a growing demand for sustainable and reliable energy sources due to challenges posed by rapid industrialization and a high dependency on imported fossil fuels. Climate change is another major issue. Offshore wind energy presents a promising opportunity to diversify Bangladesh’s energy mix and provide a cleaner source of energy. This review explores the potential of offshore wind energy, wind resource availability at various sites, technological adaptations, and offshore policy frameworks for Bangladesh. The study identifies optimal sites for offshore wind development in Bangladesh, including Cox’s Bazar, Sandwip, and the Bay of Bengal. It also identifies key challenges, including the absence of a dedicated offshore wind policy, cyclone resilience, and the effects of high humidity on offshore wind turbines. The paper draws lessons from pioneer countries such as China and the UK to propose a phased roadmap for Bangladesh. Some strategic recommendations are highlighted, such as establishing a national offshore wind authority, adopting cyclone-resistant turbine designs, and implementing financial incentives to attract investment. By addressing technical, economic, and regulatory barriers, Bangladesh can harness enough offshore wind energy to achieve its renewable energy targets by 2041.
Pakistan has major concerns with energy security as the country relies on imports 70% of its energy supply. Rising political insecurity, instability in international energy markets, and regional conflicts threaten the country's energy stability. While literature discusses lack of energy, limited studies have examined the influence of geopolitical dynamics. To address this gap, the paper introduces the Geopolitical-Energy Vulnerability Framework (GEVF), which integrates geopolitical observations with indicator-based measurements to evaluate Pakistan's energy security vulnerabilities. Unlike conventional energy security paradigms, the GEVF incorporates geopolitical risks and analyzes them in light of recent geopolitical events, policy reports, and a global energy database. The findings indicate that Pakistan is highly vulnerable, mainly due to its reliance on Middle Eastern oil routes, the LNG market affected by geopolitical conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and increasing dependence on infrastructure developed by foreign entities. Additionally, the country's insufficient infrastructure and low variation further worsen its vulnerabilities compared to nations such as Bangladesh, Turkey, and Egypt. This new framework provides valuable insights for policymakers aiming to strengthen energy security in Pakistan. The study is also unique in that it offers a repeatable scale for other emerging economies and systematically determines high vulnerability in all six core dimensions of the GEVF; among them are import dependence, transit-route exposure, price sensitivity, diversification, technological reliance, and infrastructural resilience. According to the findings, the urgency of the need to modernize infrastructure, diversify it, and make informed policymaking geopolitically informed is evident. The energy system of Pakistan is largely reliant on imported oil and gas, and therefore, it is quite susceptible to political instability in the world and international energy markets. Geopolitical jolts like the conflict in the major energy-producing areas or the blockage of shipping routes could soon turn into escalated price and supply risks to the nation. Albeit the fact that most literature covers the energy crisis in Pakistan, little literature declares how the geopolitical risks directly produce certain energy vulnerabilities. This article presents a Geopolitical-Energy Vulnerability Framework that connects world politics with the tangible energy security consequences, such as disruption of supply, price fluctuations, and dependence. The study gives policymakers a useful instrument to formulate more resilient, diversified, and geopolitically informed energy policies in Pakistan by translating geopolitical risks into quantifiable indicators.
Green aviation demands lightweight, highly efficient electro-hydraulic power system for flight-critical actuation. However, transient thermal coupling among motor, pump, and oil tank can trigger hydraulic oil degradation and insulation failure, jeopardizing safety, and efficiency. To close this gap, we develop a first-principles dynamic thermal system model that captures coupled electro-mechanical-thermofluidic interactions over the full flight envelope. Parametric simulations show that under extreme duty cycles, load pressure, motor speed, working fluid, and ambient temperatures can raise component temperatures by up to 42% within 60 s. Aiming to decouple transient peaks from steady-state design limits, we integrate a discrete fin-coupled a compact phase change heat storage unit (PCHSU). Dynamic simulations show that the PCHSU lowers peak temperatures of the motor, pump, and oil tank by 7.7%, 13.6%, and 2.9%, respectively. It also reduces thermal swing by 30% and entropy generation by 4.1%, leading to a 3.2% drop in electrical energy consumption for the same hydraulic output. Experiments confirm that, under extreme thermal conditions, the motor temperature with and without the PCHSU can differ by up to 20 degrees C. The PCHSU also delays the temperature peak by 600 s and maintains a stable plateau for 200 s. The optimized design method offers a lightweight, theory-driven route to enhance thermal reliability and energy efficiency of electro-hydraulic power systems, directly supporting the transition toward low-carbon, high-performance aircraft. Electro-hydraulic power systems face rapid temperature rises under transient flight loads, which can accelerate oil degradation and insulation aging. This work builds a coupled dynamic thermal model for the motor-pump-tank assembly and identifies how pressure, speed, and ambient conditions drive thermal peaks. A compact fin-coupled phase-change heat storage unit is then integrated to passively buffer heat without additional power. Simulation and bench tests show lower peak temperatures, reduced fluctuations, and delayed peak occurrence, with a short stable plateau under extreme conditions. The proposed model-and-design route improves thermal reliability and energy efficiency for green aviation actuation across the full operating envelope.
Approaches, methods, and evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) are necessary for a fair low-carbon transition. Yet, the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan), a key EU energy research and innovation (R&I) instrument to roll out and scale up low-carbon energy technologies, is intrinsically technocentric. This may be a barrier to SSH researchers engaging with the SET Plan, despite the need for their expertise. We argue that, despite existing challenges, collaboration opportunities exist between SSH and SET Plan communities and will increase in the coming years. After introducing the SET Plan and current SSH contributions to it, we move to a 'guide' format that unpacks how SET Plan processes work and, critically, how SSH researchers could engage with these processes. Throughout, we reflect on the need for frank dialogue between SSH researchers and SET Plan actors, a necessary aspect for achieving real interdisciplinarity within this EU policy framework. This perspective is intended to serve as a guide that unpacks the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan), a policy framework of the European Commission (EC) for research & innovation (R&I), created in 2007. The SET Plan represents a major instrument for energy policy implementation at EU level, supporting low-carbon energy transition and coordination of R&I activities in 15 key energy technologies and systems. The guide targets Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) researchers, and aims at guiding them within the apparently complex processes and policies that regulate the SET Plan functioning. It is argued that SSH researchers can both strengthen the integration of SSH perspectives within the SET Plan and approach the SET Plan as an object of SSH research that offers untapped potential.Core contributions of the paper include highlighting the SET Plan's interest in 'societal needs' and demonstrating the existing scope for action and the potential for stronger SSH involvement from the researchers' point of view. The perspective ends with reflections and invitation to intensifying dialogue and collaboration between SSH and energy research.
This paper discusses how Qatar might revamp its hydrocarbon-era Joint Venture (JV) framework to enable a diverse, sustainability-aligned economy. It claims that successful economic transformation is essentially a legal question. It investigates the structural mismatch between Qatar's traditional JV architecture-designed for capital-intensive petroleum projects-and the operational realities of developing sectors demanding flexibility and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliance. Doctrinal analysis and cross-sectoral case studies covering petrochemicals, logistics, Information and Communication Technology, tourism, and renewables are used in the paper's methodology. It reveals precise legal frictions preventing diversification, separating places where the JV model remains viable from those necessitating alternative frameworks like Public-Private Partnerships or franchising. The essential point is that Qatar's diversification hinges on a legally unique, ESG-integrated governance model. This reform must maintain sovereign interests while achieving the regulatory coherence necessary to support the nation's long-term post-hydrocarbon agenda.
This paper analyses the European energy crisis of 2021-2023 and the European Commission's response to calls for fundamental reform of the internal electricity market (IEM). The crisis triggered political controversy over the marginal pricing mechanism which links gas and electricity prices and resulted in calls for a fundamental redesign of the market. The paper examines the Commission's efforts to resist radical reform and prevent the fragmentation of the IEM into national market silos. While the Commission succeeded in preserving the core architecture of the IEM, electricity policy has increasingly shifted toward the national level, with greater emphasis on energy security and industrial strategy. As a result, although cross-border market integration remains largely intact, the IEM may evolve into a more hybrid configuration, combining market coordination with expanded use of long-term contracts and state-led investment. The paper reflects on the implications of this shift for the Commission's role in electricity market governance during a period of crisis and transition. The end of Europe's reliance on natural gas supplies from Russia in 2022 caused an unprecedented energy price shock across the continent. Because many countries rely on gas-fired generators to balance electricity supply and demand, high gas prices quickly pushed up electricity prices, affecting all European nations through the cross-border IEM. This paper examines the link between gas and electricity prices during the energy crisis period from late 2021 to early 2023. It explores how some European Union (EU) member states called for radical reform of the IEM to break this link, and how the European Commission responded. While the Commission managed to keep the overall EU electricity market intact, national governments are increasingly emphasizing energy security and industrial policy. This realignment between the EU and member states is likely to have long-term implications for electricity market governance and structure.
This study numerically investigates the hydrodynamic characteristics of a series of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) with large length-to-diameter (L/D) ratios of 13, 18, 22 and 28 for seabed energy mineral exploration. Four geometric models were investigated by extending the mid-body cylindrical section of the benchmark SUBOFF AFF-1 model. Simulations were conducted by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the Shear Stress Transport k-omega turbulence model. Key findings reveal that at zero angle of attack (alpha), the frictional drag component constitutes over 80% of the total drag, a proportion that increases with the L/D ratio. Lift, drag, and side force increase approximately linearly with increasing alpha, with the side force being slightly larger than the lift under identical deflection angles. The slope and x-intercept of the line of action of the resultant hydrodynamic force increases with alpha but decreases with the L/D ratio. Furthermore, the streamwise location of vortex structure inception shifts towards the bow with increasing alpha, and vortex structures form at smaller alpha for UUV models with larger L/D ratios.Highlights 1) Frictional drag contributes over 80% of the total drag at zero angle of attack (alpha), establishing it as the dominant factor for large length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).2) Quantitatively elucidates the coupled effect of alpha and L/D ratio on the slope and intercept of the line of action of the resultant hydrodynamic force.3) Reveals the unique characteristics that vortex structure inception shifts upstream with increasing alpha, a phenomenon pronounced in large L/D ratio configurations.4) Proposes a novel zonal lift model (bow-generation, mid-body-dominance, stern-loss) for slender body hydrodynamics.5) Provides direct guidance for the hull design and drag-reduction optimization of large L/D ratio UUVs. The exploration of seabed energy minerals demands unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) with long endurance. Such UUVs often feature slender hulls (large length-to-diameter ratios) to reduce drag. This study uses numerical simulations to analyse the hydrodynamics of four UUV models with different large length-to-diameter (L/D) ratios. A key finding is that skin friction contributes to over 80% of the total drag from UUVs at zero angle of attack (alpha), dominating over the drag caused by the UUV's shape. The study also clarifies how UUV's alpha and L/D ratio affect its lift, drag, side force, and vortex structures. These results provide crucial data for designing more energy-efficient and stable UUV for seabed energy mineral exploration.
The emergence of consumer-owned wind and solar power generation has the potential to transform incumbent utilities' business. It could become a 'black swan', an unprecedented and high-risk event. Incumbent firms seldom survive black swans, but incumbent utilities appear to have done so. This paper investigates how incumbent firms overcome black swans. To include unexpectedness and unpredictability in the study, the theoretical framework combines the black swan approach with the unowned process approach. A typology of firms' perceptions on changes is presented. Case studies from four EU countries, and three incumbent utilities from each country are presented. Changes are analysed at macro level. Consumer-ownership created a black swan event in two of the countries studied. However, they came about at different times, and through different processes and actors. Moreover, all the impacted incumbents overcome them. Industry specific factors, coincident and unexpected outcomes of multiple interlinked change processes contributed to that. [GRAPHICS]
The development and deployment of sustainable energy solutions are central to the energy transition and climate change mitigation. However, it is equally important to address environmental, economic, and societal implications to ensure responsible and sustainable progress. Increasing the use of clean energy is a prerequisite to achieving climate goals, but scaling up poses new challenges, often of a societal, social, and political nature. However, such new challenges can spur new innovations to find better solutions and should be perceived not only as limitations but also as future opportunities. To best navigate the energy transition, Oxford Open Energy emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches.
Geopolitics and global security increasingly shape the conditions for energy innovation and innovation-industrial policies and, hence, also transformative innovation policy (TIP) that aims for systemic innovation generating environmentally and societally beneficial systemic change. Connections between TIP and security/geopolitics have been less explicit previously but have heightened after the global geopolitical context has become more turbulent, with many countries increasingly oriented to protectionism and narrow conception of security. This paper contributes to an emerging debate on TIP, security, and geopolitics, drawing examples from the energy and digital sectors. It centres on the core principle of TIP—directionality—to explore potential interconnections with geopolitics and security. It also provides an overview of the interconnections between transformative innovation and geopolitics/security in three continental contexts: energy transition in Europe and Asia, and digitalization in Africa. Via exploring the phenomenon in the three contexts, we find that, although increasing attention is given to directionalities towards environmental and social sustainability, the prioritization of economic growth and traditional security appear to undermine them. Directionality is essential for realizing sustainability in a world undergoing energy transitions and rapid digitalization. Yet, recent global security and geopolitics developments may mostly hinder TIP-based directionalities in practice, unless specific policy focus and experimentation is placed at finding and employing synergies.
Amid accelerating climate change, persistent global energy security concerns, and the imperative to provide sustainable and affordable energy for all, the expansion of renewable energy has become a universal priority. Yet the widespread adoption of renewables demands substantial financial and technological investment—resources that many states, particularly in the developing world, cannot mobilise independently. This reality underscores the critical importance of promoting foreign investment in the renewable energy sector, especially in light of the limited success of international initiatives to date. Amongst a handful of states that have assumed leadership in the global energy transition, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as a frontrunner—not only within the Gulf Cooperation Council but across the broader developing world. Since the early 2000s, the UAE has pursued ambitious policies aimed at deploying renewable energy technologies both domestically and internationally. This article seeks to address a central question: what factors have enabled the UAE to emerge as a regional pioneer in renewable energy development, and in what ways is it contributing to the global energy transition? Employing a qualitative methodology, the study explores the UAE’s renewable energy development trajectory. The findings reveal that the State’s institutional architecture, its regulatory and investment frameworks—both national and foreign—and its commitment to fostering international partnerships constitute the core pillars of its energy transition strategy. The article concludes by identifying key practices with broader relevance for policymakers, international negotiators, and academics engaged in the global energy and climate governance discourse.
Nigeria’s urban areas continue to face unreliable electricity supply, rising demand, and dependence on costly, polluting petrol and diesel generators. Hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) — integrating solar, wind, and battery technologies — offer a viable pathway to provide clean, decentralized, and resilient power. This review critically examines the policy, institutional, and governance factors shaping HRES deployment in urban Nigeria, identifying the key barriers and reforms required to scale adoption. Findings reveal that expansion is constrained by fragmented regulation, weak institutional coordination, limited access to affordable finance, and fossil-fuel subsidies that distort energy prices and discourage renewable investment. Institutional overlap among the relevant agencies further constrains implementation. Technical barriers, such as limited local expertise, high component import costs, and poor grid integration, further elevate project risks and reduce system reliability. The study recommends regulatory harmonization under the new Electricity Act (2023), implementation of performance-based fiscal incentives, and expansion of green financing mechanisms to lower investment risk. Strengthening local manufacturing, research and development, and workforce capacity will be essential to reduce dependence on imports and sustain long-term growth. Finally, promoting gender equity, community participation, and inclusive business models can enhance social acceptance and promote fair distribution of the benefits associated with HRES across all urban populations. Collectively, these measures can accelerate Nigeria’s transition toward a cleaner, more reliable, and climate-resilient urban energy future.
The process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from one or more industrial or energy sources, then transporting the CO2 via pipelines, and storing it permanently in underground formations or delivering it for different uses involves interconnected aspects and sectors. Thus, a typical carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS) project requires committed engagement from operators in various industries, public and private financiers and stakeholders. The projects are developed around contractual arrangements, such as offtake agreements, in the backdrop of complexities and risks arising from the segmented nature of the value chain. These agreements are designed to consolidate the various aspects, secure firm commitments and the necessary upfront capital investment. Some of the potential risks that could impact the development of viable projects include the pricing or value of captured CO2, loss of revenue stream due to shutdown of emission sources or carbon leakage and recapture, law and policy changes relating to fiscal incentives, ownership, and transfer of environmental attributes and long-term liability for stored CO2, managing cost and project milestones, etc. This article identifies and reviews the broad categories of contractual and regulatory measures for mitigating CCUS project risks from a transactional law perspective. It discusses the context for viable carbon capture offtake and transportation arrangements vis-& agrave;-vis the measures being developed to mitigate risks and common issues encountered from early planning to operational stages, especially in the USA and Europe. It is noted that offtake and transportation arrangements play a key role in ensuring bankable CCUS projects and define the terms and conditions upon which parties engage in the interdependent aspects of capturing, delivering, or sequestering CO2 permanently.
This study investigates the extent of community participation in the implementation of the Upper Blinkwater hybrid mini-grid project in rural South Africa and examines how this participation contributed to the project's successful implementation and long-term viability. As decentralized renewable energy systems gain prominence in addressing rural energy poverty, evidence shows that their success is closely tied to the quality of local engagement. Using a qualitative case study approach, data from 44 stakeholder interviews were analyzed across four domains of participation: governance, technical engagement, economic inclusion, and social inclusion. The findings revealed varying levels of participation, high in technical and social domains, and moderate in governance and economic inclusion. Community members played active roles in system maintenance, behavioral adaptation, and voluntary infrastructure protection, reinforcing trust and system resilience. However, decision-making influence and formal economic opportunities, particularly for women, remained limited. The study concludes that meaningful participation across multiple domains not only enhances procedural legitimacy but also strengthens local ownership, system functionality, social acceptance, and long-term viability. The findings provide practical guide for policymakers and practitioners on how to design inclusive, and socially grounded rural energy solutions that support both energy access and long-term sustainability. This study explores how a rural South African community participated in the planning and implementation of a hybrid mini-grid project. It shows that when communities are meaningfully involved from early consultations to technical training the energy system is more likely to succeed and be sustained over time. Community's involvement helped maintain the system, adjusted their energy use, and protected the infrastructure. The study highlights the importance of community trust, participation, and empowerment in making rural energy solutions work long after installation.
This paper assesses the effect of regulatory authority independence on access to electricity in 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2021. We use an index of regulatory independence for the assessments based on three attributes: regulatory and organizational independence and financial autonomy of the regulatory authority. We estimated the effect of the independence index on the coverage rate of 40 sub-Saharan African countries and the network access time of 8606 companies, respectively, using a Tobit regression model and quantile regression. The result shows that the independence of the regulatory authority has a positive and significant influence on the rate of access and the time of third-party access to electricity networks. The robustness of these results shows us that the third-party network access time depends significantly on organizational autonomy and that the influence of the lack of independence on the electricity coverage rate differs according to the regional sub-blocs depending on the institutional quality and the responsibility of the regulator. We recommend strengthening the capacity of regulators by limiting the level of state interference in regulatory processes in terms of intervention in decision-making, organization, administration, and financing. This article assesses the effect of regulatory authority independence and his features on access to electricity in 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A Tobit regression model and a quantile regression were used to analyze the effect on the electricity access of the population and the network access time of firms. The average incidence of regulatory authority independence was estimated at 8.1% on the rate of access to electricity and 9 days less on the time taken by companies to connect to the network. The results indicate statistically significant effects of regulatory authority independence in sub-blocs and firm localization.
