ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the research results on how national- and international-level factors affect opportunities for private-sector-led mini-grids in Senegal. It offers an informative description of Senegal’s energy sector and its main policies and regulations, contextualizing the emerging mini-grid model within the sector. The analysis presents the perspectives of donors, the government, and the private sector and explains the vast differences in their views. Influenced by the World Bank, the government of Senegal started early to invite private sector involvement in rural electrification policies in Senegal, both for small and large concessions. For Inensus and their Enersa, the policy framework looked good in the beginning. However, they later realized that in practice, the framework became a major stumbling block to their mini-grid initiative and to further private-sector-led initiatives in Senegal.
