ABSTRACT
Renewable electrification is advancing at unprecedented rates across the developing world. The key purpose of this chapter is to define a conceptual framework for understanding and analysing how the up-take of renewable energy, i.e., the pathways and processes of electrification based on renewables, may support sustainable industrialisation. Our theoretical point of departure includes a combination of different types of innovation system theory, global value chain thinking, and project-based approaches with clear links to the literature about technology transfer understood as an interactive rather than a linear process. We suggest that renewable energy projects can be seen as embedded in different levels of innovation systems and global value chains combining what we refer to as ‘the nested view'. Our conceptual framework furthermore suggests that intra- and inter-active learning processes related to renewable technologies may lead to accumulation of key capabilities that are in turn essential for the creation of new jobs and business opportunities (outcomes) and which may be useful for further sustainable industrialisation processes and development (long-term impact). The framework has been developed in connection with research on solar and wind energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa and how processes of electrification can be shaped to maximise co-benefits in terms of industrialisation that is green, inclusive, and durable. We argue that increased awareness about the implications of different pathways and the need for an engaged, deliberate learning approach taking into account the consequences of different choices for development of (innovative) capabilities is central for making use of the window of opportunity that the current increase in investments in renewable energy constitutes.20
