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METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20241101T145005Z
DTSTART:20241113T150000Z
SUMMARY:Geography Department Research Seminar\, Dr Lucy Baker (Open Unive
 rsity)
UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}o140-m2yupj
 n5-qi2wmm
DESCRIPTION:'Energy access as a new frontier of electricity capital\n\nAb
 stract:\nWhile recent years have seen the rapid growth of off-grid solar
  power\, ten per cent of the world’s population\, the majority in sub-Sa
 haran Africa\, still lack access to electricity. Meanwhile\, off grid so
 lar home systems using pay as you go (PAYGO) mobile money have been prop
 osed as a key solution to meeting the target of universal access to ener
 gy under Sustainable Development Goal 7. These systems are being deploye
 d in various regions of the global South\, including East Africa and to 
 a lesser extent West Africa. \nIn this presentation I will explore how t
 hrough PAYGO\, off-grid solar electricity in sub-Saharan Africa is being
  transformed into a cash flow\, a financial asset and a conduit for cons
 umer debt. In so doing I will analyse evolving relationships between som
 e of the key actors and institutions involved in this process\, includin
 g mobile banking platforms such as M-Pesa\, ‘next generation utilities’ 
 such as M-KOPA and BBOXX\, and powerful mobile network operators such as
  Safaricom and MTN. \nTheoretically I conceptualise energy access as a n
 ew frontier of ‘electricity capital’\, a developing field from political
  economy and energy geography\, which is concerned with the way in which
  technological developments in the electricity sector are reconfiguring 
 relationships between different institutions of the state\, industry\, f
 inance\, and users.
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:G.32\, Humanities Bridgeford Street\, Manchester
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