Assessment of Alternative Rural Energy Sources and Technologies in South-Eastern Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Majority of world population (80% of total world) is living in rural area but consumes only about 30% of global commercial energy. In rural developing nations the energy sources for cooking and lighting are traditional sources with more prevalence in rural areas. Specially in Ethiopia, literatures indicated that more than 94% of the energy sources are from traditional sources. Poverty, lack of availability of modern energy and lack of education are the main causes of this phenomenon. Abundance use of biomass fuel with inefficient stoves caused scarcity of biomass resources in Ethiopia. However, in the study areas, namely Arsi and west Arsi, biomass energy sources and other energy sources and technologies under utilization were not characterized for research and development intervention. Therefore, this research proposal was initiated with objectives of characterizing energy resources and technologies under utilization and related constraints in the study areas. Four districts from Arsi and three districts from w/Arsi zones were selected and data was collected through FGD, KII and household level survey. The result revealed that majority of rural households are using biomass fuel (wood, animal dung and crop residues) specially for cooking purposes and there is expansion of solar cells for lighting purposes. The biogas plant use was under demonstration stages and it was also constrained with high capital investment and its accessory technology (injera stove).development of energy plants like jathropha is also underway in lowlands of Arsi zone.

Keywords: “rural energy, biomass fuel, pure energy, improved cook stoves, Arsi zone”

DOI: 10.7176/JETP/9-2-01