Volume 20: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part III

Understanding the Multidimensionality of Energy Access in Remote Areas of Developing Countries Using a Multivariable Statistics Approach Alonso Alegre-Bravo, Lindsay Anderson

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected people living in vulnerable conditions around the world—especially rural communities with lack of access to basic services. Rural electrification can play a fundamental role in pandemic recovery by facilitating the provision of basic services and improving quality of life for poor rural communities. This study aims analyze this potential through understanding the correlation of multidimensional variables with electricity consumption. The dominant approach to rural electrification has been a for-profit model, which has hindered electricity access for the most vulnerable populations of the global South. Using multiple linear regression tools, this study confirms that a renewable energy generation model that considers social, economic and environmental factors, in addition to technical factors, is pivotal to increasing electricity consumption, and consequently facilitate greater energy access in developing countries.

Keywords energy access, electricity consumption growth, global south, renewable energy, multivariable analysis, multiple linear regression