Analysis of the gap in enterprise access to renewable energy between rural and urban areas in Cameroon

  • Received February 27, 2021;
    Accepted April 20, 2021;
    Published April 27, 2021
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ee.12(1).2021.04
  • Article Info
    Volume 12 2021, Issue #1, pp. 39-52
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Permanent access to energy is an essential pillar of economic development. However, there is a growing evidence that contemporary energy systems are not able to provide energy to the entire population on a sustainable basis and at affordable prices. In the face of these challenges, renewable energy can play an important role, especially in rural areas where access to centralized electricity grids is difficult. This paper aims to examine the access gaps of enterprises to renewable energy between rural and urban areas in Cameroon. The analysis is based on a sample of 209,482 enterprises, taken from the Second General Census of Enterprises in Cameroon (RGE-2) carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). The econometric estimations, obtained using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, reveal that access rate to renewable energy for firms in rural areas is lower than that of firms located in urban areas. An increase in the level of education of the promoter of an enterprise, obtaining credit from banks, microfinance and savings, and the formalization of enterprises in rural areas can also contribute to reducing the gap in rural areas in terms of accessing to renewable energy. The discrimination suffered by rural enterprises related to the gender of entrepreneurs, the sector of activity, the business environment and professional experience tend to increase this gap. To reduce this gap, there is a need to promote access to finance for rural enterprises and their migration from the informal to the formal sector.

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    • Table 1. Elements of descriptive statistics
    • Table 2. Tests for comparison of means
    • Table 3. Estimates of simple logit of the determinants of access to renewable energies
    • Table 4. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition results
    • Conceptualization
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo
    • Data curation
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Fanny Kabwe Omoyi epse Essomme
    • Formal Analysis
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Guy Christol Ekane Ekome
    • Investigation
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Guy Christol Ekane Ekome
    • Methodology
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo
    • Project administration
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo
    • Software
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Guy Christol Ekane Ekome, Fanny Kabwe Omoyi epse Essomme
    • Supervision
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo
    • Validation
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Guy Christol Ekane Ekome
    • Visualization
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo
    • Writing – original draft
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Guy Christol Ekane Ekome
    • Writing – review & editing
      Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Guy Christol Ekane Ekome, Fanny Kabwe Omoyi epse Essomme
    • Resources
      Fanny Kabwe Omoyi epse Essomme