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countries use of special e-cooking tariffs also helps the up- take of electric cooking by keeping the cost competitive with other fuels. The major barrier to scaling up e-cooking, however, remains the slow pace of electrification in many developing coun- tries together with the high cost and poor reliability of elec- tricity supplies. In sub-Saharan Africa, 43 percent of house- holds continue to lack electricity, with wide urban-rural gaps in electricity access. 71 Globally, the number of people relying on traditional cooking fuels (around 2.3 billion) far exceeds those without electricity access (around 733 million). 72 This suggests that a high proportion of the target population for clean cooking already has some access to electricity, but is not currently using it for cooking. This also indicates that it may be easier to “close the gap” with the 2.3 billion who have electricity access but use traditional cooking, rather than fo- cus clean cooking efforts on the 733 million with no access. “The hot areas in the sector are for e-cooking, and specifically institutional e-cooking. Institutional cooking is a controlled environment. People tend to eat the same things at the same time of day and in the required volume, so you can predict peak times for grid usage. This includes prisons, schools, hospitals and the military – any institution. This is an area for many funders to tick boxes, especially in places like hospitals, where they want to ensure reliable nutrition without the carbon
Unreliable electricity supply is a major reason for this. In Cam- eroon, a MECS-funded research survey found that of over 1,500 households that were connected to the electricity grid but were not cooking with electricity, 58 percent indicated that the power supply was too irregular for everyday cooking. 73 This is a barrier to the uptake of clean cooking and encourag- es the practice of fuel stacking. Literature also suggests other barriers, including a lack of understanding of the benefits, high cost and unreliability of e-cooking appliances, perceptions that e-cooking is prohib- itively expensive and cultural preferences for cooking with biomass cookstoves. 74 One important frontier for e-cooking are institutional set- tings such as schools, hospitals, prisons and military facili- ties, which typically have a more reliable connection to the grid. Having predictable daily energy needs makes it possible to optimize energy generation, transmission and distribution, especially during peak times, to improve grid predictability.
output from providing it.” – Modern Energy Cooking Services
71 International Energy Agency (2023) A Vision for Clean Cooking Access for All, World Energy Outlook Special Report, https://www.iea.org/reports/a-vision-for- clean-cooking-access-for-all 72 International Energy Agency (2023) A Vision for Clean Cooking Access for All, World Energy Outlook Special Report, https://www.iea.org/reports/a-vision-for- clean-cooking-access-for-all 73 Rubinstein, Fernando, et al. (2022) ‘Adoption of electricity for clean cooking in Cameroon: A mixed-methods field evaluation of current cooking practices and scale-up potential’, Energy for Sustainable Development 71: 118-131, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0973082622001624
74 Leary, J., Meynen, B., Chapungu, V., and Troncoso, K. (2021). “eCooking: Challenges and opportunities from a consumer behaviour perspective”. Energies, 14(14), 4345, https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/14/4345
AN OPEC FUND KNOWLEDGE SERIES REPORT 2024
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