Determining the most important factors for sustainable energy technology selection in Africa: Application of the focus group technique

The supply of sustainable energy is a crucial factor for development in Africa. This is important both for business development and for the supply of energy to households in order to save time and thus enable members of households to be economically active. Without sustainable energy, poverty reduction and economic development in Africa are not achievable. Africa has limited skilled human resources and thus the selection of successful, integrated technological systems is imperative. This study focuses on the identification of factors to be taken into account when identifying the most sustainable technological systems for Africa. Focus groups, using the nominal group technique, can be used successfully in problem definition and first order identification. The purpose of this focus group was to identify the first order factors for the study, which were then used to inform the Delphi study that followed. A pre-existing group of specialists in the energy field was used. During this process, thirty eight factors deemed to be important were identified. The factors were categorized into six clusters, namely: technology factors, social factors, institutional or regulatory factors, site selection factors, economical or financial factors, and achievability by the specific organisation.