TOOLS
Models, not demos
A tool that tells you not to build something is worth more than one that always says yes. These are working models built along the way. We use them on our own projects and publish them so you can stress-test them too, not as polished pitch decks.
Nanogrid Market Lab
An interactive market-clearing and tariff simulator for interconnected solar nanogrids, grounded in peer-reviewed research.
E-Tuktuk Profitability Model
The Gambia fleet-operator business case, stress-tested against real driver economics.
Off-Grid System Sizer
Drag Location, Load, Solar, Wind, Battery and Generator blocks onto a canvas, wire them together, and get a full 8760-hour simulation of the system’s performance.
Africa Electrification Ecosystem
Who funds, coordinates, measures and builds electrification across Africa, and how the main organisations connect. Pick a name to see its links.
What's next
Still searching. The next tool slots in here.
Third-party
Other people's tools worth bookmarking
Good tools already exist, most of them free. These are the ones we point people to. One runs inside our site, the others open on their own.
Africa Electricity Grids Explorer
Existing and planned power lines across Africa, from high-voltage backbone to the local network.
Global Electrification Platform Explorer
Least-cost electrification per country: where grid, mini-grid or standalone solar wins, area by area.
Global Solar Atlas
Solar resource and estimated PV output for any location on earth. A first stop before sizing anything.
ENERGYDATA.INFO
Open energy datasets, including the grid data behind the explorer above. Handy when you want the raw files.
Tools · Library
The reports behind our thinking
Most of what shapes energy access in Africa is written down somewhere in a long PDF. We keep the ones we lean on here, with the original one click away and a short plain-language gist next to it.
Get the gist. Each big report gets a short summary: what it says, the numbers that matter, and what we would question. The gists appear in Field Notes as they are written. The first ones are on their way.
Sources
Mini Grids for Half a Billion People: Market Outlook and Handbook for Decision Makers
The World Bank's handbook on scaling up mini grids, organised around ten building blocks. Written for people who decide at project, portfolio and national level, with the aim of reaching roughly half a billion people by 2030.
Good for: Anyone designing, financing or regulating a mini grid.
Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2024
The seventh edition of the off-grid solar market check-up. Its headline: investment needs to grow about six-fold, roughly $21 billion, to reach universal access by 2030. Without that, around 660 million people stay without electricity.
Good for: Understanding the standalone solar market and where the money has to come from.
Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2026
The yearly scorecard on Sustainable Development Goal 7 (affordable, reliable, clean energy for all). The 2026 edition counts 655 million people still without electricity.
Good for: The big picture and country-level numbers to anchor any argument.
Mission 300
A programme to bring electricity to at least 300 million Africans by 2030, launched by the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank in April 2024. ESMAP supplied the electrification strategies and least-cost plans behind the national energy compacts.
Good for: Reading what governments have committed to, country by country.
Benchmarking Africa's Minigrids Report 2024
The third edition of the African Minigrid Developers Association benchmark of how mini-grid companies are actually doing, seen from the developers' side of the table.
Good for: Comparing the plans in the handbooks with what developers report.
Latest gists
Know a report we should read?
Tell us which one and why. If it changes how you think about energy access, it belongs here. Send it our way →