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Ethiopia‫׳‬s emerging domestic biogas sector: Current status, bottlenecks and

drivers
Article in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · July 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.01.068
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 60 (2016) 475–488
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser
Ethiopia's emerging domestic biogas sector: Current status,

bottlenecks and drivers
Linda Manon Kamp a,n, Esteban Bermúdez Forn b
a
Delft University of Technology, Faculty Technology, Policy and Management, The Netherlands
b
University of Costa Rica, Department of Industrial Engineering, Costa Rica
art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Ethiopia experiences an energy and environmental crisis due to the sustained reliance on woody biomass
Received 17 June 2015 to satisfy its energy needs. This situation could be improved by using biogas. This paper analyses the
Received in revised form current status of the domestic biogas sector in Ethiopia and identifies barriers and drivers that influence
16 November 2015
its development and further growth. The analytical framework used for the analysis combines the Multi-
Accepted 13 January 2016
Level Perspective (MLP) and Strategic Niche Management (SNM). The information sources are: desk
Available online 6 February 2016
study through literature and internet research, online interviews and questionnaires with Ethiopian
Keywords: stakeholders, and an extensive field study including a large number of interviews with stakeholders
Domestic biogas inside and outside Ethiopia. The biogas sector in Ethiopia started with the launch of the National
Ethiopia
Domestic Biogas (NBPE) programme in 2008, which has led to the dissemination of over 8000 biodi-
Strategic Niche Management
gesters so far, about 60% of what was initially intended. The use of domestic biogas has been triggered by
Multilevel Perspective
the energy crisis in Ethiopia and the suitability of the technology with the physical geography. However,
the dissemination has been affected by factors such as economic instability, poverty and illiteracy. Also,
many Ethiopian farmers are trapped in a lock-in, where due to their limited purchasing power they
cannot afford the niche technology; at least in the way it is being disseminated. Within the emerging
biogas sector, the NBPE designated a diverse set of actors to contribute to the implementation of the
niche technology. However, their alignment is poor and the private sector is not involved. Expectations
have had to be lowered because targets were not met. Also, learning processes are not optimal. The paper
is innovative because it provides an up-to-date review of status of and bottlenecks and drivers in the
biogas sector in Ethiopia and it provides more insight in the applicability of the SNM and MLP frame-
works to a sustainable innovation in a developing country.
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
2. Technical background – domestic biodigesters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
3. Analytical framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
3.1. Strategic Niche Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
3.1.1. Dynamics of expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.1.2. Network formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.1.3. Learning processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.1.4. Summary of niche indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.2. Multi-Level Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.2.1. Landscape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.2.2. Regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.2.3. Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
3.2.4. Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L.M. Kamp), [email protected] (E. Bermúdez Forn).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.01.068
1364-0321/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
476 L.M. Kamp, E. Bermúdez Forn / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 60 (2016) 475–488
3.2.5. Summary of MLP indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

3.3. Using the MLP framework for the analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
4. Historical development of domestic biogas in Ethiopia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
4.1. Introduction and early development of domestic biogas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
4.2. Deployment of the NBPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
4.3. Present and future of the NBPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
5. Analysis of the socio-technical niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
5.1. Network formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
5.1.1. National and international level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
5.1.2. Regional level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
5.1.3. Local level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
5.1.4. Barriers and drivers at the niche level – network formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
5.2. Dynamics of expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
5.2.1. Development of expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
5.2.2. Barriers and drivers at the niche level – dynamics of expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
5.3. Learning processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
5.3.1. Technical development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
5.3.2. Development of user context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
5.3.3. Government context and regulatory framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
5.3.4. Barriers and drivers at the niche level – learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
6. Analysis of the socio-technical landscape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
7. Analysis of the relevant regimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
7.1. Energy regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
7.2. Agriculture regime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
7.2.1. Agricultural crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
7.2.2. Animal husbandry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
7.3. Barriers and drivers at the regime level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
8. Conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
1. Introduction which will be further described in Section 2, combines the Multi-

Level Perspective (MLP) and Strategic Niche Management (SNM).
The largest segment of the population in Ethiopia is located in The case study material presented in this paper was collected
rural areas and their main source of income comes from agri- using three research methods: (1) desk study through literature
culture [1]. This same segment of the population represents the and Internet research; (2) online interviews and questionnaires
main energy consumer in Ethiopia and satisfies most of their with relevant stakeholders; (3) an extensive field study including
energy needs with woody biomass [2,3]. The extensive demand for an extensive number of interviews with stakeholders inside and
firewood has caused an energetic and environmental crisis since outside Ethiopia by the second author of this paper in the spring of
most of the forest coverage has been depleted over the last 35 2014. Literature and Internet sources were used to collect quali-
years. This undermines firewood availability, soil fertility and the tative information to analyse the relevant developments internal
preservation of aquifers. Ultimately, Ethiopian farmers have to and external to the niche. The field study primarily consisted of
spend more resources (e.g. time or money) to have access to fuel open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 17 key informants:
wood. Meanwhile, their agricultural yield is reduced due to the actors, experts and decision makers. The interviews focused on
lack of nutrients in the soil and the shortage of water [4]. Sundried analysing the current stakeholder configuration within the sector,
and combusted livestock manure is sometimes used as an alter- the status of the sector and the dynamics within it. Based on
native energy source to fuel wood. However, this is not an observations and a questionnaire, additional cultural and social
improvement since the resulting ‘dung cakes’ have a low conver- factors that influence the sector were found.
sion efficiency to heat ( r 8%) [5] and inhibit the soil fertilisation This paper is innovative in three respects. Firstly, it is the first
that would have occurred if livestock manure would not have been paper that provides an up-to-date review of the case of the biogas
combusted [6]. Domestic biogas, in contrast, also utilises organic sector in Ethiopia based upon primary data sources, mainly
waste such as livestock manure, but it can achieve a conversion interviews. Although two recent publications, [8,9] do describe the
efficiency to heat up to 55% and provides an enriched fertiliser status of the biogas sector in Ethiopia and Sub-Saharan Africa
called bio-slurry [5,7]. In 2008, the Ethiopian Government with respectively, they base their findings on written data from 2011
the help of the SNV Development Organisation from The Nether- and older, whereas the findings in the present paper are for the
lands launched the National Biogas Programme (NBPE) with the most part based on interviews from 2014. Also, these papers do
aim to up-scale the use of domestic biogas technology in the not go into the drivers and barriers in the biogas sector in Ethiopia.
country. The NBPE started with a first implementation phase that In fact, one of the main recommendations for further research of
concluded by the end of the year 2013 [4]. [8] is to investigate empirically the factors that make the uptake of
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the current biogas technology in Ethiopia slow. Precisely that is what is aimed
status of domestic biogas (biogas used in households) in Ethiopia for in the present paper. Secondly, it is one of the first papers that
and to identify barriers and drivers that influence its development apply a combination of the Strategic Niche Management approach
and further growth. The analytical framework applied in the paper, and the Multi-Level Perspective to a case study in a developing
L.M. Kamp, E. Bermúdez Forn / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 60 (2016) 475–488 477
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of a fixed-dome biogas plant [5,13].
country. And thirdly, it is the first paper that includes two inter- kilograms of firewood, 1.5 kg of charcoal or 0.6 l of kerosene per
acting regimes in the MLP analysis. day [4,6]. The biogas that is produced is mainly used for cooking.
The paper is practically relevant for two reasons. Firstly, However, it can also be used in biogas lamps. Biogas can also be
although prior to the launch of the NBPE comprehensive sources used to power internal combustion engines, refrigerators or radi-
of information were developed [4,10], and, as also mentioned ant heaters; yet their application is even less widespread as
above, recently two papers [8,9] described the status of biogas in lighting or cooking [12]. Domestic biodigesters can raise the use of
Ethiopia and Sub-Saharan Africa respectively, based on findings on cleaner energy sources in Ethiopia and in parallel offer valuable
written data from 2011 and older, currently no up-to-date infor- co-benefits to their users such as increased agricultural pro-
mation or official statements have been published regarding the ductivity from the use of bio-slurry as fertilizer, avoided defor-
current status of development of domestic biogas or the drivers estation, climate change mitigation, reduced workload and time
and barriers related to deploying it. Secondly, as similar biogas savings through the avoidance of firewood collection and reduced
programmes have been promoted by SNV Development Organi- indoor air pollution.
sation in Asia, Africa and recently in Latin America [11], insights in
current status and barriers and drivers in other countries may
yield useful insights for these new programmes. 3. Analytical framework
The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 provides some tech-
nical background about the domestic biodigester. In Section 3, we The analytical framework used in this paper is based on two
discuss the key notions of the analytical framework applied. Section 3 socio-technical approaches: Strategic Niche Management (SNM)
presents methodology. Section 4 describes the development and cur- and the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP). With the term socio-
rent status of the Ethiopian biogas niche. Subsequently, the important technical we mean that the topic under study contains both
factors and dynamics within the niche are investigated in more depth technical and social elements, which are interlinked. SNM is a
in Section 5 by using Strategic Niche Management. In Sections 6 and 7 theoretical framework that can be used to study the socio-
we investigate the important factors and dynamics from outside the technical dynamics and factors within a niche around a new
niche in more depth by using the Multi-Level Perspective. Section 8 innovation [14,15] – in this case domestic biodigesters in Ethiopia.
presents our conclusions, theoretical findings and recommendations The MLP adds to the SNM framework by giving insight into the
for actors involved. external environment in which the new innovation is developing –
in this case the energy sector and the agriculture sector in Ethiopia
and the Ethiopian society as a whole. The MLP approach studies
2. Technical background – domestic biodigesters how innovation is influenced by factors at three levels: the exo-
genous ‘landscape’; the dominant way of providing a societal
Domestic biogas can be produced in domestic biogas plants, also function or the ‘regime’; and the ‘niche’, the level where the
known as domestic biodigesters. Domestic biodigesters consist of innovation emerges and develops [16]. This framework provides
small-scale microbe-controlled semi-batch reactors that process the more insight into which factors are relevant, and how they
organic compounds that are fed thereby producing a mix of 50–70% interact.
methane (CH4) and 30–40% carbon dioxide (CO2), among other gases
[7]. Domestic biodigesters vary in size and shape but the principles 3.1. Strategic Niche Management
behind their operation are similar. In the inlet, a one to one mix of
manure and water is fed on a daily basis. The digester consists of a Strategic Niche Management (SNM) was developed as an ana-
sealed structure that hosts the microbial activity and yields the biogas. lytical approach that can be used to review and analyse the
The resulting bio-slurry leaves the biodigester through an outlet and development of innovative technologies in niches, which can be
can be stored in a pit, installed next to the biodigester. The most seen as incubation rooms or protective systems surrounding the
developed domestic biodigester technology in Africa and Asia to date new technology [17–19].
is the fixed-dome digester [4]. The fixed-dome digester consists of a In the niche, the innovation can grow and develop to become
stationary underground structure made out of cement, bricks or viable through gradual experimentation and learning by networks
stones, sand and aggregates. The biogas piping system can be con- of actors. During this period, the emerging technology has to
structed with PVC pipes, flexible hosepipes or metal pipes. Fig. 1 compete with the existing technologies which are technologically
depicts an example of a fixed-dome biogas digester. and economically superior to it [16]. These established technolo-
Based on a daily manure production from four cattle heads1, gies are part of large social networks, the regimes, which have
domestic biogas can replace the equivalent consumption of five certain rules such as price/performance ratio, engineering prac-
tices, user preferences and regulatory requirements.
1
This calculation is based on four cattle heads stabled over night, which would In the initial stages, a niche technology finds itself within a
be equivalent to two zero-grazing cattle heads. technological niche, which is a space protected from the rules of
Table 1 learning about the underlying norms and values related to the
The three niche processes and their indicators. new technology. This type of learning enables changes in
assumptions, approaches and cognitive frames, and has a larger
Socio-technical Niche process Indicators
level contribution to niche development than first order learning [18].
Furthermore, Hoogma et al. (2002) distinguishes learning with
Niche Network formation Completeness of network of regard to the following five aspects: technical development and
actors infrastructure, industrial development, social and environmental
Alignment of network of actors
Learning processes Presence of first order learning
impact, development of the user context and government policy
Presence of second order learning and regulatory framework.
Dynamics of Match between expectations and
expectations actual development 3.1.4. Summary of niche indicators
Summarizing, we analyse the three niche processes by evalu-
ating the indicators shown in Table 1.
the regime, e.g. by subsidies or regulatory exemptions. A techno-
logical niche can evolve into a market niche, a space where users
3.2. Multi-Level Perspective
start to recognise the values of the innovation and where it is able
to compete over the established technologies. Market niches can
The upscaling of an innovation is not solely the result of the
eventually lead to the development of a new regime or become
above described internal niche dynamics, the external environ-
part of it [14,17].
ment also exerts influence. The Multi-Level Perspective adds to
To analyse the development of a niche, researchers have pro-
Strategic Niche Management to analyse the major external
posed three niche processes which are dynamically interrelated:
developments that affect niche upscaling. It divides the socio-
the voicing and shaping of expectations, network formation and
technical system into three different levels: the socio-technical
learning processes [14]. We discuss them subsequently.
landscape (macro-level), the socio-technical regime (meso-level)
and the niche (micro-level) [25,26].
3.1.1. Dynamics of expectations
Expectations give direction to the technology development,
3.2.1. Landscape
influence design choices, and attract resources as well as new
The landscape consists of the deep structural trends and factors
actors. According to [20], expectations contribute to successful
that are not part of the regime and niche, but influence them. A
niche development if they become more robust (shared by more
broad range of factors and processes can be taken into account at
actors), more specific (give guidance) and have a higher quality
this level, amongst others macro-economic factors (e.g. oil prices,
(the expectations are validated by the actual developments). In the
economic growth), population growth, level of corruption, cultural
early niche stages, participants join the niche by investing effort, aspects such as status, power differences and presence of different
money and time because they have expectations of the future tribes or classes; and availability of raw materials [26,27]. The
success. At that moment, actors have broad and unclear expecta- landscape level has the slowest dynamics; these trends usually
tions about the technology and different visions of its future [15]. change relatively slowly and are hard to change. However, this
In time, expectations can change because of external factors level also includes unexpected events within or outside the
(regime and landscape) and internal circumstances (e.g. results country such as wars and oil price fluctuations [16]. In this paper
from experiments within the niche) [14]. we also consider funding programmes or technology programmes
from abroad as landscape factors.
3.1.2. Network formation
Actor networks are essential for niche development since they 3.2.2. Regime
sustain development, attract resources and new actors, enable Situated below the landscape, the socio-technical regime is the
learning and carry expectations [15]. Two characteristics are level of the established technologies. The regime itself is generally
important when analysing the actor network. First, the network stable and there is commonly resistance to the introduction of
composition is an essential factor. A good network requires a new technologies. This is because existing technologies are
heterogeneous group of actors with different interests and roles ‘locked-in’ or path dependent [28].
[14]. Secondly, the network should be aligned. This characteristic
refers to the degree to which actors' visions, expectations and 3.2.3. Niche
strategies are in line with the niche development. This alignment In niches, new technologies are developed, often to solve pro-
can be achieved through regular interaction and co-operation blems in the dominant regime. Because of its weak structuration
between the different actors [15]. (low stability and high uncertainties), the niche can easily be
influenced by the regime and landscape [16]. Often, more than one
3.1.3. Learning processes niche are in development at the same time.
Learning influences the niche by affecting the expectations and
aligning them. A good learning process is reflexive and focuses on 3.2.4. Interactions
many aspects [15]. Furthermore, good learning processes should The extent to which an innovation is able to upscale is influ-
not be confined to individual learning by actors, but should also enced by the interaction between the three levels (landscape,
consist of interactive learning or, in other words, knowledge regime and niche). As mentioned above, the room for niches in the
sharing among actors [21]. Interactive learning can be facilitated regime is directly related to the stability within the regime. The
by, among other things, trust and proximity between actors or actors in the dominant regime generally have an aversion against
intermediary actors such as umbrella organisations which facil- niche developments; the more stable the regime, the stronger the
itate knowledge flows between other actors [21–24]. Hoogma et al. resistance for new technologies. A destabilised or weak regime
(2002) gives two types of learning: first order learning and second offers windows of opportunity for niche breakthrough. Regime
order learning. First order learning refers to learning about the destabilisation originates from pressurising landscape factors and
innovation's effectiveness in achieving pre-defined goals. It is internal regime tensions. A niche can develop internal momentum
directed on gathering facts and data. Second order learning is through improved price/performance, support from powerful
Table 2 Table 3
The MLP levels and their indicators. Technical potential for domestic biogas in Ethiopia [10].
Socio-technical Indicators Technical potential Amhara Oromia SNNPR Tigray Total

level
Low scenario 255,361 641,033 159,340 75,591 1,131,325
Landscape Political and economic stability High scenario 788,287 1,978,840 538,720 206,420 3,512,267
Suitability of economic climate for enterprises and
innovation
Extent of poverty around 1957 to supply the energy for welding agricultural tools.
Fit of physical geography and climate
During the 1970s, two biogas plants were introduced by the Food
Availability of natural resources
Education levels and literacy rates and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as pilot projects to promote
Presence of different population groups/tribes/mother the technology [29]. During the last two decades, around 1000
tongues
biogas plants were deployed in Ethiopia with sizes ranging
Funding programmes and technology programmes from
abroad between 2.5 and 200 m3 for households, communities and insti-
Regime Stability in regime tutions [13]. During this period, different models were used (e.g.
Suitability of sectoral policy fixed-dome, Indian floating-drum and bag digesters). However,
Amount of lock-in in regime
Niche Completeness of network of actors according to multiple consulted actors there was no local capacity
Alignment of network of actors to neither up-scale the technology nor sustain it. Hence, just 40%
Match between expectations and actual development of the aforementioned biodigesters are still operational [10].
Presence of first order learning
Between 1999 and 2002, Christopher Kellner, a German biogas
Presence of second order learning
expert, built 60 fixed-dome biogas plants through a bottom-up
implementation approach he titled ‘From the Point to the Area’. This
actors, increasing functionality of the innovation etc. When a niche deployment was partly done based on an Ethiopian–German
expands and builds up momentum, it can exert influence on the development project titled ‘Land Use Planning and Resource
regime through bottom-up forces [16]. Management, Oromia’ (LUPO). His implementation method con-
When the interactions between the levels are aligned they sisted of the construction of an initial biogas plant and the sub-
reinforce each other. This process depends on the timing and the
sequent promotion within the close surroundings. This triggered
nature of multi-level interactions. This offers windows of oppor-
local demand from neighbours and propitiated the construction of
tunity for the radical innovation at niche level to break through in
additional biogas plants. However, the rate of implementation was
the dominant regime [16].
slow due to the limited size of the trained labour force (basically,
3.2.5. Summary of MLP indicators Mr. Kellner and a technician he hired). In 2002, Mr. Kellner
Summarizing, we analyse the three niche processes by evalu- departed from Ethiopia and wrote a manual for the construction of
ating the indicators shown in Table 2. LUPO digesters, which were adapted to the Ethiopian context
[30,31].
3.3. Using the MLP framework for the analysis Furthermore, since 2000, LEM-Ethiopia (a local NGO) started an
awareness and promotion programme with latrine-fed biogas
The analysis of the development of domestic biogas in Ethiopia digester in schools and households in regions like Amhara, Oromia
was divided in its socio-technical levels niche, regime and land- and SNNPR [32]. To date, 22 and 25 of these digesters have been
scape. Strategic Niche Management (SNM) was applied to the case installed in schools and households, respectively. However, no
study material related to the biogas sector to give a systematic data was found to determine whether those plants are still
overview of the niche level where domestic biogas technology is operational.
being deployed. The landscape level and the relevant regime levels In 2006, a technical team integrated by experts from the
within the case study material (the broader energy and agriculture Ethiopian Rural Development and Promotion Centre (EREDPC) and
sector and the situation in Ethiopia as a whole) were assessed as SNV conducted a feasibility study to determine biogas potential in
external socio-technical levels that influence the development in four Regions of Ethiopia which accounted for the largest number
the niche. The analysis of landscape, regimes and niche provided of inhabitants and livestock (Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray).
specific insights that allowed reconstructing the current develop- Table 3 presents a summary of the technical potential for domestic
ment of domestic biogas and barriers and drivers for its further biogas in Ethiopia based on the aforementioned feasibility
growth, which are stressed in Sections 5 and 6 in concluding assessment. Two scenarios (low and high) were calculated based
subsections at the end of the analysis of each level. But first,
on the availability and access to water resources in each region. It
Section 4 provides a description of the development of domestic
was estimated that between 1.1 and 3.5 million households could
biogas in Ethiopia.
benefit from the technology. Consequently, a 5-year pilot domestic
biogas programme was proposed with an estimated cost of 11
million EU aiming to deploy 10,000 biogas plants over this period
4. Historical development of domestic biogas in Ethiopia
[10].
In 2007, Dutch experts conducted studies regarding technical
4.1. Introduction and early development of domestic biogas
potential of domestic biogas in several African countries, including
The early years of implementation of biogas in Ethiopia were Ethiopia. The rising interest in the technology led to the launch
not solely focused on small-scale domestic biogas; institutional of ‘Biogas for Better Life, An African Initiative’ in Nairobi in May
and large-scale digesters were also deployed. A common char- 2007. Together with the launch of this initiative a business plan
acteristic was that the experiments were conducted on an isolated was developed with the aim to construct two million biogas plants
manner without proper means to up-scale the technology. Biogas by 2020, create 800 private biogas companies and 200 biogas
was first introduced in Ethiopia by Ambo Agricultural College appliance-manufacturing companies. [33]
4.2. Deployment of the NBPE that was not accomplished in the first stage of the NBPE
[36,39,40].
Inspired by the positive environment with regard to domestic Fig. 2 presents a graphical summary of the number of domestic
biogas in Africa and with the aim to up-scale domestic biogas in biogas plants constructed in Ethiopia since their introduction in
Ethiopia, the Ethiopian National Biogas Programme (NBPE) was 1957. Also the change in target in the first phase from 14,000 to
developed and launched for a first stage of implementation 10,000 biogas plants can be seen, as well as the target in the
between 2008 and 2013. From February to July 2007, a team from second phase to build 20,000 additional biogas plants. The current
SNV and EREDPC conducted an extensive consultation process status of the biogas sector will be deeper looked into in the sub-
with relevant stakeholders in order to develop a Project Imple- sequent sections.
mentation Document or PID [4]. On June 16th, 2007 the draft of
the PID was presented and approved. Even though the assessment
report suggested constructing 10,000 domestic biogas plants over 5. Analysis of the socio-technical niche
a 5-year programme, the Ethiopian Government decided to set a
more ambitious target. Consequently it was agreed to build 14,000 Biogas in Ethiopia is currently in the niche phase. It holds a
family-sized biogas plants between 2008 and 2013 and the NBPE small share of the market and it is sheltered by way of imple-
was launched [34]. mentation programmes. However, besides biogas also other niches
Furthermore, a subsidy was provided to biogas users to com- around cleaner energy technologies exist in Ethiopia nowadays.
pensate for the initial cost and hence improve the affordability of For example, a large variety of improved cook stoves are being
the biogas plants [35]. Moreover, the subsidy was provided to commercialised with the help of local actors such as the Horn of
compensate for the ‘free’ availability and predominant use of Africa Regional Environmental Centre & Network (HOA-REC&N)
firewood. The provision of the subsidy depended on the com- and GIZ-Ethiopia. Moreover, other renewables, especially pico-
pliance of the technical criteria set by the NBPE. Hence it was solar is starting to spread in the country and private enterprises
limited to a single model for the biogas digester: the SINIDU model are beginning to appear for the installation and commercialisation
which is an adaptation of the Nepalese GGC-2047 fixed-dome of the technology [41]. Furthermore, large-scale power plants, like
digester [4]. This subsidy is still been granted nowadays [35]. the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance hydro project and Corbetti
The first years of implementation of the NBPE faced several Geothermal also stand out as new innovations within the energy
obstacles in deploying the programme. Biogas was considered a sector [42]. So, the development of domestic biogas is not an
new technology in the rural context and demand turned out to be isolated effort. However, as the markets for part of these niches are
still small (pico-solar, improved cook stoves) or because they aim
lower than expected. In this period, SNV installed 98 demonstra-
for a different market (grid based electricity for the cases of hydro
tion biodigesters in the four regions for demonstration purposes
energy and geothermal energy), they are not in competition with
and decided to expand the number of woredas where the NBPE
biogas at this moment. Therefore, in this paper we will not look
could be implemented aiming to catalyse biogas dissemination
further into these other niches and their interaction with biogas. In
[36].
the remainder of this section we will analyse the biogas niche in
The slow development of the NBPE was evidenced by the small
Ethiopia by focusing on the niche processes and indicators that we
amount of biogas plants that were built. Moreover, the situation
presented in Table 1 in Section 2.
was exacerbated by a cement crisis faced by Ethiopia between
2010 and 2011 [34,35]. Consequently, in 2010, during an inter-
5.1. Network formation
mediate revision of the NBPE, the African Biogas Partnership
Programme (ABPP) decided to reduce the initial target from
Network formation looks into the composition of the network
14,000 to 10,000 biogas plants by end of the first phase in 2013
and alignment of the actors within it in order to assess their
[35–38]. The first phase of the NBPE culminated on December 31st,
influence on the development of the niche [14,43]. In the case of
2013. Official sources have stated that 8063 biogas plants were
Ethiopia, the NBPE defined the actors that should be present in the
built during this phase and distributed as follows: 2480 biogas
development of the programme and assigned specific roles to each
plants in Oromia, 1992 in Tigray, 1892 in Amhara and 1699 in
one of them [4]. Moreover, it divided actors based on the different
SNNPR [35].
jurisdictional domains (federal, regional and local) and their
respective backgrounds: government, NGOS, Micro-Finance Insti-
4.3. Present and future of the NBPE tutions, private sector, biogas users, etc.
Currently, the network of actors within the Ethiopian biogas
The second phase of the NBPE takes place from 2014 until 2017 niche is diverse and their alignment is poor. The current core of
and aims to construct 20,000 additional biogas plants. In 2014 the biogas niche is formed by the NBPE. However complementing
alone, the government expected to build 3600 biodigesters in the efforts and independent initiatives are also present and aim to fill
four regions of implementation [35]. A significant goal for this the gaps left by the NBPE. Although cooperation linkages occur
second phase has been to enable private sector involvement, a goal among actors, in many cases cooperation is weak or non-existent.
30,000
constructed/targeted
Target
25,000 2nd Phase
biogas plants
Number of
20,000
Initial target
15,000 1st Phase
10,000 Reduced target

1st Phase
5,000
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Fig. 2. Number of domestic biogas plants constructed or targeted by the NBPE.

Fig. 3. Stakeholder map for domestic biogas in Ethiopia in 2014.
Fig. 3 provides an overview of the main stakeholders involved in biogas initiatives in Ethiopia. The funding for the NBPE is channelled
the domestic biogas niche in Ethiopia in 2014. In the following by the African Biogas Partnership Programme (ABPP), based in
sub-sections, the alignment among stakeholders is revised at three Kenya. The ABPP allocates resources for each of the national biogas
different layers of implementation: (1) national and international, programmes it manages based on their yearly performance [39].
(2) regional and (3) local. There is a strong consensus regarding the fact that the Gov-
ernment of Ethiopia is determined to play a strong role in
5.1.1. National and international level domestic biogas dissemination – as well as other sustainable
At the federal level, the NBPE is led by the National Biogas energy technologies – [34,39,41]. However, this strong presence of
Programme Coordination Office (NBPCO), which is hosted by the the Government hinders private entrepreneurship and the lack of
Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWE). The National institutional capacity results in a slow rate of implementation of
Biogas Sector Steering Committee (NBSSC) was proposed since the the technology [39]. Furthermore, even though efforts have been
implementation of the NBPE and allows integration of actors from made by international actors to improve the decision-making and
the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ministry of Finance and Eco- the planning process, the actual implementation of those
nomic Development (MoFED), Ministry of Environmental Protec- improved mechanisms does not happen.
tion and Forestry, as well a representatives from the private sector
and NGOs [4,35]. However, weak linkages between the Ministry of 5.1.2. Regional level
Water, Irrigation and Energy and the Ministry of Agriculture Although implementation is carried out at a local level, most of
undermines inter-ministerial cooperation [44]. the activities are managed and supervised at a regional level. Most
The Ministry of Agriculture manages an extensive database of of the stakeholders are grouped at this level (as can be seen in the
farmers, as well as the number and type of livestock they own stakeholder map in Fig. 3). The majority of the Universities operate
[44], a resource that would be of high value to identify potential at a regional level. The private sector related to domestic biogas is
customers. Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture has a direct almost non-existent and most of the implementation is done by
line of command with its extension officers who work at a local individual masons trained by the NBPE at the local level except
level and have direct contact with farmers. Meanwhile, the com- from SELAM Group, a local private manufacturer and provider of
plex structure of the NBPE results in redundant hierarchies and most biogas stoves to the NBPE that is present in Addis Ababa and
bureaucracy [39]. The fact that the Ministry of Agriculture does not Awassa. Only two NGOs working with domestic biogas were found
play an active role in the implementation of the NBPE creates an in Ethiopia. These are LEM-Ethiopia and the Institute for Sustain-
institutional schism for the dissemination of domestic biogas. able Development (ISD) who work on promotion and awareness,
At an international level, most of the stakeholders provide and user training on bio-slurry utilisation, respectively. Further-
technical assistance and funding to the NBPE or other domestic more, SNV Development Organisation plays a role as technical
Table 4 5.2. Dynamics of expectations

Targets and accomplishments of the 1st phase of the NBPE [34,35].
5.2.1. Development of expectations
Indicator Initial target Actual implementation
The launch of the National Biogas Programme in Ethiopia
Number of constructed biogas plants 14,000 8063 (NBPE) was a catalyser for the development of domestic biogas in
Number of active woredas (districts) 28 130 the country. Prior to the NBPE, the development was scarce and
Number of Biogas Construction Z 20 ? limited to isolated efforts [46]. The introduction of a systematic
Enterprises
Average cost of biodigester (6 m3) 7519 Birr 14,000 Birr
approach to disseminate the technology allowed the integration of
Percentage of cost covered by subsidy 57% 43% several stakeholders and disrupted the inertia imposed by the
dominant regime with a predominant use of firewood. Never-
theless, the ambitions of the NBPE had to face and adjust to the
advisor in the implementation and is a continuous promoter of the constraints and challenges of the local context. Now, after the
programme since its beginning. culmination of the first phase of implementation of the NBPE and
in the first years of the second phase it is possible to compare and
5.1.3. Local level analyse how expectations have been shaped over this period.
The implementation of domestic biogas happens at the local Table 4 summarises some of the main targets set in the project
level and is usually managed and promoted at woreda (district) implementation document of the NBPE before the start of the first
level. The Mines and Energy Agency (MEA)2 appoints Energy phase and it is compared with the results after its completion.
Experts at each of the active woredas who are in charge for the Given the nature of the NBPE, a strong interest has been focused
training and supervision of the masons [35]. However, a hierarchy on the number of biogas plants that can be deployed by the pro-
issue between the Regional Biogas Programme Coordination Offi- gramme [30].
ces (RBPCO) – appointed by the NBPE – and the Woreda Admin- Despite the initial enthusiasm, the NBPE promoters had to
istration undermines the availability of the Energy Experts. The transform the promises and words written in the Project Imple-
latter assigns the tasks to be conducted by the Energy Experts, mentation Document (PID) into real implementation structures,
which are not exclusive to biogas [39]. This causes a constant which meant: hiring staff, setting offices, training technicians and
negotiation between the Regional Biogas Partnership Coordination (most importantly) introducing a technology that was relatively
Offices (RBPCO) and the Woreda Administration and undermines novel to the country. At the same time, it was expected for the
implementation. NBPE to start generating concrete results. Fig. 4 shows the number
The masons are rarely grouped as local micro-enterprises, of biogas plants that were built each year during the first phase of
however there is consensus at the regional and federal level to the NBPE. It clearly shows that the first years of the NBPE could not
leverage entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it is difficult to maintain match the expectations.
trained masons within the NBPE, due to the fact that they do not Although the NBPE faced a harsh environment, it was decided
work exclusively on biodigester construction and are usually to extend the number of active woredas (districts) with the aim to
attracted to other construction activities where they can find lar- increase the coverage of the programme and hence, reach more
ger profit margins [36,45]. potential clients [36]. By 2010, the NBPE gradually started to take
As explained before, even though extension workers from the off but it encountered another barrier: between 2010 and 2011,
Ethiopia faced a cement crisis [35].
Ministry of the Agriculture are present at the local level and work
From an outside perspective, it was difficult to appreciate the
directly with the farmers, there is no linkage at this level between
local efforts of the main promoters of the NBPE. Fund allocation by
the NBPE and the extension workers [39]. Consequently, the
international donors is based on the periodical revision of NBPE's
masons or the Energy Experts usually train biogas users on bio-
performance which is based on the number of biogas plants that
slurry utilisation although the focus and expertise of this human
are constructed. Actual implementation efforts were not able to
resource is not agriculturally related [44].
comply with the targets. This mismatch deteriorated the overall
expectations of the stakeholders involved and in 2010 (halfway
5.1.4. Barriers and drivers at the niche level – network formation
through the development of the first phase), a silent decision was
All in all, the NBPE set a triggering institutional framework for
taken by the African Biogas Partnership Programme (ABPP) to
the dissemination of domestic biogas in Ethiopia. Moreover, the
reduce the initial target to 10,000 biogas digesters [35,36]. This
programme identified and assigned roles and responsibilities for a
decision shows how the expectations about the programme were
diverse group of actors at the different jurisdictional domains. significantly reduced.
According to [14], the diversification of actors at the niche level is From 2011 onwards, the NBPE started to deliver better results
desirable to promote the development of the niche. Furthermore, (as shown in Fig. 4); however, it was still not possible to meet the
according to [43] it is important for the network of actors to yearly targets. After the completion of the first phase of the NBPE,
integrate stakeholders from the dominant regimes in order to the programme was able to deploy 58% of its initial target (8063
increase the chances for the radical innovation to emerge. In the biogas plants out of 14,000). Despite this bad performance, the
case of domestic biogas in Ethiopia, the NBPE set structures where NBPE significantly increased its area of coverage to 102 more
actors from other governmental agencies could interact with the woredas than the 28 woredas that were initially targeted [47].
development of the programme. Although the composition of the To date, another unaccomplished target has been the empow-
network of actors is diverse, the alignment between the actors is erment of local Biogas Construction Enterprises (BCEs) [35]. Sev-
weak. Moreover, the highly centralized and hierarchical nature of eral factors have influenced a poor private sector involvement but
the programme hinders the contribution of an important actor what is worrying is that so far, the NBPE has not been able to find a
type, namely the private sector. solution for this issue [36]. Nowadays and especially for the
implementation of the second phase of the NBPE, there is a gen-
2
eral consensus among stakeholders that private sector involve-
The name ‘Mines and Energy Agencies’ remains from the time when this
regional offices belonged to the Mines and Energy Ministry. Nevertheless, now
ment should actually take off during this period. But our inter-
(after a restructuration), it is the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, which is views demonstrated neither a concrete understanding why this
in charge of the NBPE. happens nor a plan on how to approach it [34–36,39]. One
4,000
3,500 3,500
3,500 3,150
3,000
2,511
2,500
2,000
2,000 1,641
1,500 1,200
1,000 731
400
500 98 100 30
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Actual Forecast
Fig. 4. The number of installed biogas plants (per year) installed by the NBPE during the first phase of implementation, actual vs. target (Sources: [39,47,48]).
Table 5
Biogas issues identified by the NBPE's feasibility analysis in the feasibility study of the NBPE in 2006 [10].
Category Issue
Technical development Domestic biogas installations cannot supply the full domestic energy demand
Non-local materials increase investment costs and maintenance problems
In relation with the available dung, most installations are over-sized
Without proper technical back-up, any plant will fail sooner or later
‘Single actor construction’ weakens local technical back-up facility
Standardisation will improve quality
Development of the user context Farmers need proper instruction to maximise the benefits from their investment
Biogas installations as a ‘stand-alone’ application are likely to fail
The plant's water requirement shall not be underestimated
Government context and regulatory framework EREDPC seems the best placed lead agency for a federal domestic biogas programme
The Bureaus of Energy would seem the best placed coordinating, supervising and integrating agencies at regional
level
The extension network of the Bureaus of Agriculture would be an asset for a large scale dissemination programme
The regional micro-finance institutions can play an important role in a large scale domestic biogas programme
exception is the case of HOA-REC&N in collaboration with be taken into consideration in the design of implementation of the
(B) Energy, a local private biogas enterprise. This collaboration has NBPE [10].
evolved from the elaboration of an alternative domestic biogas Table 5 presents a set of lessons learnt based upon the afore-
technology (biogas backpacks fed by bag digesters) to the devel- mentioned issues. They are divided into three categories as also
opment of a business plan to disseminate this technology distinguished by Hoogma (2002), as described in Section 2 of this
[37,38,40]. paper: technical development, development of the user context,
and government and regulatory framework. In the following
5.2.2. Barriers and drivers at the niche level – dynamics of sub-sections, an analysis of the current progress on the main
expectations issues from Table 5 is provided.
According to [43], expectations can change in strength, quality
or realism. In the case of Ethiopia the inability of the NBPE to 5.3.1. Technical development
deliver what was initially intended forced the actors to reduce To date, domestic biogas systems are unable to attend a com-
their expectations according to the actual implementation in order prehensive share of a households' energy demand. Yet most
for them to become more realistic. Nevertheless, it is paradoxical worryingly, injera baking cannot be pursued using biogas since it
that although this change was performed for the first phase of the does not provide sufficient energy to perform this task [34,38,49].
NBPE, the current (second) phase of implementation has an even As will be explained in Section 7.1, traditionally 50–60% of
more ambitious goal to deploy 20,000 additional biogas plants by household energy demand is used to bake injera; a traditional
2017. Fig. 4 shows that the deployment during the last years of fermented flatbread with a sour taste [2,49]. Although recent
implementation of the first phase increased significantly. However, innovations have been developed to make injera baking possible
it is questionable whether the new expectations will be able to using biogas, these innovations have not yet reached the com-
meet the actual implementation or will fail to become unrealistic mercial stage [35,38].
again. Furthermore, analysing the performance solely based on the Furthermore, although the cement crisis from 2010/11 has been
number of biogas plants may distract from an important fact that overcome [35,36], other components of the biogas plants are often
is whether the biogas plants that are being deployed actually meet unavailable in the local markets or are prone to malfunction. This
the needs of its users or if they remain operational after they are issue is exacerbated by the fact that these problematic compo-
deployed. nents, specifically the biogas valves and the biogas lamp, are
imported and have a poor quality [38,45]. Moreover, the biogas
5.3. Learning processes stoves manufactured locally by SELAM Group are scarce and their
price and quality fluctuates considerably [38].
After the development of the feasibility assessment in 2006, it Moreover, the role of after-sales service is key to assure the
was revealed that most of the by then existing biogas plants were operability of the plants over their lifetimes. However, the only
not operational and the majority of them had been dismantled. mechanism for quality assurance after the construction of the
Hence, a set of issues was identified and discussed so that it could biogas plants is done through a sampling process by the Regional
Biogas Technicians. When asked about the percentage of biodi- remains uncertain if elements such as institutional capacity,
gesters deployed that are still operational, the answer was that the human resources or allocated budget were altered due to this
NBPE have not pursued a biogas inventory yet and there was no transition. On the other hand, the abovementioned institutional
definite numbers on this topic [45]. However, during our field transformation did not affect the regional level, and the Bureaus of
study in Ethiopia some interviewees mentioned that a large per- Water, Energy and Mines (MEAs) remained unaltered during this
centage of biodigesters were malfunctioning or out of operation. ministerial restructuration [35,45]. What is certain is that, at the
According to the NBPE promoters and especially SNV world- federal level, labour conditions neither changed nor improved: the
wide, one of the main drivers for biogas dissemination is the staff remained with low salaries, no pension fund nor health care –
systematic approach which includes involving a broad range of conditions that other government officials do have. This situation
stakeholders [34]. The NBPE was able to transition from a ‘single incurred in a high personnel turnover and unfulfilled vacancies
actor’ approach to disseminate biogas technology to a multi- [53].
stakeholder approach [13]. However, as described in subsection Furthermore, in Table 5, it is interesting to see that prior to
5.3.1, this has not led to a significant increase of local technical launch of the NBPE it was recommended to incorporate the
backup facilities and the rate of operability of the biogas plants extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture to provide
that are already installed is questionable. support in the implementation of the programme [10]. However,
Furthermore, the standardisation of the SINIDU fixed-dome as explained before, the incorporation of the extension officers has
model has eased the quality assurance procedures. Nevertheless, not happened yet due to inter-ministerial misalignments between
similarly to what happened in Nepal during its initial phases of the Ministry of Agriculture and MoWE [44]. On the bright side,
implementation, at some point it became necessary to diversify micro-finance institutions have been gradually integrated within
the technologies for domestic biogas production [50]. Also, in the NBPE and around 57% of the biogas plants that were con-
Ethiopia isolated efforts outside the NBPE have started to appear structed by the NBPE used micro-loans as a means to fund the
trying to address the gaps or burdens of this single-technology initial investment. Moreover, the World Bank has allocated eco-
approach by diversifying the models and business plans to dis- nomic resources to improve micro-credit access for renewables,
seminate domestic biogas [38,40,41]. However, it is still uncertain including biogas. These funds are being channelled by the Devel-
if these complementing initiatives will be considered by the NBPE opment Bank of Ethiopia and distributed to the regional and local
[35]; which was eventually the case in Nepal, where it was deci- micro-finance institutions [35]. To date, two Micro-Finance Insti-
ded to diversify the technological options for domestic biogas [51]. tutions have been able to attain this capital loan [53].
5.3.2. Development of user context 5.3.4. Barriers and drivers at the niche level – learning
According to [30], it is common that due to lack of knowledge All in all, from a learning processes perspective, the NBPE was
and awareness, many of the biogas users do not exploit the full able to attain first order learning among NBPE actors and gov-
potential of biogas plants. For example, bad habits such as irre- ernmental actors; however, it was generally unsuccessful to gen-
gular or insufficient feeding of the biodigester significantly hinder erate second order learning. In other words, initially NBPE was
biogas production. Further, as reported by Araya (2014), bio-slurry able to determine several factors that could poses a risk for the
utilisation is poorly taught to biogas users by masons and although implementation of the programme (hence creating first degree
extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture could perform learning). Nevertheless, it was unable to effectively solve the issues
this task, it is not done due to abovementioned inter-ministerial it initially identified by changing its basic assumptions and
misalignments approach. Furthermore, first order learning among masons, tech-
A significant challenge in many areas of Ethiopia is water nicians and users has not been optimal because of unclarity about
scarcity and drought during certain times of the year. As explained who is responsible for this training and problems with expertise
in Section 1, under the traditional fixed-dome model an equal among trainers, as explained in subsection 5.1.3, and high illiteracy
amount of manure and water has to be provided daily [7]. In order rates among the population.
to remediate this issue, around 50% of the biodigesters that are
being deployed include a toilet connection, which enables the use
of urine to compensate for the lack of water [45]. However this 6. Analysis of the socio-technical landscape
contribution is negligible in comparison to the daily amount of
excretes or liquid that are required [5]. Currently, some member At the landscape level, economic instability and poverty in
countries of the African Biogas Partnership Programme (ABPP) are Ethiopia constitute the most relevant barriers for biogas dis-
experimenting with Solid-State Digesters (SSD) [52]. The SSD is a semination. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is cate-
modification of the conventional fixed-dome model and allows gorised as one of the poorest countries in the world, although the
using a 4:1 manure/water mix instead of 1:1, hence significantly country has experienced a sustained economic growth over the
reducing the water demand of the biodigester (SNV, 2013b). last years and the gross national income (GNI) per capita has more
However, SSD has not yet been introduced to Ethiopia [35,36,39]. than doubled over the last 20 years. Poverty goes beyond per
capita income; it affects people's quality of life and their ability to
5.3.3. Government context and regulatory framework overcome their misery, hence poverty itself becomes a trap [54].
Although initially the Ethiopian Rural Development and Pro- Because of this widespread poverty, many people in Ethiopia do
motion Centre (EREDPC) was appointed as the leading organisa- not have enough purchasing power to buy a biogas plant. Ethiopia
tion at the national level, this organisation ceased to exist due to a has the second largest population in Africa after Nigeria. Moreover
ministerial restructuration [4,35]. At the federal level, the whole its population has followed an almost continuous trend of growth
staff was substituted. However, labour conditions did not change of 2.2% per year over the last 10 years. By 2011, 83.2% of the
nor improved compared to other similar government positions Ethiopian inhabitants resided in rural areas and scattered over a
(lower salaries, no pension fund, no health care, etc.). This incurred 1.1 million km2 territory [55].
in high personnel turnover and unfulfilled vacancies [53]. Political instability constitutes an additional constraint, both
No official data was found specifying the details of the transi- internal and external to the country. From an internal perspective,
tion of the NBPE from the former Ministry of Mines and Energy to although the country deposed the communist regime in the early
the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWE). Therefore, it 1990s and instituted a multi-party democracy there are still
shadows from authoritarianism which are still present nowadays. [3]. Electricity provides only 1.1% of the energy demand and it is
According to [56], despite the sustained economic growth, the mostly supplied by hydroelectric plants: 93.9% of the electricity
current enormous public intervention overshadows and even comes from hydro and the remaining is supplied by geothermal
hinders private sector investments. Other factors that hinder and fossil fuel-based power plants. According to [1], electricity
entrepreneurial activities are inadequate financing possibilities, a access reached only 23% of the Ethiopian population by 2010. One
shortage of educated and skilled labour [57], and the inability of of the problems resulting from Ethiopia's limited electricity use is
firms to convert part of their profit into investment [58]. Although the increase in health problems due to smoke emissions resulting
the Ethiopian government launched market reforms in 1991, the from indoor cooking and indoor use of kerosene lamps. Moreover,
country remains in a vicious cycle of low productivity, low-paid it is estimated that in rural areas, women and children spend at
jobs, and poverty [57]. From an external perspective, Ethiopia faces least 5–6 h collecting fuel wood [53].
significant geopolitical issues since there are latent border con- When looking at the demand side, the residential sector con-
flicts with Eritrea and Somalia and wars in its neighbouring sumes 93.5% of the energy that is supplied [55]. The rest of the
countries (e.g. Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia) that pose a con- sectors have a negligible contribution to the energy demand,
stant threat to the political and economic stability of the country. including industry with 1.8% and the commercial sector with 1.1%
The political and economic instability lead to a low overall level of [61]. At the household level, 98.6% of the energy is supplied by
competitiveness of the country. Nevertheless, the Ethiopian Gov- biomass. According to [2,49], 50–60% of household energy demand
ernment has ambitions and commitment to provide solutions for is used for baking injera; a traditional fermented flatbread with a
poverty eradication [56]. sour taste. Injera is baked on large batches using a clay plate
Another barrier is the low literacy rate in Ethiopia of 40% [55]. covered with a lid made out of straw and dried cow manure [62].
This makes the training of masons, technicians and users more The baking process is highly inefficient and uses a significant
difficult. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that within amount of firewood [10]. The remainder of the consumed energy
Ethiopia more than 80 different mother tongues exist. Although is used for cooking other foods and for lighting.
Amharr is the first language and many people speak English, in
rural areas many people only speak their mother tongue (CSA,
7.2. Agriculture regime
2010). Another barrier is the lack of basic infrastructure which is
evidenced by, among other things, the low access rates to clean
Agriculture represents the main economic activity in Ethiopia,
water and household sanitation. The availability and access to
accounting for 48.8% of the country's GDP in 2012 [1]. Moreover,
water can represent a barrier for the deployment of the technol-
Ethiopia is believed to have one of the largest livestock popula-
ogy [59]. The appropriate operation of biogas digesters can be
tions in Africa [63] and it is globally recognised as the cradle for
threatened due to seasonal or geographical shortages of water.
coffee, a deeply rooted beverage within its culture. The majority of
Nevertheless, according to [60], and as described in Section 5 of
the agricultural production in Ethiopia is performed at a house-
this paper, the shortage of water can be complemented with the
hold level, 96.8% of which takes place in a rural context, where
use of animal or human urine.
crop harvesting and animal husbandry activities are often com-
On the other hand, at the landscape level, there are also drivers
bined. The main products are cattle and cereals. In These agri-
that motivate the development of domestic biogas in Ethiopia. For
cultural households are characterised by limitedly small land
example, the physical geography of Ethiopia complies with tech-
nical criteria for the biogas plants that are being deployed to tenure and it is common for all household members to contribute
operate in terms of temperature and availability of waste organic to the farm's activities.
matter. According to [38] this suitability of the Ethiopian climate is
not being fully exploited since the main model for the biogas 7.2.1. Agricultural crops
plants is situated underground where there is a lower temperature The agricultural activity in Ethiopia is divided in two main
than in the surface. Hence, the microbial activity inside the bio- seasons. The meher season, which relies on the precipitations from
digester could improve with a rise in the temperature of the June to September and it is when most of the crops are harvested.
digester chamber if it would be located above the surface [31], And the belg season, which offers a second opportunity to a har-
hence causing an increase of the biogas yield. In addition, other vest a smaller batch of crops thanks to rainfall between March and
drivers at the landscape level are scarcity of firewood, deforesta- April [64]. Furthermore, by far, the vast majority of Ethiopia's
tion, depletion of soil nutrients and erosion [53]. The systematic agricultural land is utilised for temporary crops, mainly to grow
depletion of the forest coverage to satisfy the energy needs has led cereals. The injera mentioned in Section 6 is the traditional base of
to a systematic depletion of the forest coverage over the last 35 the Ethiopian diet and it consists on a fermented flatbread made
years and a shortage of traditional biomass resources. Nowadays, out of a cereal named teff. Nowadays, due to the high prices of teff,
only 2.7% of the land is covered with forests [4]. The main driver at it is very common to find injera made out from wheat [53].
landscape level for the growth of the biogas sector in Ethiopia is a Agricultural crops are concentrated in the regions of Amhara,
driver that originates from outside the country: the NBPE Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray, which account for 97.4% of the total
programme. annual crop production. It is no coincidence that the Ethiopian
National Biogas Programme (NBPE) takes places in these four
regions, since most of the crop and livestock production takes
7. Analysis of the relevant regimes place there.
Ethiopian farmers employ different practices in order to
7.1. Energy regime improve their crops' productivity. The most commonly used
practice is to fertilizer application, mainly during the meher season
The Ethiopian energy regime is mainly based on biomass. (second half of the year). These synthetic fertilizers are applied to
According to [61], 92.9% of the primary energy consumption almost half of the cropland area, while natural fertilizers are only
comes from biofuels and waste; 81.2% of which is supplied by applied to 10.2% of this land. Moreover, irrigation alleviates water
woody biomass (especially firewood), followed by dung cakes and scarcity during the dry seasons between October and March.
crop residue with a contribution of 9.1 and 8.1%, respectively. However, just 1.8% of the total cropland area employs irrigation
Other types of biomass are charcoal, bagasse and bio-briquettes practices [65].
Table 6
The main drivers and barriers for further growth of the biogas niche in Ethiopia.
Socio-technical Barriers Drivers

level
Landscape Political and economic instability

Low suitability of economic climate for enterprises and innovation
Widespread poverty – therefore most farmers have insufficient purchasing power to
invest in a biogas plant
Suitability of the climate
Lack of natural resources – water shortages Lack of natural resources – depletion of firewood
High rate of illiteracy
Presence of different tribes with different mother tongues
Presence of NBPE programme
Regime Stability in regime – deeply rooted practices of fire-
wood use
Suitability of sectoral policy
Amount of lock-in in regime – deeply rooted practice of injera cooking which is currently Amount of lock-in in regime – deeply rooted practice of
not possible on biogas firewood use
Niche Not fully completeness of network of actors – private sector is missing Almost completeness of network of actors, including
regime actors
Poor alignment in network of actors – many mismatches between governmental bodies
and levels
Mismatch between expectations and actual development – implementation goals have
not been reached; private sector is still not involved
Problems with first order learning among masons, technicians and users Presence of first order learning among NBPE actors and
governmental actors
Lack of second order learning – issues present at start of NBPE programme are still not
resolved
7.2.2. Animal husbandry promoted the creation of a suitable sectorial policy which is a
Livestock activity plays a number of roles in Ethiopia's econ- driver for the development of alternative energy technologies [37].
omy. It provides food, force, soil fertility and a distinctive means of However, albeit the unsustainability of the trends in the current
savings at the farm level [66]. It represents a ‘near cash’ capital dominant regimes such as the use of firewood a lock-in results in
stock for the peasants which can be exchanged when the agri- the perpetuation of traditional practices. Another barrier is the fact
cultural households face economic struggles [63]. As mentioned that current commercially available biodigesters are not suited for
before, due to the scarcity of firewood in the country, many injera cooking, the traditional food in Ethiopia. Another important
farmers have been forced to use manure as an alternative energy barrier in the regime is the poverty already mentioned in the
source through ‘dung cakes’ (sun-dried manure), causing soil landscape. The low purchasing power of Ethiopian farmers limits
depletion in exchange for an inefficient source of energy [5,67]. them to invest in a biogas plant. According to [39], an Ethiopian
Similarly to crop production, most of the livestock is con- farmer faces the dilemma between investing in a biogas plant or
centrated in the regions of Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray. increasing the number of cattle heads he or she poses. For the case
Oromia is the region with the highest cattle population with of Ethiopia, a biogas digester costs the equivalent of three cows,
almost 22.5 million cattle heads. Camels are usually found in the whereas in Tanzania and Kenya it costs two and 1.5 cows,
Eastern and Northern regions of Ethiopia (e.g. Amhara, Tigray and respectively.
Oromia), and are mostly used for dairy and transportation [63].
Other livestock present in Ethiopia are poultry and beehives. The
total poultry population in Ethiopia accounted for 44.9 million by 8. Conclusions and recommendations
2012, most of which were chicks (40%) and laying hens (33%).
Meanwhile, apiculture represents a diversifying income for The current paper has looked into the development of domestic
smallholder farmers and it represents an annual production of biogas in Ethiopia by analysing its current status as well as drivers
39.7 million ton of honey and 3.8 million ton of beeswax. To put and barriers for further growth. It has been found that the gradual
this in perspective, Ethiopia is the tenth largest producer of honey emergence of the niche technology has been accomplished based
and the fourth largest producer of beeswax worldwide [68]. on a systematic and centralized approach leaded by the Ethiopian
National Biogas Programme (NBPE).
7.3. Barriers and drivers at the regime level Our analysis shows that barriers and drivers for the deployment
of domestic biogas in Ethiopia are present at the different socio-
As also mentioned for the landscape level, the inability of the technical levels. Moreover, there are strong interdependencies within
traditional practices to provide a solution for the current energy and between the levels, e.g. between the energy and agriculture
and environmental crisis constitute a driver for domestic biogas regimes. The main drivers and barriers we found are represented in
dissemination. The energy and agriculture regime are well tied in Table 6.
Ethiopia and interrelate with each other. The largest share of the As can be seen in this table, at the landscape level an important
energy consumption and most of the agricultural activities are driver for the current growth of the biogas sector in Ethiopia is the
conducted at the household level in the rural context [55,69,70]. NBPE programme, largely funded by the Dutch SNV Development
Based on this motivation, the Ethiopian Government has Organisation. The deforestation resulting from the traditional use
focused on deploying actions to alleviate the energy crisis by of firewood for cooking in Ethiopia is another driver, as is the
providing national frameworks of implementation to embedded climate which is very suitable for the operation of biodigesters.
the implementation of alternative energy sources such as Barriers at the landscape level are the political and economic
domestic biogas [71]. The creation of such frameworks has also instability, the widespread poverty which results in insufficient
purchasing power for most Ethiopians to invest in a biogas plant drivers and barriers found in these cases and in the case of
and the difficult circumstances for enterprises and innovation. Ethiopia will be practically relevant and will also contribute to our
Other barriers are the high illiteracy rate and the large number of insights into the impact of different contexts on the speed of the
mother tongues in Ethiopia which makes training of masons, diffusion of the same technology. Another recommendation for
technicians and users more difficult. In addition, water shortages further research is to further analyse the international aspects of
may also become a barrier since a daily 1:1 ratio of manure and this case and similar cases, where financial resources and tech-
water needs to be fed into the biodigesters in order to assure there nology are exported from one country (in this case The Nether-
adequate operation. lands) to another (in this case Ethiopia) while both the technology
As a consequence of the NBPE programme, suitable sectoral and the diffusion process are not optimally designed for the local
policies were set up at regime level, which are a driver for the context in the receiving country. This further research could build
further growth of biogas in Ethiopia. A barrier at this level is the further on insights into international aspects of technological
deeply rooted practice of injera cooking, an Ethiopian staple food,
innovation systems as published in [72] and [73].
which is not possible on the currently commercially available
biogas cookers.
At the niche level, drivers are (1) the fact that many different
Acknowledgements
actors are present in the network, among whom governmental
actors at many different levels and also regime actors, and (2) the
The authors gratefully acknowledge Mr. H. Oppenoorth, Senior
presence of first order learning about biogas technology, at least
Advisor in Energy and Climate Change at Hivos International for
among NBPE actors and governmental actors. However, at this
his inputs and comments on the earlier versions of this paper. In
level also quite some barriers exist. Although many different actors
participate, the private sector, which should play an important addition, we would like to thank to the interviewees in Ethiopia
role, is currently not active in the Ethiopian biogas niche. Also, the and Europe who shared their knowledge and time with us.
alignment between the actors that are present in the niche is
weak, especially between the different governmental bodies. Fur-
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Ethiopia‫׳‬s emerging domestic biogas sector: Current status, bottlenecks and

Article in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · July 2016

Linda Manon Kamp Esteban Bermudez Forn

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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Ethiopia's emerging domestic biogas sector: Current status,

3.2.5. Summary of MLP indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

1. Introduction which will be further described in Section 2, combines the Multi-

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of a ﬁxed-dome biogas plant [5,13].

Socio-technical Indicators Technical potential Amhara Oromia SNNPR Tigray Total

10,000 Reduced target

Fig. 2. Number of domestic biogas plants constructed or targeted by the NBPE.

Fig. 3. Stakeholder map for domestic biogas in Ethiopia in 2014.

Table 4 5.2. Dynamics of expectations

Socio-technical Barriers Drivers

Landscape Political and economic instability

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