The right to repairable energy: A political ecology of off-grid solar repair in Zambia

Abstract

The sale of off-grid solar products in Zambia has grown rapidly over the past decade, with around 1 million small-scale solar products sold between 2018 and 2022. However, these products, which are promoted as a means for energy-poor populations to access basic energy services, tend to have short working lives. This poses significant ethical and infrastructural challenges in terms of solar e-waste that the off-grid solar industry and nation states are grappling with. In this paper, we develop a political ecology framework that mobilises a multi-scalar analysis of off-grid solar repair. We examine empirical findings from Zambia to illustrate how the political economy dynamics of the off-grid solar industry, the materiality of the off-grid solar objects it produces, and local geographies of repair, interact and shape repair praxis in Zambia and comparable contexts. Our findings focus on the commodification of off-grid solar products and the attendant tensions between profit and sustainability imperatives that a market orientation invites; reflected in repair restrictive designs and closed-product ecosystems. Our findings go on to punctuate a paradox whereby, despite the ingenuity and persistence of local actors, off-grid solar products are often more difficult to repair in the rural Global South contexts they are designed for and marketed to. We conclude by drawing links to the legislative focus of the right to the repair movement in the Global North, highlighting the rich range of political, social, and economic factors that impede the repairability of these increasingly vital objects.

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