An energy audit has been conducted for the Dedza
district in Malawi, which required the development and
implementation of a multidisciplinary options appraisal
methodology involving a literature review; solar, wind and
hydro resource assessment; household and business surveys;
focus group discussions and expert interviews. A decision
making tool was developed to score and rank renewable energy
technologies based on defined input criteria. Due to low income
levels and limited capacity, small scale, low access, technologies
such as pico-solar products were found to have the highest
potential for widespread uptake over the district. Other
innovative uses of solar energy including solar home systems
and productive uses of solar also score highly due to good solar
resource in the district, modularity and ease of implementation.
Wind and hydro systems are ranked lower due to limited
resource and lack of local capacity to implement.