Project evaluation for energy supply in rural areas of developing countries

This paper reports the methodological experiences of the project: Energy Supply Technologies in Developing Countries, carried out in collaboration with the Department of Energy, Zambia. Existing methods for project evaluation, based on cost-benefit analysis, will be briefly presented, particularly as regards their inadequacy for assessing energy projects in rural areas.An alternative practical and PC-based approach will be presented in which emphasis is placed on the problem formulation phase, including the socio-economic, cultural and political aspects of the problem. This approach has been prepared for training purposes.Finally, some methodological thoughts based on our practical experiences will be presented and our future work will be briefly discussed.