A microgrid is more than a collection of solar panels, batteries and electrical equipment. It is also a value chain. From design and sourcing to financing, installation, operation, maintenance and end-of-life management, different organisations and communities shape whether equipment remains useful, whether value is retained and whether circular practices can work in practice.
This wider systems perspective sits at the heart of CEPREC Work Package 5 (WP5): Mapping the Value Chain for Circular Microgrid Development. WP5 examines circular value chains, lifecycle management, component sourcing, repair, reuse, refurbishment, repurposing, recycling, standards and end-of-life planning.
Within this work package, Michael Shipepe David, a CEPREC researcher at the University of Namibia, is examining how actors, resources, responsibilities and value interact across the lifecycle of circular microgrid systems.
Mapping the Microgrid Value Chain
A central question in Michael's research is:
Where is value created, where is it lost, and who has the ability to retain it?
The research looks across the lifecycle of a microgrid, from design, sourcing and financing through installation, operation and maintenance to repair, reuse, refurbishment, repurposing and ultimately recycling or recovery.
It also considers the different actors involved. These can include manufacturers and suppliers, developers, financiers, utilities, regulators, local authorities, technicians, recycling organisations and communities.
Each actor influences different parts of the system. A developer may determine which technologies are procured. A financier may shape what maintenance expenditure is affordable. Technicians influence how quickly equipment can be diagnosed and repaired. Regulators and standards bodies can influence whether second-life or refurbished technologies can be used with confidence.
By mapping these relationships, the research seeks to understand how responsibilities, knowledge and influence are distributed across the value chain, and where gaps may prevent circular options from being implemented effectively.
Where Is Value Lost and Where Can It Be Retained?
Circularity begins with understanding where value is currently being lost. A renewable energy component may be replaced because spare parts are unavailable. An inverter that could potentially be repaired may be discarded because diagnostic capability is limited. Equipment may remain out of service because technical information is difficult to access. Batteries or other components may reach end-of-first-life without clear pathways for testing, refurbishment, repurposing or responsible recovery.
These are not only technical issues.
They can also involve skills, financing, information, standards, logistics, market structures and institutional coordination. Value-chain mapping therefore provides a way to identify the conditions that influence whether equipment remains in productive use for longer and where opportunities for greater local participation may exist.
For African contexts, this may include opportunities around maintenance services, diagnostics, repair, refurbishment, collection and materials recovery. The research does not assume that these opportunities automatically translate into jobs or viable businesses. Instead, it examines where the potential exists and what technical, financial or institutional conditions would be needed to make that potential realistic.
Building Circularity Across the Lifecycle
An important part of WP5 is moving the circular economy conversation beyond recycling. CEPREC uses the 9R framework to distinguish between different circular strategies:
Refuse → Rethink → Reduce → Reuse → Repair → Refurbish → Remanufacture → Repurpose → Recycle → Recover.
The framework encourages decision-makers to consider higher-value options earlier in the lifecycle, before replacement, recycling or disposal becomes the default response.
- For microgrids, this raises practical questions.
- Can equipment be designed to be easier to maintain?
- Can components be repaired rather than replaced?
- Can products be refurbished or remanufactured?
- Can batteries, power electronics or other components be repurposed safely for a different application?
- And when these options are no longer technically or economically viable, how can materials be recovered responsibly?
The aim is not to apply every circular strategy to every asset. CEPREC's capacity-building work stresses that circular decisions are context-specificnd depend on factors including safety, reliability, cost, technical capability and the intended use of the component. The focus is therefore on making better lifecycle decisions that retain value where this is technically, economically and socially appropriate.
Why Context Matters
There is unlikely to be a single circular microgrid model that works across all African contexts. Regulatory systems, market maturity, geography, supply chains, infrastructure, technical capability and community priorities vary significantly between countries and locations.
A circular option that is viable in an urban commercial energy system may not be practical for a remote rural mini-grid. Similarly, the availability of local repair expertise, testing facilities, spare parts or recycling infrastructure can fundamentally change what is possible.
Michael's research therefore considers circularity in relation to the context in which a microgrid operates, rather than treating circular practices as a universal checklist. This is important because the goal is not simply to extend the life of equipment at any cost. It is to understand which options make sense for a particular system, who needs to be involved and what capabilities need to exist for those options to work safely and reliably.
Looking at the Whole System
WP5 brings together questions that can easily be treated separately: technology, finance, maintenance, skills, regulation, markets and community participation. Value-chain mapping helps place them within a single view of the microgrid lifecycle.
This also connects WP5 with CEPREC's wider interdisciplinary research programme. Technical work on batteries, power electronics and microgrid control can identify what may be technically possible, while value-chain research examines whether the surrounding market, institutional and stakeholder conditions can enable those possibilities to work in practice. The resulting evidence can also inform CEPREC's work on business models and policy engagement.
As Africa's decentralised renewable energy sector continues to develop, understanding where value is created, where it is lost and where circular practices can realistically be integrated will become increasingly important.
Michael's research contributes to that wider challenge by looking beyond the technology itself and asking what is needed to build energy systems that use resources more efficiently, retain value for longer and create stronger opportunities for local participation. Ultimately, circular microgrids are not simply about what happens to equipment at the end of its life.
They are about how decisions across the entire lifecycle can help renewable energy systems remain useful, maintainable and valuable for longer.
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